That's typically what creates the bad blood between previous employers and employees. The employee 'cheats' by getting an unfair advantage at start up because of poaching clients, vendors, or proprietary knowledge.
In my experience (not dive or Cozumel related), a lot of the bad blood comes from some employers' ego : some people have trouble letting go and admitting that one of "their people" has a life and desires of their own that they want to pursue.
The "poaching clients" thing is a fine line, IMO : let's say I work as a chef in your favorite restaurant and decide to quit and open my own place. We meet by chance in the street : should I not tell you I'm a new restaurant owner because it would be "unfair" to my former boss ? Should I hide my identity on my own website and do no advertizement ? FWIW, every big chef boasts on their venue's website the prestigious cuisines where they have worked and improved their craft.
Go out on your own and start from scratch and I'll respect your 'risk taking'. You're not a big risk taker when you have the advantages created by benefiting from your previous employers years of hard work. And I don't care how 'successful' any employee was at another company, how one sided, how taken advantage of, how much of a superstar, how much he thinks he's responsible for ALL of the success of his employer. Show me any employee who thinks that is who he is or was and you're showing me a new employer who will one day look back at how little he really knew or how stupid and naive he was in regard to his past employer and how much he thought he was a "Key" to his employers success. Nobody is irreplaceable. And there is a hell of a lot more to having a successful company then what any single employee thinks he contributes.
I would NOT dive with a company that REALLY started from scratch, unless they had been around for over a decade, because that would mean they would have NO EXPERIENCE whatsoever regarding local diving conditions, written and unwritten rules, organization
Employees successfully creating their own business benefit from THEIR OWN years of hard work for somebody else. Unfortunately (especially here in France where it's pretty hard to fire people), some employees will spend 30+ years working at a company and not be any better at their job than when they first started
(and possibly worse
) These people are not likely to be the ones leaving to create their own venture, they'll just sit on theirs a$$es till retirement (when they're not on strike or complaining about their evil boss, but I disgress).
The ones who strive at their work never stop learning. They're offered more responsabilities, different positions
After a while, they reach a ceiling. Either because they are at the top of their competence (the-really-good-worker-turned-terrible-manager that I'm sure you've met at least once in your working life), or because the company can no longer give them the perks (be them $$$, responsabilities, learning opportunities, personal freedom
) that they are craving. Those people are even harder for an employer to replace than the others because of their knowledge, experience, skills and dedication. And if they were in contact with clients, it is likely that some will follow them in their new venture (whether it's an already existing competitor or a new business). Because they EXCELL at what they do.
I agree with what BoulderJohn wrote. Every employee is key in the success of a company (otherwise he is just useless cost). Some more than others. I've never felt irrepleceable in the sense that I knew the company existed before they hired me and would still exist long after I was gone, but I've never belittled any of my jobs to the point of thinking that the first person coming through the door could do it.
I do however agree with you that "there is a hell of a lot more to having a successful company then what any single employee thinks he contributes". It's a team effort.
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