solarpunk memes

The key missing piece is democratic participation. Anyone involved in the process of the generation of wealth should have a say in what to do with that wealth, so you and the "employee" (who would be a co-owner if we are talking about a worker co-op icecream business).

But then how do you determine how you get paid back for your initial investment?

There are many options, but if we accept that capital doesn't do anything, then the idea of making a profit on your financial investment is moot. How are you paid for your idea then? Well, you have a business which you are in control of (at least in part), and are no longer alienated from your work.

One option would be to pay back everyone's initial investment at some rate agreed upon by the workers, and then decide (democratically) what to do with the rest of the profits. This doesn't mean every cone you sell you vote on, but perhaps once per week, month, quarter, etc., everyone involved in the process decides collectively what to do with the surplus money.

As a side note: every "employee" takes a risk when they join a company. There is no guarantee that the job is permanent, so any changes in their life (moving, giving up other opportunities, etc) are a great risk. And while those are similar for a small business owner, with the additional risk of losing some initial investment, the employee has no say over what happens to the profits or the operation of their workplace,and therefore has to hope the employer is generous and clever enough to keep them on. By running a company collectively, even without even initial investments, the risks are better distributed, and probably lower as well, as it's easy to make a bad decision on your own, it's much harder to do so when others are involved.

These are just some ideas about how a business may operate in this example, it is by no means prescriptive, and I am sure many others can fathom better methods.