The problem with working on a project with a small group of people, whether it's an indie game, independent film, small business etc is that you will almost always have one person who will eventually act like it's their project, even if they didn't start it. They will slowly develop the "my way or the highway" attitude and if they serve an important role, it's hard not to say no to them because they can just leave at anytime.

It can even get more extreme in some cases. For example, that Oddity game that started off as the fanmade Mother 4 had a developer leaked various builds of the game out of spite. It's just so easy to sabotage small projects like this.

That's why you really need to know who you are working with. As far as I can tell and at least here in the United States, it's 100% legal to hire on an invite-only basis. I highly recommend only working with people you know personally or mutually if you want to start on some project. There are a lot of narcissists out there who will sabotage anything you make to make it theirs.