I believe it can work as a small business, but not as a startup. Building a startup between day job and family is theoretically possible, but unlikely (a small business - sure, I personally know people who managed that, although even after 2 years their revenues were too small even for a single minimum wage). Building a company with a remote team is more likely (there are indeed plenty of examples), but still not nearly as likely as with a local team. Put these two hurdles together, and it becomes really unlikely. In particular, I can't imagine anyone daring to invest into such a setup, so we're talking about a slow "organic" growth at best. Also, three people working remotely in sync is already quite an achievement. The more people enter the game the more chaotic it will become, so a large team is probably out of the question as well.
I actually joined a co-op once. All the members were from the same city so we had frequent in-person meetings, which was very helpful (and fun). Most members were committed to the co-op full time. Despite these factors, it was an unavoidable disaster. Equity split between so many people (4 to 8 at different moments) made each slice of the pie too small to care, and the lack of a single leader caused chaos. Combined with "creative freedom" principle, it eventually caused different members to pursue a course they thought to be the best. You can imagine the result.
To sum it up. color me dubious.