Working for free is a bad idea. It encourages both the "employer" (if you want to call them that) and you to think in sloppy ways not focused on doing things t

Working for free is a bad idea. It encourages both the "employer" (if you want to call them that) and you to think in sloppy ways not focused on doing things to make money. The idea that a person can be appropriately compensated just by the presense of others is a creepy feudal notion that has no place in the modern world, and should be left in the ages that allowed the divine right of kings and other nonsense. I like the idea of apprenticeships; I think more learning is done on the job in aprenticeship type relationships than we acknowledge. However if a Master can't direct an apprentice in such a way that at least produces a minimum wage, he is not a Master. Any fool can glean some small advantage to free labor; why start out your career under the direction of fools ? Finally, such a relationship is especially unsuited to startups. By their nature your internship will be supervised by people who have about your own level of experience, and thus have no more to contribute to teaching you than you have to teaching them.