One odd note: "equity ... promised to me 'as soon as we are profitable'". Early employees are typically given large amounts of equity in lieu of a market sala

One odd note: "equity ... promised to me 'as soon as we are profitable'". Early employees are typically given large amounts of equity in lieu of a market salary and benefits --- because the company hasn't got the money to pay market rates yet. There's ordinarily no need to wait for profitability, or even for funds to be available (beyond what's required to pay for the legal paperwork). And even without fully worked up contracts, it's still possible to at least have a written arrangement of how equity will be divided and up as and when things are formalized. So, if you're getting below-market rates and no equity, well... at the very least, that's unusual. If you can't get straight answers about why it's unusual, that could just be a sign of general cluelessness --- but management being that clueless doesn't bode well for the future of the business.