If it's unpaid, then he should be getting lots of educational value even to the extent that it interferes with the business of the employer. I'm not making that

If it's unpaid, then he should be getting lots of educational value even to the extent that it interferes with the business of the employer. I'm not making that up, it's one of the requirements of an unpaid internship [1]. If he's not getting education out of it, then he's working for free and he should not be working for free. So the best strategy is to sit down with the boss and outline a plan that either a) clearly explains the things that your friend is going to learn during this internship (and it is an internship) and a timeline for learning them. That's a lie, actually; the best strategy is for your friend to find somebody who's willing to pay him money for services rendered. But assuming for some terrible reason he absolutely has to stay with this startup, then he should figure out what he's going to get from it and the timeline for said getting. [1]: http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.htm http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.htm