There are lots of successful entrepreneurs in the world. Very few of them have success building startups in the sense that Silicon Valley uses the word. Much of what passes for a startup these days is a new small business and successful small business entrepreneurs often bring successful small business practices such as not paying employees for hours worked to their mentoring advice.<p>Would you take out a loan to work at a hotel or dry cleaners or construction company? That this is even on the table shows how disinterested people in a form of mutual success that includes you.<p>My experience is that before people screw me, they display tells. An unwillingness to pay is the most obvious. Take the CTO position without salary and it will be easy for people to rationalize not paying you based on your already having accepted not being paid. If your internship was also unpaid, that&#x27;s probably the reason that the unpaid CTO position is being floated.<p>It&#x27;s not any better if your internship was paid. An upaid CTO position then signals a willingness to take a pay cut and call it a promotion.