Interning as the lone "financial guy" at a startup and trying to ask for equity.

Hey guys, I hope this is on topic.
Previous experience: paid sumer internship at a hedge fund (awarded on merit). Current soph/junior in college.
Do you think if its allowed to ask for equity? This internship will not be paid, but its going to be working about 10 hrs a week (possibility to increase in the future, when school is done). If anyone with expereince has asked with equity please let me know how you have done it. My responsibilities will be ordering the monetization strategy and looking what similar business have done right/wrong and looking at their data.

 
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No, it is not in any way shape or form appropriate for you to ask for equity as an intern, let alone one not even working with them full-time. You were lucky to get paid for your HF internship (especially given your early status in school), but understand that a startup is probably the least likely place to comp an intern. They've already indicated the internship is unpaid, so it would be grossly unprofessional for you to try and ask for any type of compensation if you've already agreed to that stipulation. I know it sucks, but honestly the learning experience working for 10 hours a week will be worth the time. I took multiple unpaid internships during my undergrad and by showing that I was eager to own my projects and trying to be as involved as possible the managers I worked with went to bat for me hard when it came time for my FT interviews regarding my work ethic.

You're in college so right now the marginal value you add to anything is probably going to be 0 at the end of the day. Your goal should be to try and learn as much as possible and see if there's any part of their processes that you can add a small amount of value to, even if it's as simple as cold calling to try and help them make connections and get a meeting or two with a potential customer/investor.

 

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