What is an equity position?

How feasible is it to negotiate equity for an internship software engineer position at a funded startup?

• This is a follow-up question to : . e.g if it's a 4 months internship? 8 months?

• Answer:

  It depends on what the internship is. I think it depends on several things: 1) Are you making an impact on the product and its direction? 2) Are you bringing unique experience and solving problems that other people on the team can't? 3) Are you planning to come back full-time after the internship? I would say if you're a typical intern, then you shouldn't receive equity. But if you answered yes to 1 or 2, you're probably not an "intern" but rather you're part of the team. Teammates should receive equity, even if it's small, if they're long-term team members. As for the last question, if you're planning to come back full-time after the internship what you could ask for is to have your internship count as part of your cliff period. So if you come back the cliff would only be 8 months (assuming a 4 month internship).