I had a very similar experience. During my internship with said startup, there was talk of giving me some equity at the end of the summer, going big and doing some really nice and fancy things.
At the end of the summer, I wasn't even paid for the work I did (this was supposed to come in a lump sum at the end summer). I could have tried to harass them but concluded that it wasn't worth the effort as things could have gotten really nasty.
The lump sum was pretty much peanuts anyway, and wouldn't make any difference in the grand scheme of things.
My takeaway from the episode was the experience of building a lot of really cool software, and because of the work I did over the summer, I've gotten interview calls from Ebay, Twitter, Microsoft, Amazon, and the list goes on.....
Life is too short to be stuck on things you have no control over. Take the positives from the experience and move on.
Also H1B is a double edge sword. If coming via H1B is your only option, I would stick with well established and profitable companies that won't just change their minds on a whim.
With startups you take huge risk and expect huge rewards, and adding H1B to that mix doesn't help matter.
At the end of the summer, I wasn't even paid for the work I did (this was supposed to come in a lump sum at the end summer). I could have tried to harass them but concluded that it wasn't worth the effort as things could have gotten really nasty.
The lump sum was pretty much peanuts anyway, and wouldn't make any difference in the grand scheme of things.
My takeaway from the episode was the experience of building a lot of really cool software, and because of the work I did over the summer, I've gotten interview calls from Ebay, Twitter, Microsoft, Amazon, and the list goes on.....
Life is too short to be stuck on things you have no control over. Take the positives from the experience and move on.