I never really applied to the larger companies. It seemed like most of the really cool opportunities there were full-time positions only. My friends that had done internships at bigger companies hadn't enjoyed it very much, so I was looking for something small.
When I met Rich and Bill, WePay jumped out at me because it was the most startup-y of all the startups there that day. Every other company had a product and was trying to build it up. WePay was just an idea at the time, and it was obvious that I'd be deeply involved in the building and shaping of the product, rather than adding on to something that already existed.
Asking me to describe the experience is such a broad question that it's hard not to answer in a similarly broad manner. If you've got specific aspects that you're curious about, let me know. As for generally, I absolutely loved it (which is why I'm back here now). I certainly learned way more during three months than I had in two years of school.
He didn't actually have any offers. The WePay people just made that up to make it seem like they snatched someone from Google or Facebook for no pay. Pretty pathetic.
1) No, and I would have been incredibly surprised if they had. I had only finished two years of school, and had very little experience when I started. None of us had any idea how it would work out. It would have been foolish to offer equity then.
2) Being in school, the money wasn't a huge issue for me. They took care of my housing and most of my living expenses, so it's not as if I had to support myself on no income.
More importantly, the opportunity was just too good to pass up. It's rare to get the chance to be at a four-person company. I knew that I'd get fantastic experience and learning out of it. After just two years of school, those two were more important than money.