[yanslookup]

One take I haven't seen..

It's sort of like when otherwise successful "name brand" organizations offer unpaid internships (let's not get in to whether that's legal or not.)

This selects for the type of people that can afford an arrangement like that.

Put another way, already wealthy founders, supported by wealthy investors, also want wealthy employees, or at least the demographic that fits already wealthy people.

[askafriend]

There is not a single name brand engineering organization that does not pay its interns extremely well.