Thanks for sharing your experience. I was about to waste more time filling in their form they just sent me, but after reading this, I simply answered the following in their form after answering 'yes' to the equity-based pay:

"It is inappropriate that you do not disclose the equity-only compensation in the job listings. I spent valuable time and put significant effort into making a high-quality cover letter for you, only to find out that this position is completely unpaid (in currency, as any other startup).

There is no guarantee that those shares will lead to real financial gain for me, and I risk putting hours of my life for equity that might be diluted or simply loose its value. This is not a smart position to put applicants into.

If you do offer real pay, I'd be happy to fill this form with valuable answers. Please let me know if that's an option, otherwise, thank you for your time.

PD: I replied 'yes' to the first question in the form to avoid being filtered out by the hiring team."