Why don't you offer your services to the startup as a consultant? Edit: Thanks for the downmod. Let's be clear, this is a legal situation that is ambiguous at best. If the startup has preserved the attribution (which seems to be the case or he wouldn't have been contacted) then it's entirely likely that they have not done anything wrong. These guys just got a bunch of money to work with this software; clearly having the person who wrote it would be a big help to their team. I'm not even suggesting joining said startup, presumably the author has other means of income. Consulting seems like the way to make the best of this situation, assuming that you can get over the idea that someone has "stolen" your code. I readily admit the notion that I could be mistaken; if you feel that I am, please comment instead of downmodding.