Founders effectively have the same class of stock as employees when it comes to value, except for voting rights. Voting rights are usually sensitive, because the new normal is for founders to have a different class stock upon going public to preserve their ability to control the decision-making process, even in the face of an activist shareholder.
You actually want your founders to have these voting rights typically. Most activist shareholders tend to say things like "your business would be a lot more profitable without this expensive engineering team. You don't need A players to maintain the technology you've already built, you should fire most of your team and outsource them." Suddenly preserving founder control sounds a lot better, eh?
You actually want your founders to have these voting rights typically. Most activist shareholders tend to say things like "your business would be a lot more profitable without this expensive engineering team. You don't need A players to maintain the technology you've already built, you should fire most of your team and outsource them." Suddenly preserving founder control sounds a lot better, eh?