Not a separate class of shares. Almost always, founder shares refer to the magnitude of the grant and the voting-rights agreement attached to it. ("Stock class" is a very specific term.)
This serves my point not yours, the process is often very misunderstood by those being promised the equity, and it's often "converted" in ways that dilutes or outright takes away most of the value by the time the employees ever see financial gains from the equity.
I’m not saying it doesn’t. Just that founders having a separate class of stock is very, very rare.
> happened in the largest medtech acquisition in history (at the time) its Public knowledge
Supervoting stock is absolutely a thing with companies. We’re not talking about that. We’re talking about start-up founders.