The statement that he is the first employee at a US venture-backed software company to sit on the board is comically wrong. Venture-backed companies have had employee board members as regular practice for at least as long as the 20+ years I have been in the industry. While not necessarily the norm, it is certainly not uncommon for an employee other than the CEO to have a seat (often a co-founder). The seat is usually designated as elected by the holders of Common Stock (which usually is the founders and employees with stock). The only thing I see unique here is that he was elected by the employees with one vote per employee, rather by common shareholders with one vote per share.