preferred shares prevent cookie cutter founder fraud. Founder raises $1M at 10 post. Founder decides to sell 6 months later for 2 mil. Investors get 200k back founder gets 1.8 mil. Now run this math for AI unicorns.
But as a potential employee interviewing for a new job, if you're being offered equity compensation then you might want to inquire about share classes and liquidation preferences. It could be a factor in your decision if you have multiple options.
Some terms are going to need to exist to prevent that, so the investor shares will always be preferred. Beyond that there are in fact a lot of other terms that are in some deals but not others (2x preference, pro rata, etc..)