Growth equity investing lens

I am looking to transition into growth equity (more so late stage VCs vs. growth equity buyout) from PE and was curious about the investment lens from which these firms put money to work.

Specifically:

1) In late stage VC/pre IPO stage, what are the common forms of security that they invest in? Is it mostly common? Convertible preferred? Convertible notes?

 2) Related to above, what is the typical IRR underwrite on a base case and an upside case? How do they manage downside (e.g. liquidation preference and over which shareholders in the cap stack?)

3) Are the waterfall terms the same across various exit scenarios (IPO vs. sale)?

Anything else to better understand growth equity investing frameworks would be super helpful!