Corgi chief executive Nico Laqua (pictured) has defended the insurer's permissive approach to employee social media. He rejected calls to discipline staff over their personal posts amid online criticism of the company's personality-driven brand.
In a post on X on September 20, Laqua responded to criticism of a Corgi employee who had posted about her dating preferences on social media.
Cancel culture is alive and well, but, at Corgi, we have thick skin and believe strongly in freedom of expression.
— nico laqua (@nico_laqua) September 20, 2026
For those who don’t know us, Corgi is an increasingly diversified financial institution, best known for our insurance products and generating hundreds of millions…
"To all the people trying constantly to get me to fire our team members for expressing themselves online: it's not going to happen," Laqua wrote.
He said Corgi had historically not censored employees "nor are we going to start now." He argued that companies would be more ambitious if they allowed employees to express opinions rather than reverting to what he called "corporate slop."
Laqua denied that employees were incentivized through formal social media targets and said there were no KPIs tied to social media presence at Corgi. He also disputed suggestions that the business depends on its online personas. He said the marketing team was roughly 10 people and the wider workforce was focused on building and operating financial products.
After Laqua's post, Corgi marketing team member Nicole, who posts under the handle @nicole_clash, quote-tweeted it. She described the company's approach to employee speech as one of the reasons she chose to join.
In the post, which has since been deleted, Nicole said a previous employer had asked her to remove a comment in which she used a disability-related slur. She contrasted that experience with Corgi.
"There were many options for me that would have been higher paying and more credible on a resume than Corgi," she wrote. "What sold me was a combination of having products that can benefit from aggressive scaling, and the unconditional freedom of speech given to employees even though they 'represent' the company publicly."
"Freedom of expression is something that too many companies have withheld in fear of negative PR," she added. "No one should have to give up their platforms and character just to work at a company."
Nicole defended her use of the slur, saying she came from a gaming culture where the term was considered acceptable. When another X user asked whether the same argument would apply to the N-word, she responded that she would not personally use the racial slur but "would also not attempt to police those who do."
In a statement to Insurance Business, Laqua said Nicole's post was made after his and that "Corgi does not support the use of profanity of any sort."
“My comments about freedom of expression were specifically about employees being able to express their personal views in their individual capacity,” he said. “They were never intended to defend or excuse any other discriminatory or hateful language. I do not support that kind of language, and neither does Corgi.
“There is an important distinction between supporting someone’s right to express a personal opinion and endorsing every statement someone makes. My comments should not be interpreted as anything more than that.”
The episode comes as Corgi rapidly builds out its insurance operations. The company was founded by Laqua and Emily Yuan and received regulatory approval as a full-stack insurance carrier. It has since expanded across commercial insurance and other financial services. In May, Corgi announced a US$106 million funding round at a US$2.6 billion valuation, three weeks after raising US$160 million at a US$1.3 billion valuation.
Corgi has built an unconventional startup brand around social media, events and its cafés. Its stated strategy emphasizes expansion beyond startup insurance into trucking, small business and other commercial lines. The company has also moved further into the insurance value chain, launching Corgi Re in September.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to correct the sequence of social media posts described. An earlier version incorrectly stated that Nico Laqua's post was a response to posts by employee Nicole, which were in fact made after his.
