Nico Laqua, cofounder and CEO of AI insurance startup Corgi, has built what podcast host Harry Stebbings calls “the most intense workplace culture in America.” Laqua sleeps just three hours a night on a mattress on the office floor, works seven days a week, and has engineered an environment where employees are expected to do the same.
A Culture Built Around Total Commitment
Corgi employees do not get traditional weekends. While staff can take an occasional rest day, Laqua is direct: anyone expecting Saturdays and Sundays off will not last at the company. To reinforce this from the start, job candidates complete weekend work trials and walk into a fully staffed office on Saturdays. Laqua sees a new recruit’s reaction to that sight as an immediate culture-fit test. Further signaling deep loyalty, two-thirds of the startup’s first 30 employees have tattooed the Corgi logo on their bodies.
From Zero to Unicorn in Under Two Years
Founded in 2024, Corgi reached unicorn status in May 2026, raising a Series B at a $1.3 billion valuation before closing a Series B1 round at $2.6 billion within the same month. Laqua credits relentless output for the velocity, arguing that solving complex problems in regulated finance simply cannot be done on a five-day schedule. “Whatever you can get done in five days, I promise you you’ll get more done in six and seven,” he said.
Not everyone agrees. Linear CEO Karri Saarinen cautioned that when founders make a startup their entire identity, they lose sight of the personal growth that comes from life outside work — growth that ultimately improves their performance.