Nico Lacqua

Who they are

Nico Laqua is CEO and CTO of Corgi — a Y Combinator-backed AI-native insurance carrier he co-founded in 2024, which doubled its valuation to $2.6B within three weeks in May 2026, and runs a 24/7 café out of its San Francisco office.

Person

Nico Laqua co-founded Corgi in 2024 out of Y Combinator, stepping in as both CEO and CTO — a dual technical-commercial role that signals he intends to own the product architecture, not just the pitch deck. Before Corgi, he co-founded Basket, a gaming publisher, giving him one prior company-building cycle before moving into insurance. He studied at Columbia University, though the field and graduation year aren't public. He's a fixture on the podcast circuit — 20VC, Venture with Grace with co-founder Emily Yuan, and Boardy Live — where he talks openly about Corgi's culture, fundraising velocity, and the case for full-stack AI companies. His public LinkedIn posts track Corgi milestones, AI insurance themes, and high-performance team building. The through-line: serial founder who moves fast, builds in public, and holds both the technical and CEO seat simultaneously.

Company

The most recent move, announced June 9, 2026, is Corgi's plan to open its regulatory and claims infrastructure to rival insurance carriers — a platform play that, if it lands, repositions Corgi from competitor to industry backbone. That followed a remarkable four weeks: a $160M Series B at a $1.3B valuation, then a $106M Series B1 led by TCV just three weeks later that doubled the valuation to $2.6B, bringing total funding to $378M. Corgi also turned profitable as of May 2026 and is expanding beyond its startup-focused core into trucking, small business, and sports insurance. The product today covers general liability, cyber liability, and tech and AI liability, with AI-driven underwriting and claims management throughout.

Market

Corgi targets B2B SaaS startups and venture-backed companies with AI-native commercial insurance, competing most directly with Vouch — also Y Combinator-backed, also a licensed carrier that transitioned from managing general agent status. The broader startup insurance market is consolidating, with vertical integration intensifying among insurtechs and regulatory frameworks increasingly supporting direct licensing and cross-border coverage for distributed, digital-native workforces.

Network

Nico's closest named collaborator is Emily Yuan, Corgi's co-founder, who co-presents with him on fundraising announcements and podcast appearances — they appear to run the company as a tight founding pair. Michael Davis serves as head of product and was the public face of the June 2026 infrastructure-opening announcement. No broader network edges are available from the current data.

Emily Yuan· Co-founder, Corgi
Michael Davis· Head of Product, Corgi

How they likely show up

Holds both CEO and CTO titles simultaneously → likely deep in the technical decisions, not just setting vision from the top floor; bring engineering specifics if you want to hold his attention.
Founded Corgi in 2024 and raised $378M total by mid-2026 → operates at a sprint pace; he's optimizing for speed and probably has little patience for slow-moving conversations.
Publicly documented as working 7 days a week and sleeping on a mattress in the office → extreme bias for intensity; he may read low-energy or tentative framing as a signal you're not serious.
Active LinkedIn poster on company milestones, AI insurance, and startup culture → comfortable being visible and opinionated; he'll likely respect someone who's read his posts closely.
Multiple podcast appearances in 2025 discussing culture and fundraising → he's practiced at explaining his thesis and probably has tight, rehearsed answers; ask the second-order question, not the headline one.
Co-founded a gaming publisher (Basket) before pivoting into insurance → not an insurance lifer; his frame is tech-company-building first, insurance domain second.

Conversation tips

→ Reference the infrastructure-opening announcement from June 9, 2026 — it's the freshest strategic signal and shows you're tracking the company in real time, not just reading the funding headlines.
→ Ask about the dual CEO/CTO structure specifically — it's unusual at a company moving this fast and he'll have a considered reason for keeping both seats.
→ Don't waste time on context-setting about AI in insurance; he's given this pitch dozens of times. Get to the specific angle you want to explore quickly.
→ Mention Basket by name if you want to understand how his first company shaped how he's building Corgi — it's a rare opening that most people miss.
→ Match his energy: come in with a sharp point of view, not an open-ended exploration. He's more likely to engage with 'here's what I think is wrong about X' than 'tell me about your journey.'

Toolbox

Openers

Open on the June 2026 infrastructure-opening move — Corgi announced it will give rival carriers access to its regulatory and claims infrastructure, which is a striking bet from a company that's still in early growth; it's a real conversation starter about platform strategy versus competitive moat.
Lead with the Corgi Café — Corgi's founders run a 24/7 coffee shop and tech workspace in San Francisco out of the office; it's a physical embodiment of the culture he talks about publicly, and almost no one leads with it.
Reference his 20VC appearance, specifically the episode titled 'Corgi Insurance: The Most Intense Workplace Culture in America' — it signals you've gone past the TechCrunch funding stories and actually listened to how he thinks.

Discovery questions

You're holding both CEO and CTO at $2.6B valuation and growing fast — at what point, if ever, does splitting those roles become the right call, and what would have to be true for you to make that move?
Opening your regulatory and claims infrastructure to rivals is a counterintuitive call for a company that just doubled its valuation in three weeks — what's the strategic logic: are you betting on becoming the rails, not just a carrier?
You co-founded Basket, a gaming publisher, before building an insurance company — what did that first company teach you that you're applying directly at Corgi?

Avoid

Don't open with generic observations about AI disrupting insurance — he's spent two years explaining this thesis publicly and will disengage immediately if the conversation starts at that altitude.

Make it yours