When investor Alex Ren visited the office of AI insurance upstart Corgi early last year, he was given a copy of a little red book emblazoned with a portrait of the company’s namesake dog wearing a Mao-like red hat with a yellow star.
It was called: “The Mission at Corgi.”
Business Insider viewed images of a book with the same name and cover. Inside, it contained a series of statements — some braggy, some bellicose, all of them blunt. “Boomers are slow and bad,” the 17-page hardcover declares in reference to hiring.
When Business Insider asked the company about the book, it said in a statement that it was not “Corgi material.”
“The unapproved version currently circulating was neither created nor produced by Corgi,” it said. “It was created externally and given to Corgi as a gift by an investor. The thoughts and opinions expressed in that book are those of the author and do not reflect the position or views of Corgi, unless Corgi itself has affirmed them.”
In a later statement, Corgi said the book did include some material produced by the company two years ago — but “nothing to do with age, for example” or the cover image. “The book you have sent and referenced is third party material that Corgi did not create or endorse,” it added.
The company declined to name the investor who it says made the book or how many copies it was gifted.
Corgi is one of Silicon Valley’s buzziest startups, viewed as a brash newcomer in an industry often stereotyped as staid. It was valued at $4 billion in a July funding round, Forbes reported, and says it has raised over $378 million since its founding in 2024. It’s also achieved internet virality, thanks to its X-posting employees, its all-night cafés, and a four-legged mascot.
In a January LinkedIn post, Ren, a founding member of the venture capital firm Fellows Fund, said that after Corgi CEO Nico Laqua pitched him, he visited their office in early 2025 for an hourlong meeting.
“At the end, we were handed a little red book titled ‘The Mission at Corgi.’ It opened with a line we won’t forget: ‘We work hard and sleep in the office because Corgi is producing some of the most meaningful work happening on planet Earth right now,'” Ren wrote.
“That level of passion, ambition, and conviction immediately stood out. We were obsessed with the mission and the belief that insurance — one of fintech’s hardest categories — could be rebuilt from first principles.”
Ren, who said Fellows Fund later invested in Corgi, confirmed the account by phone on Monday, before telling a reporter to contact Corgi for more information. Corgi declined to comment on how or why the book was given to Ren. Two former employees said they had seen the book in the company’s office.
Business Insider viewed images of a hardcover book with the same title — “The Mission at Corgi” — and the same cover image. It opens with a quote attributed to Laqua: “This is a short booklet of our mission at Corgi. If you principally disagree with any of the sentiments found therein, you are not a fit.”
Among those who may not be seen as a fit, according to the book: employees of retirement age.
“All the best athletes, warriors, and chess grandmasters are 19-30 years old,” the book says. “We need young energy! Boomers are slow and bad, we need energy, creativity, and cannot have layers of redundant management.”
It describes which workers should be fired: those who “don’t care” and underperformers. “Fire anyone who doesn’t work weekends,” it says.
Employees sleep in the office, and each employee will receive a mattress for the workplace with their offer letter, “preferably from Costco,” the book says.
At another point, the book says that Corgi will do what it needs, “even if we need to sleep in the office or sell our blood on the side of the road to get there.”
Corgi is one of many tech startups to embrace hardcore work schedules. Terms like “996” — working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week — are common in Silicon Valley, though it doesn’t appear in the book. Founders also flex their long hours online.
Laqua has publicly spoken about the company’s work schedule. “If your days off happen to be Saturday and Sunday every week, then you will not have a place at Corgi,” he said on a podcast in May.
The little red book details a grand vision for the insurance business. It says that insurance dates back to the Bronze Age and that without it, “the entire economy would nearly instantly collapse.”
The company’s work will “indirectly but meaningfully” contribute to human progress, the book says. “We will help humanity reach the stars, cure diseases (and live forever ultimately), create new forms of entertainment and recreation, and create new businesses that advance us in ways we don’t even presently begin to appreciate,” it says.
The book describes Corgi’s insurance competitors — including Chubb, a decades-old insurance giant it mentions by name — in violent terms. “We are coming for their throat,” it reads. Chubb declined to comment.
It later says that the “only ‘strategy’ is the blade of the knife.”
The book also points to a broader startup market. The problem with these companies, it says, is that they are too nice. “This is WAR!” it reads.
“We make our legacies here,” the book reads. “With success, we get what our forefathers would have killed for. We are brothers and sisters in arms, though there are some mercenaries as well.”
The book ends with an image of a Corgi in a space helmet and a spacesuit with an American flag.
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