Having worked at tech companies with cutesy employee nicknames, I really think that's overthinking it. It is probably a way to try to have more corporate unity,

Having worked at tech companies with cutesy employee nicknames, I really think that's overthinking it. It is probably a way to try to have more corporate unity, but it does not do so to a noticeable extent. And IMO it's more about tech companies trying to capture the whimsy of early Google - it's trying to have the vibe of "hey, it's a casual place - we call ourselves a stupid, silly nickname in our stupid, silly named company, as opposed to [Name] and [Name] corp." It worked better with Google, because Googler, and Noogler are extra ridiculous, but that's pretty much it. I can guarantee you that the letter referred to Plaid employees as "Plaids" is quite literally the last thing on the minds of any current or ex Plaid employees. It's not that big of a deal. It's not particularly dehumanizing, nor brainwashing. It's mildly cringy, half by design, but that's about it.