Cary Toner is the former CEO of The Toner Organization which his father started in 1966 with a focus on high risk or impaired risk life insurance. Cary joined the organization in 1979 and soon, new areas of opportunity were presenting themselves in term insurance and annuities. Cary eventually bought the company from his father and from 1986 to 2001, he grew the agency into one of the top 10 in the country with 5000 brokers nationwide and revenues approaching $35 million. He eventually sold the company in 2001, and shifted his focus to his side project that he’d started in 1996 — iPipeline. A truly visionary company, iPipeline focused on reducing the time to underwrite life insurance policies by harnessing the power of the internet. iPipeline was eventually sold in 2015 for $380 million. Cary recounts his business journey, and how he managed the changing landscape of the insurance industry through the years.
Key Takeaways:
[1:18] Kevin introduces his guest for this episode — Cary Toner.
[3:14] Kevin asks Cary five speed questions.
[5:50] What was Cary's path in joining his father's organization, The Toner Organization (TTO)?
[7:40] The original business model for TTO was high risk, impaired risk insurance. What were some changes in the 1970s that made the business model less viable?
[00:09:35] What exactly were high risk or impaired risk cases?
[10:15] Kevin and Cary discuss the customer base for TTO and how the business functioned.
[11:29] What were some of the new products that were coming out at that time that were making the existing business less lucrative?
[16:15] How was the new product, term insurance, received in the market by traditional, old-school life insurance salespeople?
[17:56] How did TTO morph to adapt to these new products?
[19:17] Cary and his father started having differences in their vision for TTO. How did that play out?
[24:03] From 1986 to 2001, Cary focused on building the company. He shares some of what he learned in that time.
[27:45] Who were the 20 salespeople in Cary's company and who were they selling to?
[31:01] Kevin and Cary discuss how big the organization was in 2001, and what kind of metrics the company who bought them over was looking at.
[35:32] Cary had a 2-year contract with BSYS that ended in 1.5 years. What happened?
[39:12] In 1996, Cary undertook the project of simplifying the underwriting of polices through iPipeline. How did he see the need for this project and come up with the solution to solve this problem?
[44:54] What was the revenue model for iPipeline?
[49:24] How was Cary financing iPipeline?
[51:57] What was the turning point that made Cary decide to seek external funding for iPipeline, and what was his process?
[55:36] What was Cary's role in iPipeline after he sold it to NewSpring?
[57:09] Kevin and Cary discuss how TCV's investment impacted the growth trajectory of iPipeline.
[59:04] Looking back, what would Cary have done differently?
[1:00:23] What applications does Cary see with regards to machine learning and artificial intelligence to the insurance industry?
[1:05:37] Does Cary believe that entrepreneurs are born or made? What is next for Cary in terms of business opportunities?
[1:09:13] Cary shares more about his philanthropic activities and involvement in non-profit organizations.
Links:
How Our Robots Ran 30 Million Illustrations in 24 Hours, by Bill Atlee
