Shows
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastRebuilding Insurance from the Ground Up: How Hover is Powering the Digital Claims Revolution with Ali AzharIn this episode of the Insurtech Leadership Podcast, host Joshua Hollander speaks with Ali Azhar, Chief Business Development Officer at Hover, a leading prop-tech and insurtech company leveraging advanced AI and 3D spatial data to streamline property assessments and claims processes.
Ali shares his remarkable personal journey—from childhood entrepreneurial efforts driven by "altruistic capitalism" to founding and scaling tech companies, including ScholarshipExperts.com, and his pivot into software sales following an impactful business failure. His candid reflections offer valuable insights into resilience, reinvention, and leadership.
Ali also explains Hover’s groundbreaking technology, initially developed from...
2025-05-0836 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastData as Currency: Redefining Insurance with First-Party Intelligence with Elan NyerWhat if insurance data weren’t just extracted—but earned? In this episode of the Insurtech Leadership Podcast, host Josh Hollander sits down with Elan Nyer, CEO and Co-Founder of Ownli, to explore how policyholders can take control of their data and become active participants in the insurance value chain.
Elan shares how Ownli enables consumers to share verified, first-party data—such as mileage, location, and vehicle condition—directly with insurers, creating a permissioned, transparent data marketplace. This shift not only improves underwriting and claims accuracy but also strengthens engagement between insurers and policyholders.
The conversa...
2025-04-0734 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastModernizing Claims: The Digital Future of Settlement Payments with Shannon ElseaIn a world where digital transactions are the norm, why are many insurers still processing paper checks for claims settlements? In this episode of the Insurtech Leadership Podcast, host Josh Hollander talks with Shannon Elsea, founder of Settlement Done Easy, about bringing a faster, more secure approach to third-party claims. Drawing on his 30 years as a personal injury attorney, Shannon highlights the inefficiencies of traditional check-based settlements and explains how digital solutions can help both insurers and legal professionals streamline the final steps of the claims process.
They also explore how Settlement Done Easy bridges compliance and...
2025-03-2127 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastBreaking Barriers: Making Insurance Accessible in a Climate-Challenged World with Nakita DelvinIn this episode of the Insurtech Leadership Podcast, host Josh Hollander welcomes Nakita Devlin, CEO and Co-founder of Ric, who shares how her company is democratizing parametric insurance products for everyday Americans. Unlike traditional catastrophe coverage, Ric's approach focuses on immediate, predefined payouts triggered by meteorological events rather than complex damage assessments.
Devlin, drawing from her background as an insurance broker specializing in catastrophe coverage, explains how Ric is transforming parametric insurance from an enterprise-focused product into an accessible consumer offering. Their flagship flood product, launching in 2025, offers a $10,000 payout for $14 monthly, using only meteorological d...
2025-01-3130 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastWomen in InsurTech: Breaking Barriers and Building MomentumIn this episode of the Insurtech Leadership Podcast, recorded live at the InsureTech Connect (ITC) conference, host Josh Hollander sits down with Bobbie Shrivastav and Renu Ann Joseph to discuss the launch of their groundbreaking book series, Momentum. The first book, Makers and Builders Edition, showcases ten unfiltered stories from women making waves in insurtech, from bootstrapped founders to venture-backed entrepreneurs.
Through personal narratives and powerful imagery, this series documents the journeys of women founders who are reshaping the industry's future, addressing the stark reality of the 2% venture capital funding gap, and creating pathways for the...
2024-11-2715 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastBeyond Voice: How ClearSpeed is Revolutionizing Risk Assessment in InsuranceIs voice analytics the next frontier in insurance risk assessment and fraud detection? How can military-grade technology transform insurance operations? In this episode of the Insurtech Leadership Podcast, host Joshua R. Hollander sits down with Manjit Rana, Executive VP for UK, EMEA & APAC at ClearSpeed, to explore how their innovative voice analytics technology is revolutionizing risk assessment across multiple industries.
Key Insights:
How ClearSpeed's military-derived voice analytics technology identifies risk in vocal responses
Strategies for implementing new technology in the insurance industry
The importance of attracting fresh talent to insurance through innovation
Why disruption i...
2024-11-1238 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastBest of the Insurtech Leadership Podcast: Top Three Downloaded Episodes Featuring Tech, Investment, and Strategy LeadersFresh from InsurTech Connect 2024, where the industry gathered to discuss insurance innovation's past, present, and future, host Joshua R. Hollander brings you a special episode revisiting our three most downloaded episodes of the last year:
Tom Wilde, CEO of Indico - At the forefront of bringing AI and automation to insurance workflows
Bhavan Suri, Managing Director, Technology at William Blair - A leading investment banker tracking where money is flowing in insurtech
Michael Nadel, Senior Director at Simon-Kutcher & Partners - A strategic consultant helping companies price and scale their solutions
While these leaders view the industry through...
2024-10-2432 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastITC Vegas 2024: Innovating the Conference ExperienceIn this episode of the Insurtech Leadership Podcast, host Josh Hollander sits down with Bill Harris, Co-Founder and Chief Customer Officer of ITC Vegas, to discuss how the event has evolved to support the continued growth and development of the InsurTech industry. With the 2024 event just around the corner, Bill shares exclusive insights into what makes ITC Vegas a must-attend experience and why those still contemplating attending should register for the 2024 event.
Key Insights:
How ITC Vegas has transformed from a startup-focused event to the "CES of Insurance"
The introduction of curated "neighborhoods" to enhance networking...
2024-10-0338 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastFrom Strategy to Execution: Transforming Insurance Operations with TechnologyIn this episode of the Insurtech Leadership Podcast, host Josh Hollander sits down with Sachin Kulkarni, EVP and Head of Americas for Commercial, Specialty, and MGA at Xceedance. With a unique background that spans from IT strategy at Marsh to leading operations at a fast-growing insurance technology services provider, Sachin offers invaluable insights into the evolving landscape of insurance technology and operations.
Sachin discusses Xceedance's journey as a domain-focused service provider, emphasizing the critical balance between technological innovation and core insurance expertise. He shares candid perspectives on the challenges of change management in the insurance i...
2024-09-1933 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastThe Hidden Heroes of Insurance Data: Transforming the Industry from WithinIn this episode of the Insurtech Leadership Podcast, host Joshua R. Hollander sits down with Roman Stepanenko, founder and CEO of RecordLinker, to explore the often-overlooked world of insurance data management. Roman shares his journey from writing software at age 13 to co-founding RiskMatch, and how that experience shaped his vision for RecordLinker.
Discover how RecordLinker is addressing critical challenges in the insurance industry by focusing on the unsung heroes of data management - the data administrators. Roman shares how his time as CTO at RiskMatch provided a window into the complexities of insurance data aggregation and led...
2024-09-0530 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastFrom London to Hartford: Navigating the CT-UK InsurTech CorridorHow can UK insurtech companies successfully enter the complex US insurance market? In this episode, we explore the CT-UK Insurtech Corridor through the journey of Programmable.AI, showcasing how this initiative creates pathways for international growth and innovation.
Host Joshua R. Hollander brings together John Blamire, CEO and co-founder of Programmable.AI; Mike Hendy from the UK Office of Business and Trade; and Gene Goddard from MetroHartford Alliance and the CT IFS. They discuss how the Corridor is bridging the insurance technology landscapes of Connecticut and the UK, fostering transatlantic opportunities for insurtech companies.
Key I...
2024-08-2235 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastBridging the Gap: How Insurtech Gateway is Transforming Insurance from the Outside InIn a world where technology drives daily innovations in industries from travel to health care to manufacturing, why should insurance be any different? How can innovators and insurers collaborate to create meaningful, sustainable change?
In this episode of the Insurtech Leadership Podcast, host Josh Hollander sits down with Stephen Brittain, Director and Co-founder of Insurtech Gateway, to explore their unique approach to incubating and investing in early-stage insurtech startups. Stephen, with his product design background and entrepreneurial spirit, offers valuable insights into the intricacies of nurturing innovation in an industry known for its caution.
2024-08-0834 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastBeyond Apps: Reinventing the Digital Insurance ExperienceIs there a future for insurance document delivery beyond mobile apps? Discover how Aerogami is revolutionizing the industry's digital experience and what it means for insurers and policyholders alike.
In this episode of the Insurtech Leadership Podcast, host Joshua R. Hollander sits down with Bradley Adams, co-founder of Aerogami, to discuss the innovative approach to digitalizing insurance documents. Bradley, with his unique blend of partnership expertise and product development skills, offers valuable insights for industry leaders navigating the shift towards more user-friendly digital experiences.
Key Insights:
Transforming insurance policy PDFs into engaging m...
2024-07-2531 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastAutomating Expertise: The Promise of AI in P&C InsuranceIs AI the future of P&C insurance? Discover how generative AI is revolutionizing the industry and what it means for industry leaders.
In this episode of the Insurtech Leadership Podcast, host Joshua R. Hollander sits down with John Loeber, co-founder and CEO of Limit, to discuss the transformative potential of AI in the insurance sector. John, with his unique blend of mathematical expertise and AI innovation, offers invaluable insights for industry leaders navigating this technological shift.
Key Insights:
Leveraging AI for enhanced document analysis and policy comparison
Striking the crucial balance b...
2024-07-0934 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastThe Future of Insurance: Integrating Technology and SustainabilityIn this episode of the Insurtech Leadership Podcast, host Josh Hollander interviews Valkyrie Holmes, CEO and co-founder of Faura, a company providing climate and property analytics to help insurance companies and homeowners reduce natural disaster risk.
During the conversation, Valkyrie discusses her company's innovative approach to reducing natural disaster risk for insurance companies and homeowners. With a background in data science and space technology, Valkyrie pivoted to sustainability after receiving a grant, initially focusing on wildfire prevention. Faura provides climate and property analytics, helping insurers make informed decisions on premium pricing and risk reduction. Valkyrie also touches...
2024-06-2537 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastBringing New Innovations to Market Means Asking Your Customers First (w/Michael Nadel of Simon-Kucher)Michael Nadel is a Senior Director at Simon-Kucher & Partners, an insurance veteran with over a decade of experience consulting with insurance clients to solve their most difficult challenges.
Michael has helped large insurance carriers with topics spanning areas such as innovation, strategic road mapping, Insurtech partnerships, digital distribution strategies, and large-scale digital transformation efforts. He has a deep expertise in property and casualty space, as well as the warranty and surety business.
Michael talks today about how work with insurtechs to find new growth opportunities and bring innovations to market effectively. Carriers and other incumbents' b...
2024-02-1913 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastThe Fundraising Environment in Insurtech Remains Healthy if You Focus on the Following Things (w/Bhavan Suri, Managing Director at William Blair)Bhavan Suri is Managing Director at William Blair, an advisory services firm that helps companies including insurtechs to secure growth liquidity and financing. Its team of technology bankers has deep ties to the insurtech sector with more than $20 billion in capital raised across 50 M&A and capital markets transactions.
Bhavan worked for several tech companies including Elytics and Answerthink and has developed a deep understanding for the industry forces shaping the tech market. He now focuses on advising technology companies that operate in the Insurtech space. Some of the companies he advised include Guidewire, Duckcreek, CCCS, Intelligent So...
2024-02-0613 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastBringing New insurance Ideas to Market By Understanding Existing Market Profitability & Product Solutions (w/Randel Bennett, Qixent Insurance)Randel Bennett is founder and Principal Consultant at Qixent Insurance Services, turning insurance concepts into tangible, successful products by bridging gaps in pricing, underwriting, and coverage.
Randel describes the common thread of insurance being highly regulated. Product managers are the "mini-CEO" of their state, which creates a product-centric approach and change is driven by regulation. The product manager has high knowledge of the minute details about their product.
He talks about insurtech entering the scene and working with product managers to satisfy the requirements and also satisfy what the customer needs and wants as that...
2024-01-2913 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastAn Extremely Motivating Story of Insurtech Success to Start 2024 - How We Built a Business That is Growing 30% a Year (w/David Embry & Belen Tokarski, CEO & COO of Mylo)David Embry is the founder and chief executive officer of Mylo, an insurtech leader that brings its unbiased, insurance quoting engine, Mind of Mylo, to distribution and agency partners to connect business owners and individuals with top-rated insurance products. He is responsible for the overall vision and financial performance of the business as well as developing strategic partnerships. Embry is a seasoned entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience leading financial and insurance companies. He brings deep expertise and innovation to Mylo. Previously, Embry served as the president of SelectQuote Benefit Solutions and managing director at J.P. Morgan.
B...
2024-01-0214 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastThe US Has One of the Largest Socialized Healthcare Systems for 150m Americans But Insurtech Largely Ignores It (w/Joseph Schneier, CEO Trusty)Joseph Schneier is CEO of Trusty.care, connecting sales, marketing, and member engagement for 150m Americans that receive insurance through Medicare, Medicaid, or Marketplace plans. The company provides an enterprise SaaS solution to the country's most direct-to-consumer health insurance sector.
Joseph says that most insurtech founders do not have personal experience in this space but that it has a disfragmented distribution network and many similar challenges as the private insurance sector. Just as a refresher, Medicare's coverage is 85% for people over the age of 65 and 15% for people living with chronic conditions, Medicaid covers low-income individuals and marketplace p...
2023-12-1113 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastThe Blue Ocean Opportunity for Insurance Agencies (w/John Morlan, CEO Smarter Risk)John Morlan founded Smarter Risk that simplifies and streamlines the assessment, reporting, and development of risk control programs. Smarter Risk is a self-serve platform for communicating and improving insurable risk. It enables small business owners to qualify for the best rates, insurers to offer their most competitive prices, and agencies to leverage risk control as a competitive advantage.
The product helps small and medium sized business assess their risk controls to inform surveys and the underwriting process. The self-assessment workflow auto-generates recommendations for improvement, and dynamically changes the risk report. Insurers can evaluate how the business has i...
2023-12-0413 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastSpend Underwriters Time Wisely - They Are Your Key to Running a Profitable Book (w/Paul Monasterio, CEO Kalepa)Paul Monasterio co-founded Kalepa in 2018 with the mission to help commercial insurance underwriters bind business with confidence. Kalepa's AI-powered Copilot software enables underwriters to focus their time on the highest ROI opportunities and to quickly evaluate and optimally select risk.
Paul talks about finding the balance between underwriters saying yes to everything versus saying no to everything, to focus their time on selecting exactly the right opportunities that bring profitability and reduce claims risk. The first decision an underwriter has to make is where to use their time - so Copilot helps triage opportunities based on their...
2023-10-3012 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastWhy I Bet on Evolving the Insurance Model rather than Technological Disruption (w/Jeff Shi, Insurtech Groups)Jeff Shi is founder of Insurtech Groups, connecting consumers with industry partners. by help consumers to better understand their policies in an effort to meet each of their unique needs.
Jeff talks about insurtech enhancing client experience vs. disruption. Insurtech Groups is consumer-facing technology that seeks to evolve the $100B insurance space across claims, service, billing and brokers.
Jeff foresees many more people joining from the insurance world and insurtechs becoming really good at making money from insurance rather than technology. Enhancing the client experience for the customer, carrier and agents is more important than 'a...
2023-10-2313 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastHow a Claims Processor Morphed into a Leading Insurtech - It’s All About the Workflows (w/Troy Stewart, COO Brush Claims)Troy Stewart is President and COO of Brush Claims an insurtech that is streamlining the claims management process. Troy describes having started as a claims adjuster to now serving as President & COO of this successful business model, with his vision of tech driven, human-led claims.
In 2015, the company started building its own proprietary technology to remove bottlenecks, solving for escalations and time delays. By 2019 this traditional claims company had already fully transitioned from its legacy claims management system to its homegrown Hub applications, with a secure claims portal for policyholders, and a scoping application used by adjusters and...
2023-10-1612 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastInsurtech Investing to Save the Planet - Launching a $100M Climatetech Fund (w/Drew D’Alelio, Sr. Investor at VC Connecticut Innovations)Drew D’Alelio is a senior associate at Connecticut Innovations working on the Climate Tech Fund. He has a passion for combating climate change, innovative financing, and economic development. At CI Drew manages the entire investment cycle, from sourcing, due diligence, all the way through to portfolio management, and has invested in companies focused on insurtech, EV charging, circular economy, grid intelligence, and more. Drew holds a MPP and MBA from Yale and a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern.
CI’s $100 million climate fund launched in the summer of 2022 to catalyze Connecticut’s climate innovation economy, thanks to the s...
2023-10-0912 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastCreating the Venmo-Paypal of Insurtech with a Verified Data Layer for Insurance Customers (w/Tolga Tezel, CEO Canopy Connect)Did you know that over 1900 companies and 8000 agents are using Canopy Connect to increase conversion in insurance sales and verification?
Today we talk to Tolga Tezel, Founder & CEO at Canopy Connect, who was an early engineer at Dropbox. He helped build Nova Credit for US newcomers to obtain fair access to credit through their international data.
These experiences drove him to discover other areas where consumers have a difficult time getting value and convenience from their own data. From 2019 he began interviewing literally hundreds of insurance agencies and learned that getting accurate, comprehensive data from t...
2023-10-0212 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastSolving the Value Chain on Surety Bonds from Carrier to Broker to End Customer (w/Aaron Steffey and Chris Kolger, Propeller Bonds)Aaron Steffey and Chris Kolger are co-founders of Propeller Bonds, an insurtech managing general underwriter (MGU) equipped with a proprietary instant issue surety bond platform housing nearly 7,000 instant issue surety bonds.
Propeller is a tech company built to simplify, automate, and distribute surety bonds more efficiently for agents and carriers. Aaron manages the company’s strategy, fundraising, and growth efforts, and Chris oversees the Propeller's daily underwriting operations and technological advancements of the platform.
The company sold its first bond in 2020 and now has 3,500 agents signed up to the platform, signing thousands of bonds per month...
2023-09-1112 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastInsuring Expats, One of the Country’s Fastest Growing Insurance Segments (w/Daniel McChesney, CEO TripDoctor)
Daniel McChesney, MD is the Founder and CEO of TripDoctor, pioneering digital health insurance and health care access for expats and nomads. As a world traveler and long-time expat, he saw an opportunity to improve the healthcare access issues of his fellow expats and nomads through better insurance products.
Expat insurance is a much larger market than travel insurance, a market of $25B where the rate of Americans moving abroad having tripled since the pandemic. TripDoctor is responding to that demand with an insurtech that makes expat healthcare simple, acting as a digital broker with access to...
2023-09-0512 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastWe’re Building the Kayak of Speciality Lines - Starting with Cyber and E&O (w/Kelsey Byrne Kelly, COO & CoFounder eSpeciality Insurance)Kelsey Byrne Kelly is the co-founder and COO of eSpecialty Insurance, a digital agency that uses technology to provide small- and mid-sized businesses with expert advisory on professional liability and cyber insurance.
eSpeciality solves for two pain points in speciality lines: market access and availability of expertise. Empowers the small business owner to get access to high-quality, unbiased market expertise. Kelsey is focused on understanding the customer through the lens of technology to make expertise scalable.
eSpeciality utilizes application information to understand exposures, inform the customer and make coverage recommendations straight-through to making the quote. Sm...
2023-08-2812 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastImplementing New Data Pipelines to Bring Life Insurance into the 21st Century (w/Nick Bowman, CEO Motif Insurance)Nicholas Bowman is the Founder and CEO of Motif Insurance building the first data clearinghouse for the independent life insurance market. Motif seeks to create a comprehensive ecosystem that harnesses the power of data and AI/ML to revolutionize how carriers, IMOs, brokers, and consumers interact and manage life insurance policies.
In this episode Nick describes how being agent and understanding the pain points has helped to transition into working with carriers to help improve the life insurance process. He forecasts the shift towards independent broker networks. More than 80% of customers want to talk with an agent, yet...
2023-08-1412 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastHelping Carriers Move from Risk-Sharing to Data-Sharing in the Multi-Family Residential Market (w/Alice Melendez, CEO of BOON)Alice Melendez is CEO of BOON, an insurance marketplace for multi-family residential buildings.
In this episode, Alice describes how she is simplifying the process of issuing and managing all insurance lines within a building, providing cross-risk visibility for carriers and real-time risk alerts.
BOON solves for managing risk for a single building, which can involve the support of multiple carriers such as for personal lines, commercial lines, or financial lines. The service manages the sector like a digital MGA, connecting all the systems and documentation for carriers, and benefiting all stakeholders from brokers to end...
2023-08-0812 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastHow Do Insurers Address Financial Stress in the Millennials & Gen Z Workforce? (w/David Thorne, CEO Thumbscore)David Thorne is CEO of Thumbscore, a financial wellness platform that reduces the stress of managing personal finance.
Thumbscore solves for the workforce of millennials and Gen Z, who have strong financial literacy and positive financial habits but have high financial stress. In the episode, David explains why simple budgeting or micro-managing approaches are ineffective for these groups. They tend to be curious and want to be free to explore, but also value timely advice at the right moment.
Thumbscore serves users at their 'financial moments of truth' providing insights, education, gamification, and the recommended ne...
2023-07-3113 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastAdapting Parametric Insurance to the Customer Needs of Today (w/Andrew Jernigan, CEO & Co-Founder of Insured Nomads)Andrew Jernigan is co-founder and CEO of Insured Nomads, an emerging leader globally in disrupting the way insurance is designed and delivered for the modern company.
Insured Nomads is positioned at the intersection of insurance and safety innovation, building a delivery model for health insurance enabling employers to provide health, medical, wellbeing and security for their team no matter where they are in the world.
In this episode, Andrew shares his passion for protecting people around the world and what it takes to build a completely new insurance model, adapting an antiquated travel insurance product t...
2023-07-2412 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastHelping Underwriters Turn R&W Transaction Liability Insurance Into a Safer Policy (w/Layla Atya, CEO & Founder Quantumerge)Layla Atya is CEO & Founder of Quantumerge, the only digital representation & warranty (R&W) insurance liability platform to assess, underwrite, and mitigate transactional risk.
Quantumerge simplifies and streamlines the R&W insurance process for buyers, sellers, and brokers. Their core product places and underwrites M&A transactional liability policies, acting between brokers and payers to automate the workflow.
Layla says the number one problem in this space is a lack of efficiency, that representations and warranties are such a manual process. The underwriter has to 'cherrypick' conditions, using their own knowledge of financial metrics and t...
2023-07-1712 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastWhy Financial Services Provided by Banks to Insurers and Agencies is Broken (w/Sven Gerlach, CTO Turris)Sven Gerlach is CTO and co-founder at Turris, an API-first banking platform made for the insurance industry, whose co-founder and CEO Doug ver Mulm was the former CEO of Stable insurance.
Turris is creating a user interface to help tech-enabled agencies automate all of their banking processes, addressing the painful process of account opening at a bank. Examples of basic banking processes that insurance agencies rely on can be explaining reversals or using popular payment solutions like Stripe.
For operating businesses, cash reconciliation and funds administration can cost 10-20% of a small agency's time of m...
2023-07-1112 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastWhat’s Special About Insurtech? People Support and Share Data and Insights (w/Yuval Shafrir, Founder & CEO Urbanico)Yuval Shafrir is the CEO & Co-founder of Urbanico (https://www.linkedin.com/company/urbanico/), the urban intelligence platform.
In this episode, we explore how Urbanico adds value to the insurance industry by refining risk selection, underwriting guidelines and pricing looking 150 times closer into the personal-related risk of each written policy.
By providing insurance carriers with hyper-localized urban data, urbanico adds contextual risk factors that allow carriers to personalize the underwriting and pricing practices, significantly enlarging their book of business while improving their loss-ratio.
Yuval is a physicist by education and came with a...
2023-07-0312 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastFocusing on the Life of the Underwriter and Making It Better via Technology (w/Adam Cherubini, CRO Send)Adam Cherubini leads the partnerships and business development efforts of Send, a leading Insurtech productivity platform for managing new business, renewals and endorsements. Send is a rapidly growing InsurTech software company based in London and the United States with global reach. The company has developed an innovative connected workbench that enables re/insurers and MGAs to automate, streamline and optimize their underwriting operations.
Their SaaS platform brings complex data out of silos into one solution, providing a consolidated view throughout the lifecycle. Its automation enables new and mature carriers to eliminate rekeying, improve predictability, and work smarter.
...
2023-06-2612 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastWhy to Make the Jump from a Traditional Insurer to a High-Growth Insurtech (w/Max McClure, SVP Underwriting & Reinsurance at Steadily)Max McClure is SVP Underwriting & Reinsurance at Steadily, having made the inspired jump from traditional insurers to a high-growth insurtech. Steadily is an insurtech that is bringing fast, affordable landlord insurance to rental property owners.
Steadily focuses exclusively on US-landlords as a niche, which is overlooked by bigger insurers as "product 50/100". It is a tech-forward solution, where all of the co-founders were landlords prior to founding the company. The CEO was able to exit his prior company and invest the proceeds into building a new style of insurance for landlords.
Max recognizes that bigger organizations wo...
2023-06-1912 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastLengthen Your Runway and Other Tips to Surviving a Down Market - (w/David Schapiro, Planck Co-Founder)David Schapiro is Co-Founder at Planck AI based data analytics for insurance; Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee at ManyPets - a provider of pet insurance in the UK, Sweden and US; a Director at Ahoy! Insurance - a recreational marine insurer; and advisor to Quantee - provider of AI-based dynamic insurance pricing; Herald - Digital infrastructure for commercial insurance; and Sayata - streamlining the quote-bind-issue process for commercial insurance brokers and carriers.
In today's episode, David talks about how to navigate the current markets, from an insurtech perspective and from an insurer's perspective. He d...
2023-06-0612 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastLearning from Real Stories of Insurance Change (w/Bryan Falchuk, Founder Insurance Evolution Partners)Bryan Falchuk is Founder of Insurance Evolution Partners, which advises carriers and their partners on how to navigate an evolving industry facing disruption and change. He is also the President & CEO of Insurance industry trade group, PLRB, that is dedicated to helping adjusters to make expert decisions on Property and Liability claims.
Bryan spent 20+ years in the insurance industry, including serving as Head of Claims for Hiscox USA and leading Growth for insurtech communications solution, Hi Marley. Bryan has also held leadership roles in corporate strategy, operations and distribution at carriers like Liberty Mutual and Beazley. He...
2023-05-3012 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastBreaking Down Barriers for Insurtechs: Why We Launched a Non-Profit Industry Association (w/Bob Sargent & Doug Ver Mulm, InsurTech Association)Bob Sargent is President and Co-Founder with me of the Insurtech Association (ITA), a membership-based non-profit organization designed to support and represent all facets of the Insurtech ecosystem. Doug Ver Mulm is Volunteer Executive Director of the ITA.
In addition to his work with the ITA, Bob is also the CEO and Co-Founder of eSpecialty Insurance, a digital retail broker specializing in specialty lines insurance, and Doug is Co-Founder of a stealth startup serving the financial operations needs of the insurance industry - his second in Insurtech.
The InsurTech Association, launched in March 2023, carries the...
2023-05-2212 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastWe Turned Employee Safety & Compliance Into an Insurance Product (w/Jason Berkowitz, Founder ArrowUp)Jason Berkowitz is currently CEO and Founder of ArrowUp, providing restaurant safety, compliance & leadership. ArrowUp helps restaurant owners reduce risk, satisfy compliance regulations and develop a culture of safety.
ArrowUp's Insurtech platform strengthens the relationship between the insured and insurer by utilizing tools to promote safe habits and capture data for enhanced underwriting, ultimately lowering risk and liability for insured restaurant owners.
He is addressing a market size of $16B in restaurant claim payouts annually, in a culture where lawsuits and union suits are commonplace. ArrowUp makes restaurants safer by providing leadership development, lowering turnover a...
2023-05-0812 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastOpening a Profitable Insurance Niche Market Means Finding Tribes (w/Blair Baldwin, CEO Boundless Rider)Blair Baldwin is CEO of Boundless Rider, a specialty MGA focused on product innovation for the motorcycle, power-sports, and e-bike markets.
Tribes of riders form an underserved market niche that includes motorcycles, UTVs, snowmobiles and new forms of mobility. Because these categories represent only 2-3% of an insurer's book, they have not introduced unique new customer personas of riders. Boundless created a new brand of customer experience, and added new features to the product. One example is an e-bikes optional endorsement linked to the Boundless mobile app that enables product discounts for usage.
Blair says th...
2023-04-2512 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastHow Insurers Can Price Companies Ability to Mitigate DEI Risk (w/James Felton-Keith, Inclusion Score)James Felton Keith is Founder of Inclusion Score, an award-winning engineer and economist who was the first Black LGBTQ person to run for US Congress. James is currently an elected member of the New York Democratic Committee and is a frequent keynote at global venues like the United Nations, Future Tech Congress, Data Protection World Forum, and the World Pride Human Rights Forum. As an entrepreneur, he established the first international diversity & inclusion certification and the first insurance policy for a lack-of-inclusion based on an "inclusion score".
James has also founded multiple companies in Insurtech, Fintech and A...
2023-04-1112 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastOn Becoming a Pure-Play Software Technology Provider for Insurers (w/Shameem Shah, CTO InsurIQ)Shameem Shah is Chief Technology Officer at InsurIQ, providing the insurance industry with specialized resources and SaaS products design to create speed and efficiency throughout the policy life cycle.
Shameem tells the story of how InsurIQ came to be, pivoting from business process outsourcing and inventing code to becoming a pure-play software tech provider. Over time the team added submission-to-quote-and-bind processes including policy administration, digital store for direct-to-consumer, agency onboarding, license management, appointments and policy terminations.
InsurIQ now assists insurance providers, managers, and distributors in achieving their digital transformation objectives in both B2B and D...
2023-03-2812 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastIntegrating Modern Digital Tools into Life Insurance (w/Mark Scafaro, CEO Afficiency)Mark Scafaro is the CEO and co-founder of Afficiency, an insurtech transforming the end-to-end life insurance buying process and accelerating the time it takes to get applicants approved and covered.
Afficiency delivers life insurance products on an all-encompassing digital platform, available for digital distributors from quote to policy all via API. Its focus is on building life insurance products that a consumer can purchase in less than ten minutes.
Afficiency's API allows distributors to offer innovative digital life insurance products. Its proprietary "likelihood to be approved score" or ApprovedAPI optimizes conversion funnels and spikes approval r...
2023-02-2012 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastHow the Proliferation of Ridesharing Created a New $2B Insurance Segment (w/Les Schlesinger, CEO ClaimRide)Les Schlesinger is CEO at ClaimRide. Claim Ride is the leading facilitator of ride share/hailing service providers (Uber, Lyft, YellowCab) for policy holders receiving transportation (rental reimbursement) benefits under their automobile insurance coverage. The solution provides access to ride share services that enhance and or replace a typical rental car benefit received from an insurance company, Motor Club or Roadside Assistance Company. Claim Ride offers an end-to-end solution including a Mobile Application that facilitates ride share benefits in the event of a covered loss.
Les talks about seeing this major opportunity early as a reputable industry insider...
2022-10-2412 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastHow Better Understanding Intent Drives Life & Health Insurability Scores (w/Sudhama Gopalan, AveriSana)Sudhama Gopalan is founder and CEO of AveriSana Inc., an insurtech startup that uses data science and machine learning to make customer acquisition in life and health insurance more cost-efficient and productive.
Matching customers to products used to be about understanding intent and then looking at insurability (health and medical records) later on in the sales funnel. Technology now enables insurers to aligning intent with insurability simultaneously in order to reduce the total cost of acquiring a customer and a higher match and customer experience.
The team started by modeling outcomes however using more data were...
2022-10-1812 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastHow Actuaries and Insurers Can Deal With Crypto (w/Eyhab Aejaz, CEO Breach)Eyhab Aejaz is CEO at Breach, developing cyber insurance solutions for the growing $2T+ cryptocurrency market.
Breach has built a proprietary policy issuance and administration platform and an industry-first solution to insure clients of popular cryptocurrency custodians and exchanges.
Eyhab says crypto is built on trust and transparency, yet decentralized markets the product is based on those same standards. Crypto is not illegal because it is taxed, so they see it as a type of asset, with a buyer, seller, and exposure to risk.
Eyhab sees crypto coverage being similar to jewelry insurance, a...
2022-10-1012 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastDigital Underwriting Might Take Ten Minutes, but Insurance Remains About Personal Relationships (w/Upasana Unni at Sayata)Upasana Unni is the Chief Commercial Officer of Sayata, a marketplace where wholesale brokers can find small business insurance from multiple carriers in just a few minutes.
Upasana oversees market partnerships and carrier relationships and says insurance remains a relationships business, with people on the phone. Insurance remains a very relationship-driven place, needing well-respected voices making the calls to place business. She does not see a zero-touch digital-only experience being possible in more complex insurance areas like commercial and speciality lines. Brokers need support on the 20% of policies that do not fly through the underwriting/renewal process...
2022-10-0412 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastWhy There Will Still Be Human Intermediaries for a Long Time (w/Mark Breading, Strategy Meets Action)Mark Breading, Partner at Strategy Meets Action is known for his insights on the future of the insurance industry and innovative uses of technology.
Mark says expertise and relationships are at the heart of every business, whether origination or distribution, and digital-only models will not be taking over for a long time. His belief is everyone in the industry needs to develop more relationship skills and responsibilities, and that agencies in particular will maintain their strong role.
While recruiting people from other industries and geographies is also having a high impact on cultural norms, larger...
2022-09-1912 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastWhat are Legal Predictive Analytics? Adding Data Science to the Art of Claims Adjusting (w/Frank Giaoui, Optimalex)Frank Giaoui is President of Optimalex, a legal predictive analytics insurtech. Wait...What are legal predictive analytics, exactly?
Insurance companies today apply their own benchmarks to settling legal cases, and may share medical claims but typically do not have access to external benchmarks. Optimalex adds science to the historical art of claims adjustment.
The head of legal claims analysis and/or chief risk officer typically engage with Optimalex, defining key success metrics, ie. reducing the loss ratio by an accretive amount.
Optimalex starts by extracting unstructured public data on litigated cases, whether motor ve...
2022-09-1312 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastHow to Best Engage Early-stage InsurTech Venture Capital (w/Jason Gross, ManchesterStory)
Jason Gross is Vice President & Head of Platform for ManchesterStory an early-stage InsurTech venture capital in Des Moines Iowa.
Key insights in today's episode:
✅Leaders often assume employees are resistant to change, but as it turns out the most experienced employees are the most excited about change because they have felt the 'pain points' for the longest time.
✅ManchesterStory is 6-years old, is US-focused on seed-stage insurtechs and fintechs and will lead early rounds, having invested in 5 companies since last November so are not slowing the pace given current market conditions.
✅Jason r...
2022-08-0812 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastEarly Insurtech Investors Thought they were Investing in SaaS, but Insurance is Very Different (w/Adrian Jones, HSCM Ventures)Adrian Jones is a partner at HSCM Ventures, the venture capital investment arm of Hudson Structured Capital Management Ltd., an alternative asset manager in re/insurance and transport.
Today's episode is an in-depth look at capital-raising, whether funding losses is a viable model, revising business plans, and what types of people become successful.
✅Carriers remain 'followers' rather than fast followers, because culturally the industry has been operated more conservatively than other industries.
✅There are good examples of companies who are early adopters taking advantage of the new technologies and insurtech and exist in all sh...
2022-07-0512 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastWhy is the Insurance Industry Trying to Reach us When We’re Watching Sports Games? (w/Daniel Demetri, CEO Trellis)Daniel Demetri is the founder and CEO of Trellis, an insurtech company leading a fundamental shift in how businesses and consumers engage with insurance. Trellis provides insurance optimization, depending on consumer needs for higher coverage, lower deductibles, better service quality, or lower cost.
Daniel believes consumers deserve financial services and experiences that automatically work cohesively to support and simplify their lives.
Daniel built Trellis to enable consumers to compare their existing policy, purchase a new policy, and cancel their old one, using data from the insurance experience that helps banks and insurers cross-sell products & services.
2022-06-2112 min
The Insurtech Leadership Podcast5 Lessons for First-time Entrepreneurs: Starting an Insurtech (w/Bob Frady, VP HazardHub acquired by Guidewire)Bob Frady, CEO of HazardHub decided to start a company when a family member’s home unexpectedly flooded. HazardHub's goal was make those tools available to every single homeowner in the United States. "While we can’t prevent disasters from happening, we can give you a leg up in preparation."
Today Bob provides direct, no-nonsense insights into what it takes to bootstrap your vision, not take early capital, having enough confidence in your vision to walk away from partners who are not ready, and operating as a team.
✅About raising capital: "People offered is cheap money...
2022-06-0712 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastWhen is the Right Time and What are the Right Reasons to Reach out to a Series A VC (w/Andy Lerner, IA Capital Group)Andrew Lerner is Managing Partner of IA Capital Group, having launched IA Capital's venture capital business which is now the firm’s core activity. Andy is a Director of Credit Sesame, SmartAsset, Matic, and Marble.
Andy notes the VC industry has matured from being the Wild West to become a founder-friendly industry. IA's sweet spot is Series A or five years before the potential sale of a company versus the seed stage where you have to wait ten years or more. The right time to reach out is when your company has $1M revenue or more, are he...
2022-05-1712 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastPeople Hate Shopping for Insurance, So Embedding is Key for our Industry (w/Matt Chesky, Insuritas)Matt Chesky is the President of Insuritas a leading provider of embedded insurance solutions for financial institutions in the U.S.
Matt says the process of ensuring you are getting the right coverage at the right price is painful. Insuritas believes part of the solution is to embed access to insurance products in environments where customers are already used to spending time.
Insuritas is an 'original' insurtech, founded in the late 90s to help banks and credit unions run their own insurance agencies as a turnkey solution, so have two decades of experience with embedded...
2022-04-1912 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastUnlocking Under-served Insurance Markets by Embedding Insurance at the Right Place (w/Harry Croydon, CEO MIC Global)Harry Croydon is the founder of STP Group and the President and CEO of MIC Global.
MIC Global provides simple insurance that is accessible, affordable, and relevant, by creating highly relevant insurance products that attract and retain customers enhancing customers' brand and drive growth.
Their overarching goal is to make the safety net of insurance available to all. The big idea behind MIC Global was to focus on straight-through-processing (STP), with high volume sales, and the ability to process claims very efficiently.
Harry describes technologies that create embedded insurance solutions for platforms that pr...
2022-04-0512 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastWhat Speciality Underwriting Does and How Risk Capital Providers Work (w/Jeffrey Radke, Co-Founder & CEO at Accelerant)Meet Jeffrey Radke, Co-Founder & CEO at Accelerant, a successful insurtech with more than 150 employees.
Accelerant has created a common cause of loss nomenclature across multiple areas and countries. Working across jurisdictions adds complexity, but also informs discovery of new market opportunities for underwriters.
Culturally, Jeff notes a key challenge is finding experienced insurance executives who are not afraid to make a decision, and have a high willingness to collaborate.
Jeff sees a significant opportunity in bundling insurance in such a way that underwriters do not need to look at individual policies as a de...
2022-03-2912 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastHow to Build Insurance Products that are Fun and Accessible to Everyone (w/Mike Cavanaugh, VP Insurtech Growth at Boost)Meet Michael Cavanaugh Vice President of Insurtech Growth for Boost Insurance, where he is responsible for the development, implementation, and success of new & emerging products for Insurtech businesses. Whether Pet, Renters or Cyber - Boost is enabling companies to write the new fun and profitable lines of insurance and remove barriers to entry.
Before his move to Boost, Mike was with Apogee Insurance Group for 12 years where he led the growth and development of the Tech & Cyber product broking team.As a graduate of the St. Joseph’s University School of Risk Management and a Certified Ethical Hack...
2022-03-2212 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastInsurtech Hartford Helps Companies Grow and Prosper (w/Stacey Brown, Insurtech Hartford and AXA-XL)Today meet Stacey Brown who is Head of Global Technology Innovation at AXA XL, a Division of AXA, and Founder at InsurTech Hartford. Stacey is an insurance technology executive with a strong tech background with over 20 years industry experience developing high-performing IT teams and strategic solutions. Atop his responsibilities as an IT executive, Stacey is most recently known for his role in jumpstarting the one of the world’s most successful InsurTech ecosystems, InsurTech Hartford.
Stacey founded Insurtech Hartford by a genuine interest, he saw the insurtech scene happening in other places and didn't see it outside his...
2022-03-0812 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastWe’re From a Tough Neighborhood, Independence and Innovation are our Culture (w/Kobi Bendelak, CEO Insurtech Israel)Happy to chat with Kobi Bendelak, Founder and CEO of InsurTech Israel. We met Kobi at a recent event in Stamford, CT and his super-high energy and inside knowledge of Insurtech from the Israeli market is such a welcome voice!
The company has four areas of activity: Investment, Consulting, Events and News and the Israeli Insurtech Accelerator. This combination of activities make InsurTech Israel one of the leading and most active participants in the global Insurtech ecosystem.
Kobi has a deep InsurTech knowledge base with 22 years of experience in the insurance industry, is former CEO of a...
2022-03-0112 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastSubrogation: How AI is Enabling the Pursuit of Third Party Liability Across All Insurance Lines (w/Gabriel Weiss, Co-founder Safekeep)Gabriel Weiss is the Co-Founder & Chief Customer Officer at Safekeep. A Top 10 Insurtech Insight's Future 50 company and the Global Gold Winner in the Zurich Innovation Challenge, Safekeep is an AI platform that mines claims files for profit. Gabriel is responsible for Safekeep's growth and oversees the company's sales, business development, marketing, customer success, and partnerships.
Today we deep-dive into the oft-overlooked subrogation opportunity for insurance carriers. Safekeep's AI and deep subrogation expertise ingests and mines claims files for subrogation opportunities, and automates the end-to-end recovery workflow. Carriers are able to augment their ability to recover more dollars, in...
2022-02-0812 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastPutting Equity and Diversity into the Heart of Insurtech (w/Elizabeth McCluskey, Director at CMFG Ventures, Cuna Mutual)Elizabeth McCluskey is a Director at CMFG Ventures, the venture capital arm of CUNA Mutual Group. She is the head of the Discovery Fund, which focuses on early-stage fintech companies led by underrepresented founders.
Today she talks about financial inclusion, low-income populations, and sourcing entrepreneurs directly from these communities.
She discusses impact investing vs. just making sound investments for financial return, and the fund's core theses around budgeting and financial management, credit access/building, affordable debt, wealth building, financial wellness and embedding financial literacy in all of these.
Elizabeth sheds light on member-serving c...
2022-02-0112 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastHow Legal Can Take a Leading Role in your Innovation Efforts (w/Michael Lanza, EVP General Counsel, Selective Insurance Group)Michael H. Lanza is Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Selective Insurance Group, Inc.
In today's episode, he traces his path from being a lawyer in Hartford at Cigna to being 17 years at Selective, a well-known super-regional commercial insurer.
Michael shares lessons about how legal can support the key aspects of technology and innovation for insurers. He led in the Insurtech multi-disciplinary task force at Selective that prepared analyses of the market, finding competitive advantage and reviewing opportunities in agency and distribution empowerment and customer experience.
He also recalls bringing together a st...
2022-01-1812 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastMajor Shifts in Mobility, Connectivity and Embedded Insurance (w/Tomer Kashi, CEO Voom)Tomer Kashi, CEO & Co-Founder at Voom Insurance, on-demand insurance for anything you can ride or fly. Voom is an MGA that focuses on use-based products around the future of mobility, using new sources of data to provide a better insurance experience for markets typically underserved by the incumbent providers.
One advantage Tomer sees for insurtechs is that In personal lines, most of the pricing models are publicly available. What he calls "Insurtech 2.0" is the ability to focus not only on user experience but the underlying risk models themselves.
Tomer sees three major shifts in the fut...
2022-01-1112 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastIdentifying Which Carriers are the Easiest to Collaborate with (w/David Gritz, InsurTech NY and Bryan Falchuk, Insurance Evolution Partners)We're proud to introduce our friends David Gritz at InsurTechNY and Bryan Falchuck at Insurance Evolution Partners. The two are partnering with Conning Research & CB Insights to gather 200+ Insurtech leaders insights about their insurance carrier partners and publish the results in a ranking of the best carriers for collaboration- Complete the survey here: https://lnkd.in/geHjP2UJ
David is the co-founder of InsurTech NY, the largest InsurTech community in the NY metro area. David also serves as a strategic advisor to high-growth InsurTechs to help them go from concept to scale. Previously David has served as the Dir...
2022-01-0412 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastMeet The Godfather of Insurtech creator of Lemonade, D&O, Cyber, IP and Y2K Insurance (w/Ty Sagalow, Cofounder Assurely)Ty Sagalow is recognized as one of his generation's most influential insurance professionals, developing an unprecedented number of new products for the world’s largest insurance companies.
Before co-founding Assurely, Ty was a founding member of Lemonade and served as its founding Chief Insurance Officer. Ty spent 25 years at AIG and was the Chief Innovation Officer for Zurich following that experience. He is considered the creator of Entity Coverage Directors & Officers Insurance, Cyber Insurance, Reputation Insurance, Y2K Insurance, Collectible Authenticity Insurance, and Intellectual Property Collateral Insurance.
He is the author of three books, including The...
2021-12-2011 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastWhy Relentless Customer Focus and Speed Trump Everything Else (w/Andrew Wynn, Co-Founder Ascend and Sheltr (acquired by Hippo))Andrew Wynn, Co-Founder Ascend, the first modern insurance payments platform that provides automated all-in-one financing, collections, and payables. Ascend is funded by heavyweight investors FirstRound, FirstMark, Susa Ventures, South Park Commons and Box Group.
Andrew and co-founder Praveen Chekuri previously built Sheltr. The company became the first acquisition made by insurtech unicorn Hippo because of its intuitive and technological approach to building an insurance product that went beyond the customer interaction. Prior to Sheltr, both Andrew and Praveen were employees at Instacart, leading the company’s product and data integration team. Prior to that the two founders were...
2021-12-1412 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastData as a Growth Formula for Small Business Insurance Brokers (w/Matthew Ranauro, Founder & CEO Benefix)Matt Ranauro is the Founder and CEO of Benefix.
Matt's podcast insights focus on creating broker and agency trust in data. He says you have to trust the machine, and this behavioral change takes time.
Matt's career has spanned over 15 years as a designer, technologist, and entrepreneur. In 2016 Matt started Benefix as a side project when he found the process of finding benefits for his company a nightmare. Fast forward to the present and Benefix is improving the experience for carriers, brokers, small businesses and their employees. What began as a way to create efficiency for a...
2021-11-3012 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastHow to Spot Embedded Insurance Opportunities (w/Gloria Guntiñas Vanzo, CEO MLTPLY and Pouch)Gloria Guntiñas Vanzo, CEO at two insurtech companies MLTPLY, and Pouch - it's the first time we've featured a double-CEO on the pod!
Pouch went to market earlier this year in automotive insurance, and MLTPLY came out of an additional opportunity discovered during the launch of Pouch.
Gloria says that in insurance, 80% of the problem tends to be well-known, but 20% tends to be really hard to fix, leading to balancing speed with depth and focus.
Truly innovative ideas tend to be difficult to implement in insurtech due to the high level of regulat...
2021-11-2212 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastWe Saw 1,500 Insurtech Deals and Invested in 12: Here‘s Why. (w/Bill Keogh, COO Eos Venture Partners)Bill Keogh COO at Eos Venture Partners a global strategic VC Fund focused on #insurtech.
Bill comes from industry, having spent 15 years in underwriting and saw the early iterations of catastrophe risk modeling from the 1990s on.
The big idea behind Eos is they seek to have a positive impact on the lives of half a billion people by closing the protection gap, making insurance better, more accessible and affordable.
Eos invests exclusively in early-stage Series A insurtechs, lead the round and take a board seat. Their focus is currently on cyber risk.
2021-11-0912 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastFinding the Biggest Opportunities in Life Insurance (w/Brian Kass, President CMFG Ventures at Cuna Mutual)Brian Kaas is President at CMFG Ventures the M&A and corporate venture capital fund for Cuna Mutual, and is Board Member at multiple #insurtechs. Brian is leveraging his insurance law background to lead the deals that will help drive the industry forward.
✅Brian sees insurtech as still 5 to 7 years behind where fintech is today, with more early-stage entrants than maturing companies to scale
✅Direct-to-consumer insurtechs in life insurance have a particular set of challenges, where name-brand recognition plays a major role
✅With auto insurance, you renew your policy every year, whereas with life ins...
2021-10-2612 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastInsurtech is Transforming the Way Employees Interact with their Healthcare (w/Guy Benjamin, Co-Founder Insurights)Guy Benjamin is working on digital health, formerly having trained in the Israeli Air Force, Yale and McKinsey. His Insurights is exploring the potential for digital transformation in the healthcare space.
20 years ago you'd go to a bank, later on you'd call a call center, and now you use an app. Health insurance is still at step 1 of transformation with call centers but has not yet truly digitized.
✅Insurights 'Zoe' takes on average 650-pages of coverage information and simplifies every question, enabling 'Customers' to become 'Consumers' for the first time
✅Zoe uses AI to unde...
2021-10-1912 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastInsurance is Not a Commodity (w/Ben Grosser, Co-Founder Telivy)Ben Grosser is Chief Insurance Officer at Telivy having elegantly mastered the jump from insurance to the technology and insurtech side to create new growth for the industry,
✅APIs allow us to now vertically integrate the insurance supply chain using one digital process from broker to product and servicing
✅Building APIs on both the insurtech and insurer side is accelerating the pace of learning and integrations
✅Ben puts focus on delivering an ultra-high quote ratio that partners can trust
✅The increasing frequency and severity of claims in cyber combined with the need to s...
2021-10-1212 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastBig Data‘s Big Impact on Worker‘s Compensation and What to Expect in the Next Decade (w/Heather Wilson, CEO CLARA Analytics)Heather Wilson was the first Chief Data Officer at AIG and Chief Analytics and AI Officer at LBrands before taking the role as CEO of Clara Analytics.
✅Clara helps deliver 10x-40x savings back on worker's compensation claims processing using AI and API integrations.
✅Clara's interface helps understand the complexity and nuance of claims including medical records, allowing the adjuster to recalibrate and choose the right specialist to review the injury in that exact location, predicting and preventing litigation.
✅The next decade will see a focus on speed and efficiency and 'no-touch' claims in the...
2021-09-2113 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastDon't be Surprised by Market Feedback - Be Dynamic & Adapt Fast! (w/Doug Roth, Insurtech Investor at Connecticut Innovations)Doug Roth, MD & at Connecticut Innovations is one of the top most active east-coast investors, with CI having closed more than 100 direct equity investments over the past 12 months including insurtechs. They focus on producing and re-investing financial returns on investment as an evergreen fund into new startups on a continual basis. Investments include direct Insurtech's like Aureus Analytics and more indirect, complementary insurance plays. Doug shares how CI runs its investment scouting strategy, investment diligence process and more, so don't miss out!
Follow Insurtech Leadership Podcast airing weekly hosted by Joshua R. Hollander. We give you up-close acce...
2021-08-1014 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastIt's Getting Incredibly Hard to Find Yield - Why We Need More Innovative Products (w/Paul Tyler, CMO Nassau Re)Paul Tyler is Chief Marketing Officer for Nassau Re, a 5-year old company driving innovation and new partners in the heart of the Insurance capital Hartford.
ReImagine! was designed to bring insurtech to Hartford and create new jobs. Nassau is focused on re-shaping retirement advice and services. They will soon be releasing a map of the 100-companies driving innovation and change in the space.
Paul sees room for more innovative products, for example focusing more on how long people live that returns, or managing their decumulation of assets. The lines between the traditional life stages...
2021-07-2013 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastPrediction Has a Value - Why Insurance Should Stop Bad Things from Happening (w/ Blake Hill, Dacadoo)Today's episode features Blake Hill from the executive team at Dacadoo, which is a Series C insurtech located in Waterloo which is like a combination of Silicon Valley + the Hartford of the north. Blake formerly worked in strategy at Manulife and is an actuary by trade. He "saw the light" on what insurance could become, and joined Dacadoo to help create that shift.
Dacadoo helps change the insurance business from risk to a services business. Healthcare has tons of money and demand, but still is not known as a services business. A true health and wellness platform wi...
2021-07-1315 min
The Insurtech Leadership Podcast3 Reasons Why There Will Be 199 More Lemonades over the Next Decade (w/Dave Bruno, Founder Red Planet Ventures)Dave Bruno founder Red Planet Ventures and former UBS Head Global Wealth Management Innovation.
He talks with Josh about having launched innovation at UBS, the world's largest private wealth manager, by exiting the "immune system" and unlocking doors to the outside market and innovators. Dave sees deep parallels to today's younger insurtech industry, how transforming a 200-year old industry and IT systems from the 1980s is in a similar state.
Banking has moved to a much lower marginal cost, whereas insurance still remains the top-line item in many people's budgets and is unwieldy and lacking cus...
2021-06-1512 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastIdentifying the Sweet Spot for Improving Customer and Carrier Experience in Claims (w/Tim Christ, Claimatic)Tim Christ VP of Growth at Claimatic, which was Insurtech before that was a word. IAS Claims created algorithms looking at large pools of claims to triage and assign the right adjusters based on location, experience, authorizations, schedules. The process went from days down to a few hours, carriers needed access to that logic, and Claimatic was born.
Claimatic connects the Policyholder, Adjusters and Vendors and their unique challenges in the claims cycle:
❗️ Customers who discover to their chagrin that they have a 16-step process to go through,
⏰ Adjusters who spend 65% of their time on...
2021-06-0113 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastWhy Everyone Wants to be the next Lemonade - Top Trends to Watch in Insurtech (w/Alan Walters, VP Insurance Research, Conning)Today Alan Walters of Conning shares research about trends in Insurtech in 2021.
Continued Impact in Distribution - independent agents and brokers can modernize, digital agency making it easier to buy and service policies,
Getting the Carrier C-suite feedback on working with insurtech, "This is a ten-year initiative for us, we need to cut the expense ratio,"
Reviewing insurance Value Chains, digging into your challenge spaces and see if there is an insurtech, for example in underwriting small businesses, or claims efficiency using analytics and adjustments,
Lemonade, which started in renter's and pe...
2021-05-2513 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastWhat Insurers Can Do to Prevent Being on the Wrong End of the Creative-Destructive Process (w/Jay DeVivo, CoFunder)Jay DeVivo, Founder at CoFunder talks to us today passionately about innovation process at insurance carriers and the process of identifying new market needs and a path to market acceptance.
Jay calls innovation "creative destruction". He says many insurers have not yet gone "all in" on the necessary process and commit true innovation to take place, including bringing in new people with new skillsets. Instead, we see insurers taking a good game but doing things that are comfortable. They can dismiss ideas because people don't come from their own niche (eg. P&C vs. Healthcare), or hide be...
2021-05-1812 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastMaking Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Effective by Knowing What You Stand For (w/Cynthia Hardy, Pivot Partners)Meet Cynthia Hardy, CEO and Founder at Pivot Global Partners, and recent author of 'Crossing Meridians'.
Cynthia created a concept of 'Design Agility' in parallel to design thinking, it's a construct to re-orient around the customer and guide work. It gives you a method of discovering what customers need and will pay for. She describes how leaders often over-rely on their known paths, and instead need to learn through discomfort and cross divides to surround themselves with people who do not think and act just like them.
Cynthia says acting on the pulse of the o...
2021-05-1220 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastWhat it's Like to Build a Lab at a 200-year old Insurer? (w/Christopher Lowell, ex-Head Innovation Lab at The Hartford)Christopher Lowell created The Hartford's Small Business Innovation Lab and was tasked with building out new channels to test whether the organization could launch a new service before bringing it back to the core. The Hartford are leaders in small commercial, true experts at running their core day-to-day business. They went in with a strategy to innovate from a position of strength, knowing they were a leader and wanting to take that leading position further.
Chris' role was partly to partner with the outside world. He describes insurers as builders with a strong brand that needs to b...
2021-05-0412 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastA +3-Year Review of the Predictions in 'The End of Insurance as We Know It' (w/Rob Galbraith, Author)Rob Galbraith, author of 'The End of Insurance as We Know It, started at USAA when insurance was still primarily advertised word-of-mouth in the military. His experience with tech startups led to writing the book and found an avid international audience. His nickname actually came from an early podcast appearance!
In today's episode, Rob and Josh check-in on what predictions from the book are coming to fruition, from devices and wearables to AI software. These technologies are driving insights and behavior, and regulations and laws are still catching up. Distributed ledger technologies are still not mainstream in i...
2021-04-2014 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastAI is not a Tech project, it's a Whole-Company Initiative (w/McGregor Faulkner, McKinsey)
McGregor Faulker, Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company has a wide view across the use of AI in insurance.
'Mac' says that for every dollar you're spending on the technology, you're spending more on behavioral change management. Driving lift on business metrics has to be the focus, not just setting technology targets.
To get value out of digital, you need to have the right strategy but also attract analytics and AI talent. Insurance may not be the first choice for top engineers, but there is a real opportunity and real sense of surprise by the impact on...
2021-04-1314 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastHow AI Learns to Read Insurance Policies (w/Ron Glozman, Founder Chisel AI)Ron Glozman, Founder Chisel AI studied computer science and business, taught his computer to read and created an algorithm to detect what course content to read in order to pass exams. His app went on to be ranked All Time Top 50 for students by Google. Based on this success, one of the largest insurance brokers reached out about policy checks, errors & omissions. So Ron taught his computer how to read insurance policies and automate the process.
From start-to-finish this whole episode is a fascinating deep dive into how Insurtech actually works! Ron explains in detail how natural...
2021-04-0714 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastInsurtech's Two Biggest Competitors (w/Jim Dwane, CRO Bolt Solutions Inc.)Proud to welcome Jim Dwane Chief Revenue Officer at Bolt Solutions Inc., the world’s largest P&C insurance exchange. Jim is a 30-year veteran of Travelers and AIG who wanted to capitalize and explore the new world of technology applied to his deep insurance experience.
Bolt is living proof that not all insurtech is new or run by technologist-millennials. Bolt has been working on transforming insurance for twenty years, continually iterating its core insurance distribution software. Bolt is international and has additional offerings in Asia and Europe than in the U.S. for example device protection and...
2021-03-3012 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastPeople with Experience and Relationships Make a Scalable Company (w/Mike Kalen, CEO Covr Technologies)Mike Kalen, CEO Covr Technologies has brought long-awaited disruption to the process of selling life insurance through advisors.
Mike says what used to take years now takes only months: Firms have a mandate to digitize their business, so partnerships have become easier. The Chief Digital / Transformation Officer is in a much better position to act as a champion and get new technologies in place than a traditional Head of a business line.
Part of Covr's secret of success has been giving up single-digit equity to build an active, world-class advisory board. These "sharks" will pick up...
2021-03-2413 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastTake Your Technology and Create Impact (w/Phil Budden, MIT Senior Lecturer)Dr. Phil Budden says insurance plays a fundamental role in our society and economy. People forget that insurance itself was a pretty funky innovation and underpinned the industrial revolution. Insurance will have a key role to play as industry switches over to work-from-home and protecting industrial secrets. Companies need insurance to innovate, for example autonomous vehicles. Not every insurtech wants to disrupt an incumbent, some want to help improve back-office processing or with a new user experience that speaks to younger demographics. Innovation applied to making your business more effective makes sense.
Check out the continuing education p...
2021-03-1613 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastNo One Will Hold It Against You If You Run an Initiative and Fail (w/Dror Katzav, CEO Atidot)Dror Katzav CEO Atidot spent his developmental years during 11 years in Israeli Intelligence. His R&D technology and solutions-focused unit did not wear ranks, it had a culture of seeking answers and let people be more creative in what they do.
Atidot recruits people who are experts in their areas, they let people run initiatives and fail and take on more responsibilities. Dror feels that if all initiatives are succeeding, people are not taking enough initiative and risk to grow.
Dror reflects on his team's development during Covid as being very positive, how remote working ch...
2021-03-0212h 00
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastActuarial science vs. Data science: Who Wins? (w/Jason Wootton, Founder Motionauto)
Meet Jason Wootton Founder Motionauto insurance, an MGA focused on automotive insurance using telematics.
You can learn how Motionauto is using telematics beyond underwriting to create driver profiles and scores, moving away from proxy data into real-time insights on how drivers actually drive. The rating algorithm has to help the consumer understand what they are actually paying for. If their rate changes, the agent should be able to say exactly why to justify the expense what you pay over a lifetime for auto insurance.
Follow Insurtech Leadership Podcast airing weekly hosted by Joshua R. Hollander. We give...
2021-02-2312 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastWhat should you be spending on outside law firms? (w/Raj Goyle, CEO Bodhala)Today's episode is about data, and using it to change the way law firms act on DEI.
"Inefficiency offends me!"
Raj Goyle, CEO Bodhala is passionate about the legal profession not being designed to meet the needs of society. Lawyers are there for the incumbents and the whole system is immature in how legal services are delivered sociologically and economically. The lack of diversity in the law profession is "Disgusting, pathetic, hypocritical, and they should be ashamed of themselves. It's about profit maximization, self-governed clubby guild." For example, more than half of law classes at...
2021-02-1613 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastEvery Area of Insurance will be Transformed by Technology (w/Jon Kelly, Founder Kelly Klee)Jon Kelly, Stanford grad ('95) comes from tech, he was using the pre-Yahoo on a private server in college. He is a serial entrepreneur was a co-founder at Softbank-backed e-Coverage (sold to GM 2001), and founded a second company SureHits (sold in 2008) that is still the back-end of many Insurtech's today.
Jon recalls founding Kelly Klee stemmed from his first attempts to get private insurance through an agent, and hearing, "If you want to get a policy with us, you don't call us, you go play golf with us." Kelly Klee was started for the higher-end of personal ins...
2021-02-0913 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastIoT Data is a Matter of Business Strategy (w/ Matteo Carbone, IoTinsObs)Popular and friendly influencer Matteo Carbone joined us live from New York talking all things IoT and Insurtech. Matteo advises insurers on strategy & innovation, from workshop-developed research deep-dives into IoT data, plenary sessions with insurers in Europe and North America, and visibility into cutting-edge tech trends such as automotive telematics. IoTinsObs is a unique observatory that shares these unique insights with its members.
There is a wide opportunity to apply IoT data as a catalyst for business transformation to risk transfer, irrespective of business line. Matteo contrasts the time and effort spent on compliance top-down throughout insurance...
2021-01-2515 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastTaking Over as CEO (w/ Jennifer Carroll, CEO Veruna, Inc.)Jennifer Carroll, CEO at Veruna, Inc, is a Technologist & Attorney based in Austin. She has a unique leadership story. Unlike most Insurtech Founder-CEOs, she was asked by the Board to join in early 2020 when she was strategic advisor on growth plans.
Veruna is creating an agency management system for the modern age, access and report on your data, independent brokers and MGAs.
Changes she’s brought as new CEO:
Prioritizing people to have time with families and moving around during the day
Small team segments creating ownership & confidence to execute goals in your immediate spher...
2020-12-1409 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastHow to Create AI products with Authentic Demand (w/ Larry Lafferty, CEO Velocity AI Works)Today's episode is a series of short lessons on applying AI to Insurtech from software veteran Larry Lafferty. Veloxiti deploys a genius business model strategy, where they start with AI for Dept. of Defense to produce the R&D and first versions of products, then moves them to a separate company that commercializes and productizes the AI tech into the various vertical use cases like Insurance.
4 Critical Lessons for any SaaS Software business in 2021:
🚣🏽♂️AI Is Software: Media does us a disfavor portraying AI as experimental and not able to do anything of value. But AI is just so...
2020-12-0809 min
The Insurtech Leadership PodcastThe Billion-Dollar Micro-Insurance Opportunity (w/ Dr. Kyshun Webster, CEO Compassion Society Benefits)Meet Dr. Kyshun Webster, CEO of Compassion Society Benefits, who is bringing a new diversity of ideas & perspectives to change insurance. His MGA focuses on creating new insurance models around the growing demands of 21st century families.
Dr. Webster is driven by his upbringing as a New Orleans native who grew up in single-parent home, where he learned at a young age the need to address the wage loss for family care-givers. In his own words, "We bring together digital natives, industry veterans and social entrepreneurs that all converge to bring a real heart to insurance."
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2020-12-0113 min