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How Do You Make It Happen?

Bob Frady | December 02, 2020

Eye of the Storm: Natural disasters, the insurtech market, and other musings from Bob Frady, CEO of HazardHub

 

“Insurance is where innovation goes to die.”

“We can’t believe how long the sales cycle is for insurance.”

“At this rate, we’re going to run out of cash.”

These are just a few things we’ve recently heard from our fellow insurtech founders.

At HazardHub, we’re lucky. We came into the insurtech space with a firm understanding of how “the game” works, then built a business that adapted to the culture of insurance. A friend of ours – who has recently started her own insurtech – reached out to see if we could give her some tips on what it takes to make it in the world of insurtech. Here are a few things we came up with.

  1. You must believe that you’re going to be successful. If you don’t believe it, why should anyone else? Imagine what your business will be like at 10 times its size (it will be!), then design systems that will work at that level. Your own confidence should not and cannot waver.
  2. Speak the language. A lot of startups seem to stumble into the insurance vertical, then wonder why their awesome application hasn’t taken off. One of the big reasons is that you’re not speaking the language of insurance, and it may be time for a little homework on your part. Do you know what a loss ratio is? A quote-to-bind ratio? The difference between an admitted product versus an E&S product? Do you know that Lloyds doesn’t sell insurance? Take some time to learn what this industry is all about.
  3. Accept the fact that it’s a very slow road. Insurance years are like reverse dog years. Yes. you can make progress – but you have to plan for an extraordinarily slow process.  Insurance loves evolution, not revolution.
  4. The most important thing you can do is to show insurers why they need you. How can you help them improve? What is it costing them not to work with you?
  5. Divide and conquer. I never could have started HH by myself. My head is usually in the clouds, trying to creatively tie things together and create stories. My co-founder John actually handles most of the running of the business and saying no, and Brady (my other co-founder) is our big-brain scientist. Clarify and differentiate what you do and what your team does. You cannot to do everything yourself.
  6. Don’t complain about the slow sales process. This is a long, slow sales process that’s been in place for a lot longer than most of us have been alive. Pack accordingly. Just keep showing up and proving your value.

No plan is a guarantee of success. But if you follow even a few of these tips, you might make things just a little easier for yourself. Happy hunting!

 

 


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