The Leadership in Insurance Podcast - Insurtech & Innovation

In this week's episode we hear from Alex Bond, FinPro founder and the Leadership in Insurance Podcast host himself. We wanted to do something slightly different with this podcast and it reflects some of the wider initiatives we are developing with FinPro. FinPro is a recruitment business specialising in the Insurtech sector and have been fortunate to work with some of the most exciting and innovative people operating within the sector. We have had fantastic guests who have shared their journeys and their experiences all with the objective of moving the Insurtech industry forward. Something we have done less is get to know the people behind the stories. Businesses are an net result of the talent and efforts of the people employed within them. This is a statement of the obvious but when we operate within the tech sector it can be easy to forget that despite how tech focussed you might be it is the people that drive the business and its innovation. We wanted to get to know more about the challenges that are not directly the work – particularly we wanted to know the challenges founders face when trying to drive fledgling businesses to success.We didn’t feel we could ask our guests to share their fears, hopes and aspirations if we do not share some of our own biggest challenges so we have taken a different path with the podcast today and we have our host Alex discuss his challenges with mental health, his experiences with managing his mental health and what he thinks we can do to accommodate and help people manage their mental health in the world of start-ups.We hope by doing this we will be able to have more honest and transparent conversations that touch on the founders challenges on a personal level – hopefully if we make the first move we can encourage more conversations about mental health.We hope you enjoy it.This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space.Our host is FinPro Director, Alex Bond Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast where this week we are lucky enough to be joined by Stuart Winchester, CEO and Founder, Marble.We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide variety of topics such as: Do we do the simple things in insurance badly or do we not do the simple things? Do people want to engage with insurance? Change from outside the industry Why do we have friction? Juggling the different perspectives of brokers and consumers Did you look else where for inspiration when starting out with Marble? Rewards components in the UK and Australia How white men soliciting other white men can render life insurance exclusive Marble’s investment journey 120 conversations..! The challenges of having these conversations virtually ‘Do not be a solo founder?’ The importance of a team, and the support they provide while pitching Doing too much - an advantage or a disadvantage? Stretching vs. over hiring The advantages of a flexible team Rewards vs. Wins Hiring part time experts Interview processes, does this need to be done by the CEO? First time vs second time founders Marble’s full time and part time flexible dynamic LinkedIn’s as a social media, and it’s more personal side Should we post personal posts on LinkedIn? Marble allows its customers to learn, organise and feel engaged with the asset class that protects the things they love Building trust, community and rewards that are meaningful Will Marble look at picking up risk themselves and consider setting up MGA carrier relationships? Starting conversations about insurance with clients What's next for Marble? Enterprise partners, mobile app launch, fund raising and more! Thank you Stuart for your time, it was great to speak to you!This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space.Our host in FinPro Director, Alex Bond Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast where this week we are lucky enough to be joined by Jeff Radke, CEO and Co-Founder, Accelerant.We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide variety of topics such as: The attraction of the MGA model as an entrepreneur Is the MGA market a scapegoat? Accelerant's longer-term capacity commitment How Accelerant has members instead of customers, and how this perspective fosters positive relationships and reminds the team, 'we are only successful if they are successful' Capacity provision as an investment form The benefits of a diversified portfolio Short-term-ism in insurance Do we suffer from a short-term view? The importance of clarity and ownership in a long term member relationship The difficultly for a publicly-traded company to think on a long enough term to drive true innovation 5-year thinking, and asking how can we be most successful in 2026? Over investing time in development, as opposed to money Accelerant's software Insightful  Why build software rather than buy? Creating a member user board The real value in data being making connections The relationship dynamics with members What makes a good member MGA for Accelerant? The importance of being underwriting driven Customer centricity Is going full-stack worth it? What's next for Accelerant? Expansion into Canada and beyond!Thank you Jeff for your time, it was great to speak to you!This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space.Our host in FinPro Director, Alex Bond Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast where this week we are lucky enough to be joined by Anthony Mayer, VP Engineering & Konrad Heimpel, VP Product and Data, at Getsafe. We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide variety of topics such as: Is Getsafe a tech company operating in insurance or is Getsafe an insurance company? Whats the difference these days Insurance and technology go hand in hand The advantages of bringing perspectives from both parties together The importance of understanding the complexity of insurtech How does the product interact with tech? GetSafe being a user-centric company that solve user problems Needs may differ between insurance products but the underlying problems remain the same Creating a scalable product Where does product end and tech take over? The challenge of restructuring when moving to a remote working dynamic Where does Getsafe differ from an incumbent insurer? The challenge of tackling the complexity of insurance and distilling it down to simple technical solutions How important is insurance experience? How approaching things with naivety encourages innovation instead of being tied to our past experiences Being open to adapting to new ideas is a requirement for working at Getsafe How has getting a license to be a full-stack insurer changed things for Getsafe? How no longer being dependant on 3rd party systems facilitates the creation of new products Decreasing product turnaround time The advantages of having full control of the value chain How this improves the customer experience The move towards hybrid working  The impact on the talent pool Why should we come and join the Getsafe team? (They're hiring!)Thank you Anthony and Konrad for your time, it was great to speak to you!This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space.Our host in FinPro Director, Alex Bond Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast where this week we are lucky enough to be joined by Hermann Fried, Managing Director, at bsurance.   We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide variety of topics such as:   Insurance being 20 years behind banks in terms of digitisation    Embedded insurance providing ease for the customer    How the pandemic has encouraged demand for accessible insurance    The general shopping experience is now extremely accessible, why isn’t insurance this way?   Why did it take so long to challenge the insurance model?   How the normalisation of online retail has impacted our tolerance for time   What is driving the rise in embedded insurance?    Offering the real time delivery of insurance policies    Asking who the client?   The real client being the insurance broker    Insurance’s broker driven model being the slowest aspect to change    How do we tackle trust in embedded insurance?   bsurance’s partner relationships    Discussing regulation, how does that impact embedded insurance?    Borderless trades   How much of a threat does embedded insurance pose to the traditional insurance market?   Most of the incumbents dont see the threat    Loosing aspects of the value chain    Addressing the gaps in the value chain    Insurance of the intangible world    How is the face of insurance changing?   Is insurance broken or is it lacking in customer centricity?    ‘Insurance is sold not bought’    We need to be incentivised to change    What’s next for bsurance?   Thank you Hermann for your time, it was great to speak to you!         This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space .      Our host in FinPro Director, Alex Bond       Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast where this week we are lucky enough to be joined by George Beattie, Head of Incubation Underwriting at Beazley.   We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide variety of topics such as:   Beazley’s value statement of; future profitability, situational awareness, brand and culture   Deconstructing innovation into different channels of activity   Incentivising innovators   Recognising failure as part of success   The clash between conservative values around constant underwriting and the need to adapt to a changing world   Insuring intangible assets   The industry wide struggle for continued relevance   The false concept that age represents capability   Maintaining relevance by working with a more diverse team of people   Is insurance broken or has it just not adapted?   How our lateral view of the market impacts innovation   Innovation through partnerships   How products need to reflect our changing needs and demands   Do we do a good enough job attracting new talent?  How do we avoid an echo chamber?   Encouraging opportunity by working with smaller, more focused groups   Avoiding treating people as commodities   Meritocracy as the defining characteristic for progress   Not being scared of hiring people better than ourselves   Asking if insurance experience is necessary when hiring   Being problem oriented   The importance of curiosity   How do you incubate ideas? Thank you George for your time, it was great to speak to you!         This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space .      Our host in FinPro Director, Alex Bond        Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast where this week we are lucky enough to be joined by Siddhartha Jha, Founder and CEO of Arbol. Arbol provides a platform for parametric coverage which allows clients to access reduced risk and hassle free protection using their automated processes and facilitates a straightforward experience for the customer. We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide variety of topics such as: How does Arbol's parametric platform work?  Parametric insurance lending itself to be easily scalable and transferable  Making the platform as convenient for the agents as possible Providing cover for situations which the traditional insurance industry is unable or unwilling to write risk for Claiming the unwanted gap in the market Parametrics as a facilitator for financial security Increased accuracy has allowed the risk to shrink Climate risk is currently largely uninsured Parametric insurance enables the broad-scale adoption of insurance Smart contracts, condensing information and accessibiity The demand for a changing insurance experience The increasing demand for parametric insurance in energy How the pandemic has encouraged trust in digital solutions The value of transparency The move away from pricing risk in an isolated way Large-scale adoption of parametric insurance only being feasible if we are able to lower the costs of business Parametric insurance as a social good -  increasing distribution and accessibility The surprising elements of the insurance market Insurance as an industry being highly protected by regulation Arbol's mission "1 . The customer will love Parametrics, 2. The capital market will love Parametrics"  Thank you Sid for your time, it was great to speak to you!       This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space       Our host in FinPro Director, Alex Bond      Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast where this week we are lucky enough to be joined by Christian Macht, CEO of Element Insurance - the Berlin-based start-up and leader in insurance digitization.   We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide variety of topics such as:   Is there anything you learned from the insurance market that surprised you?   Investing in start-ups - Insurance being surprisingly not boring..!  The deep integration of the value chain within the insurance   Playing a part in changing the structure of insurance  Is insurance broken?  Discussing rapid growth   The challenges of providing both parts of the ‘insur’ and the ‘tech’  The B2B2X dynamic   Looking at alternative business models   Building a relevant insurance product that will continue to be relevant in the future   The value of spending on marketing vs customer engagement   The room for improvement in insurance   Setting up a company without the legacy of a traditional insurer   The importance of a trusting relationship with a customer   The challenge of changing the traditional insurance delivery model and customer experience   Cultural resistance to change   The advantages of being  more consumer-centric   The makings of a successful partnership   The importance of a USP  How do you maintain a strong culture during rapid growth?  The idea of culture being fluid and evolving   How do you specifically describe a culture which is constantly evolving?  Bringing a co-ceo on board   Thank you Christian for your time, it was great to speak to you!       This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space       Our host in FinPro Director, Alex Bond      Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast where this week we are lucky enough to be joined by Taylor Perkins, co-founder and CTO of Slope Software, who offer an actuarial modelling platform that helps insurance companies understand and quantify their risk so that they can make better decisions about their business.   We had a great conversation this week where we discussed a wide variety of topics such as:   How approaching the market with a developed product was a key factor in Slope Software's success    However this meant working evenings and weekends   What were the unique challenges for Slope Software?   Life insurance, 30 year contacts and the challenge of ‘thinking in decades’ Demonstrating the ROI of a platform   Taylor’s background in being outside of insurance and how this brings an innovative perspective   Innovation in the insurance industry  Innovation vs adoption   Increasing innovation on the p&c side   The life cycle of insurance contracts   How innovation mirrors life cycles   The inherent problems in innovation teams  The importance of organisation-wide buy-in for successful innovation   What were the biggest surprises when entering the insurance industry?   Is there an incentive for a profitable, traditional insurance business to change?   The danger of being too comfortable in a position and risk-averse   The ripple effects of a small mistake   The threat of not embracing new technologies   Small constant change as opposed to large upheaval   Do you think the tech-side of insurance needs to do something to attract new talent?  How fostering and cultivating innovation will attract talent   The importance of recruiting people who enjoy solving problems   “Business owner or entrepreneur?”  Does advanced modelling risk making the current skills of actuaries obsolete?  Will actuaries exist in 10 years?  The necessary time input to become an actuary, years (7-10 years!)  10000 years to become an expert, 20000 years to become an actuary   Technology replaces the junior level roles, not the advanced roles   How does this impact the journey and journey of becoming a fully certified actuary?  Does embracing technology impact job enjoyment?  Slope Software's new funding! Their plans to move upmarket and focusing on enterprise-level clients, build and grow the Slope Software team and expand internationally!   Thank you Taylor for your time, it was great to speak to you!       This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space      Our host in FinPro Director, Alex Bond      Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast where this week we are lucky enough to be joined by James Poole, founder and managing director of Agile Risk, a venture-backed risk intermediation team based in London who's aim is to drive down the cost for clients by securitising risk.   We had a great conversation where we covered a wide variety of topics such as:  - What are Agile Risk doing that is different from the status quo? - The importance and influence of a businesses purpose  - The universal objective of driving down the cost of risk for clients  - Agile Risk's approach of creating a new asset class  - The increasing demand for insurable risk in capital markets  - Investing in reinsurable risk - The misperception there being insufficient data in this particular area of insurance risk and  the risk being too complexed to understand  - Capital markets are structured around the allocation of real debt and equity capital and cash - How important is culture in driving change? - Our ingrained resistance to change  - Embracing forward looking models, eg. Monte Carlo risk model  - Hindsight as a hindrance to change,  - The three perennial certainties; change, principles and choice  - These constant changes drives need for constant movement and reevaluation  - Seeing the loss of a team member as an asset and an opportunity to embrace change  - Can insurance businesses be too profitable to change?  - "If it ain't broke don't fix it?!" - There is no fundamental requirement for a business to change, rather change is driven by the purpose of the business  - Solely profit-driven businesses being naturally imbued to be resistant to change - Speed being highly valued in start-ups and the issues this can create - Could  insurance benefit from engaging with other forms of capital? - How do you avoid group think? - The opportunities and perspectives brought into a business through continuous learning   Thank you James for your time, it was great to speak to you!     This Podcast was brought to you by FinPro, an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Insurtech space     Our host in FinPro Director, Alex Bond    Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.