It feels like just yesterday that we were preparing for our first ever Insurtech Connect event. Juggling what to do, whom to meet, taking notes, learning new things, and overall soaking in as much as we could. But this year certainly feels different not only because we are one of the official sponsors of the event along with 200+ others, but because we have also ‘been there done that’. We believe INSUREDMINE – A Year Later; a Year Wiser. The excitement is something we have gotten used to, but the progressively increasing responsibility and exposure are definitely new and we are adapting and learning fast. As we have done in the past, we look forward to meeting new faces, learning new things, gaining mentorships, striking lasting relationships and above all, making a lasting impression with some of the industry’s investors, who we have been taking interest in our product for the last several months.
Since last year, InsuredMine has grown leaps and bounds in terms of its business and innovation. We are eager to showcase what we have achieved in terms of technical prowess, customer insight, and traction. We are positive that we will create a buzz among the industry executives, especially P&C carriers, MGAs, and Agencies. We believe that Insurtech Connect provides us the right kind of platform to showcase our growth and innovation. We look forward to learning from other insurtech startups, seek opportunities to collaborate, and partner with other founders and leaders. There were several Insurtech leaders we met last year at ITC who are now very good friends, acquaintances, mentors, advisors or business partners – Nick Gerhart, Brian Hemesath, Marty Agather, Ryan Hanley, Chris Cheatham, Caribou Honig, Guy Fraker, Wayne Allen, Stephen Goldstein, Cheryl Yakey, Jen Overhulse, Andrew Pitz, Matthew Jones to name a few.
ITC at a glance
6000+ 250
Attendees Speakers
Our Game Plan for 2018
While soaking in the wisdom from other leaders, our focus will be on three things.
- Investor relations – Understanding the methods of investors and seeking out strategic investors who could add meaningful value to our startup. We aim to achieve this understanding by thinking like the investors themselves-thinking of the long-term and testing the waters to see if we are comfortable in their company. We want to create lasting relationships by asking for their input that might lead them to consider investing in us. Being a typical startup that bootstrapped for the longest possible period, pivoted as needed, and gaining traction by adding 1 customer at a time, we call ourselves a startup by the books.
- Carrier relations – We have been developing strategic relationships with commercial and personal insurance carriers, primarily those who rely on the independent agent community. Few larger carriers are endorsing our product to their independent agents for commercial insurance & personal insurance, and we would like to expand those relationships with the larger carrier pools so they can leverage the benefits of their engagement with an insuretech, and become a stakeholder to our digital ecosystem. This will help with their digital market strategy and add one more channel to get closer to their customers.
- MGAs & Agencies – As much as we believe in the power of retail sales to convince one agency at a time, we also strongly believe that wholesale/ enterprise deals with MGAs also adds tremendous benefits. MGAs can position themselves by offering innovative digital products to their agents and be able to increase their stickiness with them, as digital adoption is no more a choice but a necessity. The best part of this transformation is that the agencies or the MGAs don’t have to shell out 100s of millions of dollars for the digital transformation, rather they can lease innovation as a service to meet their needs. Every day we draw our energy from all the positive feedback and excitement about our product, as it not only helps agents save tons of time and money but helps them accelerate their current book of business.
ITC 2018
We are, as always super excited that it’s almost time for ITC 2018. Oliver Wyman, will be the presenting sponsor for Insurtech Connect 2018 that takes place at MGM Grand Las Vegas, October 2-3. We look forward to the event and getting our seat on the Insurtech wagon. With over 6000+ attendees, investors, and executives gathering from about 40 countries, there is going to be so much to learn and so much to do. Stay tuned for our firsthand account of the event after we return.
If you are at the event find the following name tags Sridevi Talluri and Raution Jaiswal to say Hello to InsuredMine team.
More than 3000 are attending for the first time….
If I have to guess I would say more than 3000 are attending for the first time and it is not just because of the buzz or the smart creatives or the marketing; it’s because of their deep interest in insurtech that they make it a priority to gather here. There is a shared element of curiosity, excitement, and sense of purpose that every attendee gets out of this largest insurtech gathering.
Here are our key takeaways as last year’s newbies…
- Leverage the Meeting App and try to set appointments as soon as possible and not wait until the last hour. Most attendees like to plan their schedule in advance.
- Find a few good/relevant Sessions to attend. You are out there to meet new people for new ideas and network, so don’t spend all your time attending sessions.
- Meet people during lunch. Strike conversation with the folks sitting next to you. It might be a little intimidating at first to Introduce yourself, but it’s not too bad and you will get used to it after a couple of meets.
- Leverage Social Media. If you are able to post your thoughts, insights, and content around sessions and people you meet, it helps who are around or people who can’t attend them. Most importantly, it helps you build your contact/network. BTW – we are big on social media for #ITC2018. Last year, we had the most number of tweets about the event.
- For three days you will feel like you’re drinking from a firehose, and the best way to organize all the thoughts and learning is to take Notes. The more you capture, the better you will remember the context for follow up on the conversation.
- Last but not the least, there will be some good Goodies. Don’t forget to get your goodies. We will have InsuredMine T-Shirts and Amazon Alexa as our giveaways that you can win by participating in our contests.
Fast forward 2019
Who knew Insurtech Connect will be such a huge phenomenon in just a few years? But what we can say with confidence is that it is going to stay and will only get bigger, better, and increasingly relevant with time. There has been a steady growth of insurtech needs and investment deals in 2017 & 2018, which is a good indicator of sustainable growth. Over the last couple of years, several insurtech startups have done exceedingly well including Trov, Lemonade, Oscar, Root and many others. Several Carriers have opened up their doors for innovation by copiloting the disruptive technologies introduced by the startups. Some of these good collaborations have injected the confidence in the investor community to dig deeper into their pockets and invest in a wide spectrum of insurtech products and services. AI, blockchain and APIs will continue to gain prominence and will have a much wider acceptance and usability with the young innovation-hungry customer base.
Studying and understanding the insurtech phenomenon is a prerequisite for doing well in this arena, and we are confident InsuredMine is well positioned to ride this wave of innovation to create and add value to insurance agents and their customers. See you at the event.
