About Sam Howie

Sam Howie, originally from New Zealand, is the Director of Enterprise Sales at Re-Leased, a pioneering cloud-based property management platform established in 2012. Sam was the first person on the ground for Re-Leased in the United Kingdom and since moving to London with his wife in 2015, Sam has played a big role in expanding the Re-Leased footprint. The company has amassed a client base of over 1,200 worldwide, with the UK market being its largest, boasting over 400 clients and working with some of the largest real estate companies across the UK and Europe. Re-Leased, supported by JLL Spark, assists various clients including landlords, managing agents, asset managers, and occupiers in managing their property portfolios via cloud technology, with offices located in London, Houston, Sydney, Auckland, and Hawkes Bay.

About Re-Leased

Re-Leased began as the idea of company founder Tom Wallace, who experienced the challenges of managing property and tenants with outmoded solutions, such as email trails and manual spreadsheets. Re-Leased builds tech products that help property managers to thrive. They create cloud-based automated solutions, easing the burden of missing critical deadlines, reducing administration and assisting compliance.

About Yogesh Juneja

Yogesh Juneja, Hotel Manager at the Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire, has worked in hospitality for more than twenty years across six countries. Yogesh oversees all aspects of the hotel's operations, ensuring unparalleled luxury and unforgettable experiences for every guest.

About Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts

Four Seasons Hotels and Resort operates more than 120 hotels and 50 residences globally. The brand goes beyond hotels and residences, as it also operates a private charter plane, a luxury retailer and is set to launch a yacht in 2025. This podcast was shot at Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire, a luxurious hotel set across 500 acres of land and offering a range of amenities including a spa, pools and over 25 activities such as shooting and horse riding.

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Chris graduated from the London School of Economics and began a promising career in the International Development sector before stepping away to take an opportunity to become a professional boxer at the age of 24. Retiring from the ring as an undefeated professional in 2016, Chris went on to co-found a successful gym group before turning his full attention to coaching the City’s elite to gain clarity, elevate performance and bring deeper fulfilment into their stressful lives. Through debilitating injuries, the torture of self-doubt and the trials and tribulations of co-founding a seven figure business, Chris has learnt the mindsets needed to combat overwhelm and regain clarity when navigating the rocky path to success. Chris has been coaching individuals and corporates to challenge their physical and mental limits for over ten years, and is also a Keynote Speaker, cold water practitioner and active Brazilian Jiu Jitsu player.

About Roderick Schneider

Roderick Schneider is the Chief Operating Officer of Workforce.com, where the mission is to eliminate employment friction for shift and hourly workers, and reduce the global unemployment rate. Roderick has been helping front line businesses navigate tough situations since moving to the UK during lockdown. When he’s not helping restaurants and bars for work, he’s eating and drinking at them.  Prior to Workforce.com, Roderick worked as a financial advisor.

About Workforce.com

Workforce.com automates labour management with smart-rotas, payroll integration, live-wage insights, onboarding and leave-management tools. The Workforce software helps to reduce labour spend and increases profitability within a business.

About Emre Ertan

Eva Luitsz, Co-Founder of Studio Melrose LTD, has over 7 years of dedicated expertise in the dynamic field of marketing. Eva specialises in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), social media management, content creation, and strategic planning.

Multi-channel testing is the heart of marketing and works as a great tool to overcome budget restrictions, by helping brands prioritise what delivers the most impact. Tests shouldn’t just be reserved for paid media - companies with low budgets can test organic content across multiple channels to identify which one provides them with the greatest organic reach.

Organic content offers vast possibilities, but its success lies in value and strategy. Engaging followers requires thoughtful planning; otherwise, amidst the content deluge, you risk being overlooked - be sure to create content that aligns with audience interests instead of being too salesy. While there is a place for influencer marketing and advertising, organic content is a great way to keep costs low and grow your community through valuable content.

🚀 Insurtechs: the typically paper and process driven insurance industry sprouted insurtechs as a result of advances in technology, the internet of things (e.g. FloodFlash’s water level sensor) and improved data processing capabilities (e.g. Flock's leverage of telematics to provide quotes).  They’ve resulted in a number of benefits for end-customers, notably data driven pricing that correlates more accurately to risk profiles, improved UX (e.g. Superscript's digital broking process) and insurance for companies and asset classes that previously might not have been eligible for policies.

💡 What’s next: we can expect to see more data driven policies emerge to serve those who weren’t previously insurable e.g. satellite data being used to map out housing areas in emerging markets and more data driven pricing.  Democratising access to historical loss data will likely lead to policies being priced based upon actual events as insurers will have a better understanding of their exposure e.g. if a driver was previously involved in three crashes, was their behaviour responsible for any or were they not at fault?

💨 Headwinds: during the past couple of years there was a huge amount of pressure on insurtechs to scale their customer numbers, while in the past few months we’ve seen consolidation in the industry as investors look for sustainable insurance fundamentals.  In the past, insurance sales cycles to startups were delayed by startups waiting for regulation, whereas now they’re delayed by startups waiting for funding.

About the guests

Mark Robinson is the National Sales Manager for Superscript's advisory and broking service. With over 20 years experience in the insurance industry, Mark is a specialist in technology-based risks.

Nyasha Kuwana joined FloodFlash as Head of Product in 2019 before becoming Commercial Director in 2023. Nyasha oversees FloodFlash UK sales and broker relations as well as the global claims team - setting a company record in 2022 with one claim paid in full in just 3 hours and 50 minutes.

Will Faulks is Head of Data Science and Actuarial at Flock. A qualified actuary working in the Motor Fleet space, using data to predict, prevent, and understand the risks of accidents.

Lewis is a Director at Rothschild & Co Wealth Management. Prior to joining Rothschild & Co in 2014, he began his career in the Wealth Management department at Barclays, having graduated from the University of Warwick with a BSc in Economics. He has worked in London and New York over the past decade but now leads the Rothschild & Co office in Manchester.

Areas mentioned on this recording are general information and not a recommendation to act. Please seek independent investment advice before entering into any financial transaction

As the year comes to an end, Lucas Calleja who normally hosts the podcast, stepped into the guest's seat and was joined by James Horrax who kindly hosted the podcast!

They discussed key developments and items that were brought up by guests. Here are three key themes from 2023 that we reflected on:

Pathways to profitability: it was a make-or-break year for many startups, as funding and higher valuations became more difficult to access if pathways to profitability were not clearly demonstrated to investors. VCs themselves have faced difficulties raising from LPs and M&A activity between VCs is on the cards.

Leveraging real-time data: the spotlight on real-time data has been relentless, and we've explored its significance extensively on the podcast across the insurtech, health and safety, wholesale FX and marketing industries amongst others. In a rapidly evolving landscape, real-time data is not just power anymore - it's survival.

Creating quality content: the year showcased an emphasis on quality across creating content, engaging with communities and customers. Cold email and LinkedIn outreach has become saturated particularly with AI generated copy. Companies are creating a pull effect through quality content that is not sales like, but rather delivers value to the communities and stakeholders they engage with - examples include checklist infographics, comprehensive guides, video content and hosting thought leadership events.

Andrea Guzzoni is a serial entrepreneur and investor: Founder and Chairman of easyHire, Andrea invests and advises early-stage startups, focusing on SEIS-EIS UK-based companies and tech ventures in emerging markets. After building up international experience across Milan, London, Australia, Ukraine, and Tanzania, Andrea is currently pursuing an Executive MBA at Oxford University. Andrea is also a Business Mentor at TechItaliaLAB and a Board Member at Mimete, a metal powders producer. Beyond business, Andrea completed a solo world tour from Iceland to Machu Picchu and is a devoted father and a skilled beekeeper.