RiskCellar

A conversation with Akash Samant, Co-Founder and CEO of Coverflow — the AI startup using machine learning to eliminate the back-office grind at commercial insurance agencies. We get into policy checking, proposal automation, Applied Epic integration, and what it actually takes to sell AI to an industry that runs on trust.

Plus our Max Revenue Monday news briefings: breaking down the voluntary dismissal in the Macy’s/Aon employee benefits class action, the Corgi/Golden consolidation play, what WithCoverage means for how consumers shop for coverage, and a Recall of the Week that every product liability underwriter should hear.

RiskCellar. For the people who actually work in risk.

In this episode, Brandon and Nick dig into the latest survey from the Big I and why it's looking at the industry through rose-colored glasses without telling the whole story. Then they break down Meta's new Muse, an AI agent that can send your emails, chase down answers on your behalf, and shop your insurance for you. Is this the end for personal lines agents? Finally, we sit down with Ilia Pinchuk, founder and CEO of Diceus, to talk about where AI is taking insurance software. Ilia explains why Diceus charges based on outcomes instead of per seat, how brokers can cut down on the everyday friction of legacy systems, and why enterprise AI needs guardrails and a clear audit trail when one mistake could mean issuing the wrong coverage. Nick was drinking Clase Azul tequila. He said Michaela bought it for their 12th anniversary because its blue-and-white colors reminded her of where they got married in Santorini. Brandon was drinking Laphroaig Quarter Cask Scotch, his favorite Scotch.

In this episode, Brandon and Nick sit down with Taylor Chafin (Imperial PFS) and Chase Courtney (AndDone!) to break down how premium finance can become a real revenue stream for producers and agency owners, not just a convenience for insureds. They cover buy rate vs. sell rate, how agency fees can be built into the APR, state by state markup rules, and why building a relationship with your premium finance rep matters more in a softening market where everyone is shopping down payments. They also dig into how AnDunn is consolidating payments and premium financing into a single link and infrastructure so producers stop chasing down separate systems.  

In this episode, Brandon and Nick pour a glass of wine dive into the latest in insurance news. They break down Bill Gates' new essay proposing "Human Reserved" jobs and what that means for the future of work for insurance pros, the Meta social media lawsuit settlement, rising "nuclear verdicts", and the growing E&O exposure from AI liability and deepfakes.

In this episode, Brandon and Nick kick things off with wine talk (a Domaine Serene Pinot Noir vs. a Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel sipped from a coffee mug), a Ted Lasso-inspired mustache update, and a shoutout to their record-breaking episode with guest Ashley Fetyko.

They dig into Meta's mounting legal troubles — nearly $900M in recent verdicts and a $1.4 trillion multi-district case now in jury selection in Oakland — and debate whether social media needs age-gating regulation.

From there it's a run through casualty market headlines: commercial auto combined ratios and nuclear verdicts (including a staggering $300B punitive Texas dram shop verdict), underinsured property values, captives going mainstream (with Alabama raising its formation threshold), AI's cyber-liability blind spots, a new "Sage" AI platform launch, American Family's acquisition of Bowhead, Florida's litigation reform payoff, and the head-scratcher of declining workers' comp rates.

They close with a "Three Truths and a Lie" round on social media adoption stats and this week's recall: over 1.7 million Louisville Ladder attic stairs pulled for bolt-failure risk.

In this episode, Brandon and Nick talk with Ashley Fetyko from Tyson Mendes and Apex Defense Consulting . They deep dive into the rise of nuclear verdicts, the psychological tactics used by plaintiffs' attorneys, and strategies to defend against these high-stakes cases.

Hosts Brandon Schuh and Nick Hartmann return for another episode of RiskCellar, and the headline story is North Carolina litigation financing. North Carolina has become the first state in the country to pass an outright ban on third-party litigation financing, with Governor Josh Stein signing House Bill 315 into law in June 2026. Find out what the law prohibits, why insurance trade groups are celebrating it, and what it could mean for other states.

Beyond the North Carolina litigation financing news, Brandon and Nick cover a data breach at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, CFC's move to add affirmative AI coverage across seven product lines, the deadly earthquakes that struck Venezuela and the Caribbean, and how Chubb-led marine war risk facilities are easing capacity strain in the Strait of Hormuz. The episode wraps with a Fourth of July round of Three Truths and a Lie.

This episode blends sharp insurance analysis with the hosts' casual banter, making topics like North Carolina litigation financing approachable for brokers and underwriters. Listeners get a fast-moving tour of the week's biggest insurance and legal stories.

• North Carolina is the first state to enact an outright ban on third-party litigation financing.

• House Bill 315 makes it unlawful to engage in or furnish litigation investment in a North Carolina civil proceeding.

• The law took effect July 1, 2026, applying to lawsuits arising on or after that date.

• The Attorney General can enforce the law with penalties up to $50,000 per violation.

• At least 11 other states already have some restrictions on litigation funding.

• NAIC confirmed a breach exposing 3.1 terabytes of data via an Oracle PeopleSoft vulnerability.

• CFC is embedding affirmative AI coverage across seven core product lines.

• Chubb-led marine facilities offer up to $400 million in Strait of Hormuz shipping capacity.

  
  

00:00 Introduction to Claims Auditing and AI Solutions

01:22 Celebrating Achievements in Brokerage

04:38 Wine Tasting and Personal Updates

05:39 Fourth of July Plans and Celebrations

06:39 Political Commentary on National Events

09:11 Litigation Funding Legislation in North Carolina

11:47 Data Breach at NAIC and Its Implications

15:47 Insurance Industry Responses to AI Risks

19:06 Natural Disasters and Their Impact on Insurance

21:29 Geopolitical Commentary on U.S.-Iran Relations

24:39 Insurance Developments in Maritime Risk

28:07 Trivia and Closing Thoughts

Connect with RiskCellar:

Website: https://www.riskcellar.com/

Brandon Schuh:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552710523314

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-stephen-schuh/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/schuhpapa/

Nick Hartmann:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickjhartmann/

If you've ever wondered what your insurance agency is really worth in today's market, and whether now is the right time to sell, this episode cuts straight to the chase. Brandon Schuh and Nick Hartmann sit down with two sharp industry voices: Varada Bhat, Senior Correspondent at the Financial Times' P&C Specialist, and James Graham, Managing Director at MarshBerry, the nation's leading M&A advisory firm for insurance brokerages. Together, they untangle the intersection of AI disruption, carrier strategy, and brokerage valuations in what is shaping up to be one of the most pivotal moments in the history of independent insurance distribution.

Varada Bhat opens the conversation with a ground-level view of where the personal lines market stands today, transitioning out of a hard market cycle, into a softer, more competitive landscape where carrier retention has become the new growth strategy. She digs into State Farm's sweeping workforce realignment, the broader shift away from the captive agent model across carriers like Allstate and Nationwide, and how AI is splitting the industry into two camps: those stuck in pilot mode and those already deploying agentic AI across claims and operations. The critical takeaway? Underwriting discipline and customer service still matter more than any algorithm.

James Graham follows with the kind of inside-baseball analysis you can only get from someone doing valuation work every single day. He breaks down why private brokerage multiples have held steady even as public broker valuations dropped more than 20% from their March 2025 peak, and why that divergence makes sense. He lays out what buyers are really paying for right now (organic growth, scale, and retention), why the softening market is the real driver of multiple compression, not AI, and why the fundamentals of the insurance brokerage business remain among the strongest of any industry. For agency owners wondering whether to sell now or wait, his perspective is a must-hear.

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction 

• 04:47 Varada Bhat Interview Begins: P&C Market Overview

• 06:28 Carrier Retention as the New Growth Strategy

• 07:24 AI in Insurance: Pilot Phase vs. Deployed Reality

• 09:48 State Farm, Allstate & the Decline of Captive Agents

• 11:55 AI Automation: Simple vs. Complex Insurance Products

• 14:22 Lemonade, Root & the Insuretech Valuation Reality Check

• 16:55 Geico Hires Goldman Sachs CMO: UX and Millennial Strategy

• 19:47 AI Regulation in Insurance: NAIC Guidelines & State Laws

• 21:33 Who's Best Positioned to Win the AI Era?

• 24:40 Personal Cyber Policies & Consumer Data Privacy

• 26:23 Insurance Affordability as a Political Issue

• 32:29 James Graham Interview Begins: MarshBerry Origin Story

• 34:35 Public vs. Private Broker Valuation Divergence

• 39:16 What Buyers Are Really Looking For Today: Organic Growth

• 41:55 Private Equity Activity: Strategic vs. Dry Powder Deals

• 43:58 EBITDA Multiples: Are 11-12x the New Normal?

• 46:06 Debt Leverage, Hold Times & PE Exit Bottlenecks

• 48:02 AI's Role in Brokerage Multiple Compression

• 50:10 Revenue Per Employee & the AI Productivity Argument

• 52:58 Regulation as Insurance's AI Moat

• 55:26 Client Retention Post-Acquisition: What Really Drives It

• 57:48 2026–2027 Outlook: Will Big Blockbuster Deals Continue?

Connect with RiskCellar:

Website: https://www.riskcellar.com/

James Graham

Website: https://www.marshberry.com/about/our-team/james-graham/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-graham-b91a5214

Varada Bhat

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/varada-bhat

Brandon Schuh:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552710523314

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-stephen-schuh/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/schuhpapa/

Nick Hartmann:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickjhartmann/

RiskCellar is back with a packed episode that feels like the insurance industry itself, equal parts serious and unfiltered. Brandon Schuh and Nick Hartmann sit down to unpack a week that saw some of the biggest AI-driven headlines to hit the P&C space in recent memory. From a massive brokerage laying off 2,300 employees and blaming AI, to a CNN lawsuit targeting an AI search engine, to an InsurTech startup valued at $2.6 billion on just $40 million in revenue, nothing about this week is normal. And that's exactly the point.

The episode digs into the Acrisure story, where roughly 2,300 jobs are being cut, the second round of layoffs in a single year, with AI cited as the primary driver. Brandon and Nick do the math. At $300,000 average revenue per employee, that's a $690 million bet on AI's ability to fill the gap. They zoom out to connect this to the broader PE pressure story, exits, soft markets, rising interest rates, and a potential IPO on the horizon. The conversation doesn't stop there. New York State's newly signed auto insurance tort reform law gets a thorough breakdown, including the new $100,000 cap on non-economic damages and tightened comparative negligence thresholds that could finally start moving the needle on affordability. And the CNN vs. Perplexity lawsuit opens a bigger conversation about AI as a derivative product, one that can't function without the journalism it may ultimately be destroying.

Rounding out the news block is a closer look at Corgi, the AI-focused MGA that just raised at a $2.6 billion valuation despite generating only $40 million in revenue, a 65x multiple that leaves both hosts scratching their heads. Brandon draws a pointed parallel to boutique consulting firms now competing with McKinsey-sized players thanks to AI tools, a trend with direct implications for insurance brokerages of every size. The episode wraps with a "Three Truths and a Lie" segment on classic TV shows and a round of Simpsons trivia, staying true to the show's blend of sharp industry analysis and genuine conversation between two people who genuinely enjoy talking shop.

Takeaways:

• Acrisure's 2,300-person layoff represents a \(690M\) bet that AI can replace human production capacity.
• PE-backed brokerages are under compounding pressure from soft markets, rising rates, and IPO timelines.
• New York's auto tort reform caps non-economic damages at \(100,000\) and tightens comparative negligence rules.
• AI is a derivative product, it depends on journalism and original content to function.
• CNN filed suit against Perplexity for alleged copyright infringement in New York federal court.
• Corgi's \(2.6B\) valuation at \(65\times\) revenue raises serious questions about InsurTech market rationality.
• Boutique brokerages now have the firepower of Aon or Marsh thanks to accessible AI tools.
• Alleged class action litigation is brewing against a PE-backed brokerage over unpaid producer compensation.

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome to RiskCellar

2:45 Big News Tease + What Are You Drinking?

4:00 Memorial Day Weekend Recaps

7:38 This Week's AI Theme Intro

8:00 Acrisure Layoffs: The \(690M\) AI Bet

17:30 Sponsor Break: IPFS + freeflow.ai

17:4 CNN vs. Perplexity: AI and Journalism's Collision

21:05 Corgi's \(2.6B\) Valuation and the InsurTech Bubble

23:30 Boutique vs. McKinsey: AI Levels the Consulting Playing Field

27:10 SpaceX IPO, Elon Musk, and Market Insanity

29:00 Howden TROs and Industry Legal Wars

30:38 Three Truths and a Lie: Classic TV Edition

32:17 Simpsons Trivia: First 100 Episodes

33:57 Upcoming Guests and Episode Wrap

Connect with RiskCellar:

Website: https://www.riskcellar.com/

Brandon Schuh:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552710523314

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-stephen-schuh/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/schuhpapa/

Nick Hartmann:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickjhartmann/

The insurance industry is shifting fast, and this episode of RiskCellar doesn't let a single headline slide. Hosts Brandon Schuh and Nick Hartmann are back in the cellar breaking down three of the most talked-about stories in the industry right now. The Rad Power Bikes wrongful death lawsuit and what it means for micro-mobility product liability, the escalating legal fallout from Howden's alleged broker raid on Brown & Brown, and the accelerating softening of the reinsurance market that's reshaping valuations across the board. Plus a deep dive on the collapse of litigation finance as an asset class, and why that might matter more than anyone's admitting.

Brandon brings his front-row seat at the Christensen Group specialty desk to every story, and Nick matches him stride for stride with sharp market observations from the field. The episode covers the wrongful death suit filed by Shannon Stephens against Rad Power Bikes after an e-bike lithium-ion battery fire in an Alabama garage on January 3, 2025, killed her husband, Dr. Keith Stephens. Brandon unpacks the legal complexity of successor liability after Rad Power's bankruptcy, notes that the company's assets were reacquired for roughly $13 million, and questions whether the evidence standard will meet the plaintiff's burden given expert testimony that focused on design containment, not outright defect. The CPSC's intervention requiring UL certification for e-bike batteries is also examined in the context of legacy stock.

The second half of the episode is equally dense. Brandon and Nick dissect the Brown & Brown vs. Howden broker raid litigation, including a new Minnesota temporary restraining order barring 16 former Brown & Brown employees now at Howden from soliciting clients or recruiting staff. With $31 million in business allegedly lost and Howden carrying roughly $5 billion in total debt against a $3 billion revenue base, the guys ask tough questions about runway and financial viability. They also explore the quiet implosion of litigation finance as an asset class, Burford Capital's 47% stock drop on a single day after a $16.1 billion Argentina judgment was overturned in a US appeals court being the centerpiece moment, alongside JP Morgan's latest analysis calling for continued reinsurance price softening into 2027. It's a dense, entertaining, and genuinely insightful look at where the market stands right now.

Key Takeaways:

• Rad Power Bikes faces a wrongful death lawsuit tied to a lithium-ion battery thermal runaway event in January 2025
• Successor liability questions are unresolved, old entity is defunct; assets were acquired for ~$13M in bankruptcy
• Brown & Brown obtained a Minnesota TRO barring 16 former employees at Howden from soliciting clients or staff
• Brown & Brown disclosed ~$31M in lost business from the Howden broker raid on a recent earnings call
• Howden carries approximately $5B in debt against a ~$3B broker revenue base, a tight leverage position

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:55 Banter, Travel & Industry Events

09:45 Rad Power Bikes Wrongful Death Lawsuit

14:05 E-Bike Battery Safety, CPSC & UL Certification

17:25 Brown & Brown vs. Howden, Broker Raid Update

20:55 Howden's Debt Load & Financial Runway

24:05 Property Rate Softening, Real Numbers from the Field

26:40 Deductible Buy-Down Policies & Adverse Selection Risk

29:45 Litigation Finance Collapse, Burford Capital & Argentina

37:40 JP Morgan: Reinsurance Softening Into 2027

39:15 Three Truths and a Lie: Space Edition

47:00 AI at Insurance Innovators Conference

51:25 Data Centers in Space? Cooling Logistics Debate

52:45 Wrap-Up & Cheers

Connect with Risk Cellar:

Website: https://www.riskcellar.com

Brandon Schuh

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-stephen-schuh

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/schuhpapa

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552710523314

Nick Hartmann

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickjhartmann