Denim Rivet is back this week with Jim Gardner, co-founder and CEO of ViewSpection from Tucson, Arizona. Jim and ViewSpection participated in the 2017 edition of the Global Insurance Accelerator (GIA) in Des Moines. And get this – Jim first reached out to Denim Rivet host, Gregory Bailey and the GIA after listening to the Denim Rivet podcast! ViewSpection transforms the way commercial, residential, and even agricultural inspections are done. The app allows policyholders to take pictures from their smartphone of the exterior and interior walkthrough of their property. These are then uploaded to the carrier to essentially double the amount of inspections done on any given property.

User Experience

As a policyholder, your agent would typically invite you to download the app. Next, you’ll be asked to spend a bit of time taking photos - around 15 minutes to get through the exterior and interior of your property. From there the pictures are uploaded to your agent so they can find you the best coverage and also get to know you a little better.

There are 3 versions of the app for the policyholder, the agent, and the inspector. If you’re an agent interested in trying out ViewSpection you can download the app right now. You are given 5 free uses to play with all the apps features.

On Insuretech

We started the Denim Rivet podcast to foster conversation about the evolution and transformation of insuretech in the insurance industry. With an app like ViewSpection, Jim is well on his way to helping the ecosystem evolve. However, he has noticed that there is still tension with carriers when it comes to holding onto the old way of doing things. He’s worked with the GIA to really dig into what makes ViewSpection attractive to the policyholder (such as having less strangers visit their property) as well as the agent (since the app allows them to focus on sales work instead of driving out to properties). ViewSpection allows the carrier to allow policyholders to self service while getting double the amount of inspections for the same dollars being spent.

Growth and the Global Insurance Accelerator

Once locked in with the GIA, Jim went into a rapid fire round of over 150 meetings in three weeks with different mentors and industry specialists. The information he gained through this is invaluable, and while intense, he wants to replicate the experience every year going forward. In just a few months he’s seen ViewSpections customer base grow immensely and is already discussing contract agreements on their third meeting with a major carrier.

Coming from a 2nd generation business background, there are things on the sales side the GIA was able to get Jim up to speed with. He’s seen first-hand that someone may fall in love with your product, like ViewSpection, but there is a long way to go before getting anything down in ink to move forward. Some of this comes from resistance to change old habits carriers have, but the GIA has helped Jim shore up ViewSpection’s pain points so he has actionable answers and plans for any questions or issues an agent or carrier might have.

What’s Next?

ViewSpection recently attended the Global Insurance Symposium, which acts as the capstone for all the GIA’s cohorts. Jim is planning on relocating ViewSpection’s offices to Des Moines so they can be located in a centralized network of like-minded companies looking to transform the industry. You can read more about what is going on with Jim and ViewSpection over at his LinkedIn profile.

Links

ViewSpection

Jim’s LinkedIn

Venture Deals

S2E7: 2017 Cohort of the Global Insurance Accelerator