Alex Frommeyer is the co-founder and CEO of Beam Benefits, a digitally-native employee benefits company that offers dental, vision, life, disability, and supplemental health coverage for employers of all sizes. The company simplifies and modernizes the $100+ billion ancillary benefits industry through its intuitive online platform, self-service tools, AI-powered underwriting, and thoughtful coverage for improved overall wellness. Its Beam Perks™ program offers incentives to members and rewards them for healthy behaviors. Beam has raised over $160 million in funding and is available in 44 states across the U.S. Learn more at beambenefits.com

Highlights from the Show

• Fro was on the show around the company he co-founded and is CEO of, Beam Benefits, was in The Future of Insurance, Volume II. The Startups
• Beam started as a dental insurer, but 18 months ago spread to other benefits products in response to customer needs and their focus on those needs
• Beam looks at established ancillary benefits and emerging ancillary benefits
  • Established are things like dental, group health, short and long term disability - products Beam has grown to include in its portfolio
  • Emerging ancillary benefits are driven by generational changes – things like pet insurance, mental and tele-health - and some purely new products like cancer coverage, and some non-insurance products in the wellness arena
  • This growth of products is about employers looking to create value for their employees rather than just coverage, which is different from P&C
• Beam is a very customer-driven business, looking at what customers want or need, and let that define the kind of products they design (or don’t)
  • This helped as they setup their initial IoT-based, connected tooth brush and dental insurance to their move to non-IoT-based products
• A lot has changed since Fro was on last time in the industry and with InsurTech investing
  • For Beam, they set a 2 year window to become Beam Benefits, and they’re at or ahead of schedule in that transformation
  • Benefits is more primed for new product introduction, with one key factor being brokers
    • Beam came out very counter to Zenefits in that they were pro-broker, and listened to brokers’ desire to not have everything change all at once, but do it more methodically
    • He’s seen an interest in changing so many things amongst some startups so quickly that the product becomes unrecognizable to the market and therefore struggles to take hold
  • Fro sees a transition from phase 1 to phase 2 companies, which means some will go out of business, but there’s also been an aggregate increase in employment in the space
  • A lot of founders have had to be heads down building or on the defensive for the prevailing tone of negativity from the focus on the failed startups or poor performers, and there would be benefit to the space to give some attention to celebrate what has worked well or been done to great benefit
  • Fro is optimistic about what customers will experience because of the presence of insurtech in the space
  • Fro see insurance existing on two axes - the risk transfer side and the customer experience side, and where the most innovation will be
    • He believes, if AI delivers on its promise, the impact on the risk axis will be profound
      • This would lower the capital required to start new coverage solutions, allowing more startups to try to innovate in the space
    • He also sees the benefits world more directly impacted by the experience axis to catch insurance up to where other consumer industries are

This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance Volume III. The Collaborators, part of the Future of Insurance thought leadership series (future-of-insurance.com) from Bryan Falchuk.

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Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.