In this episode of The Insurance Technology Podcast, Reid speaks to Mike Albert and Allan Egbert about the importance of meaningful connections. Join this tried-and-true trio as they discuss why APIs remain popular and how they keep everything connected, why the personal touch from an agent will never be replaced, and how building new partnerships means more growth. 

Episode Highlights

• Why APIs remain popular (3:00)
• Agents are here to stay (9:15)
•  IVANS and Ask Kodiak join together (11:30)
• Who should be next on the podcast (22:30)
• What Mike and Allan do for fun (26:10)

About the Guests

Mike Albert
Prior to founding Ask Kodiak, Mike served in senior technology leadership roles in product and strategy. He has extensive experience in the P&C industry and has worked with carriers of all sizes leading teams that have built exceptional software for agents, underwriters, and policyholders alike. He previously served as the SVP of strategy for AgencyPort, a software provider to the P&C insurance industry. Mike specializes in the art of application design and user experience. He holds a bachelor's degree from James Madison University.

Allan Egbert
For the past 14 years, Allan has traveled the insurtech highway as a consultant, engineer, and product guy. He has worked in key technical leadership roles and led the implementation of critical insurance technology projects across the insurance value chain. Prior to founding Ask Kodiak, Allan served as the Chief Technology Officer for AgencyPort, a software provider to the P&C insurance industry. He has a master’s degree in Computer Science from Florida State University and Bachelors' degrees in Biology and Chemistry from Providence College.

In this episode of The Insurance Technology Podcast, Reid speaks to Mike Albert and Allan Egbert about their journey into the insurance industry and how they built Ask Kodiak, the nation’s leading commercial insurance appetite and eligibility platform. Join these old friends as they reminisce, joke around, and get real about the struggles of building their insurtech companies from the ground up. 

Episode Highlights

·       The school of hard knocks (3:54)

·       How Mike and Allan got into insurance (6:00)

·       Building a company from scratch (12:40)

·       The importance of bootstrapping (26:35)

·       Podcast gold, a nugget of wisdom (38:00)

Quote

“Perfectionist, I don't know if that's necessarily the right word. But everything's got to work because everything depends on everything else. So, if you keep it small, you can keep it high quality, the sky's the limit, man, because you start to plug this stuff together. Think about it like Lego blocks” - Mike Albert

About the Guests

Mike Albert
Prior to founding Ask Kodiak, Michael served in senior technology leadership roles in product and strategy. He has extensive experience in the P&C industry and has worked with carriers of all sizes leading teams that have built exceptional software for agents, underwriters, and policyholders alike. He previously served as the SVP of strategy for AgencyPort, a software provider to the P&C insurance industry. He specializes in the art of application design and user experience. Mike holds a bachelor's degree from James Madison University.

Allan Egbert
For the past 14 years, Allan has traveled the insurtech highway as a consultant, engineer, and product guy. He has worked in key technical leadership roles and led the implementation of critical insurance technology projects across the insurance value chain. Prior to founding Ask Kodiak, he served as the Chief Technology Officer for AgencyPort, a software provider to the P&C insurance industry. Allan has a Master's Degree in Computer Science from Florida State University and Bachelors' degrees in Biology and Chemistry from Providence College.

In this episode of The Insurance Technology Podcast, Reid speaks to Jim Hackbarth about how the pioneers who first created insurtech have paved the way for newer generations to innovate the industry. The foundations were set, the building blocks were given, now the world waits to see how far insurtech can go. 

Episode Highlights

• Creating order out of chaos (1:40)
• The power of mentorship (7:36)
• The perpetuation of leadership (10:04)
• Why Jim loves sales (17:22)
• What Jim does for fun (24:22)

Quote

“As I transition to the next chapter of my life, one of the things that I'm focusing in on is what can I do to help some of these insurtechs, what can I do to help young people? I love mentoring young people in the business. I always have.”

About the Guest

Jim Hackbarth was the President & CEO of Assurex Global, the world’s largest privately held risk management and commercial insurance brokerage group headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, for 18 years. He announced his retirement in early 2021 and is currently a senior advisor to the firm. Jim began his career at IBM as a sales representative calling on insurance carriers followed by management positions with Policy Management Systems (PMS), Agency Management Systems (Vertafore) and Information Dimensions Inc. Jim stays involved with business startup activities ranging from board work (both private and venture capital backed), angel investing, strategic relationship development. He is a native of Columbus, Ohio where currently resides, and has traveled the globe extensively in his various business endeavors. Jim holds an MBA in Finance and a BSBA in Insurance from The Ohio State University.

In this episode of The Insurance Technology Podcast, Reid speaks to Jim Hackbarth about his experience in the insurance industry and how he went from a rookie dreaming of being a football coach to insurtech MVP as the President and CEO of Assurex Global. Like many, Jim’s journey into insurtech was accidental but it is where he thrives and continues to surround himself with the best and brightest in the industry today. 

Episode Highlights

• How Jim got into insurance (3:33)
• The power of working with smart people (14:03)
• Tragedy leads to a big opportunity (17:20)
• The start of the insurtech revolution (18:35)

About the Guest

Jim Hackbarth was the President & CEO of Assurex Global, the world’s largest privately held risk management and commercial insurance brokerage group headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, for 18 years. He announced his retirement in early 2021 and is currently a senior advisor to the firm. Jim began his career at IBM as a sales representative calling on insurance carriers followed by management positions with Policy Management Systems (PMS), Agency Management Systems (Vertafore) and Information Dimensions Inc. Jim stays involved with business startup activities ranging from board work (both private and venture capital backed), angel investing, strategic relationship development. He is a native of Columbus, Ohio where currently resides, and has traveled the globe extensively in his various business endeavors. Jim holds an MBA in Finance and a BSBA in Insurance from The Ohio State University.

In this episode of The Insurance Technology Podcast, Reid speaks to Ilya Bodner about how the perfect concoction of data can create “the secret sauce” that drives greater success across the insurance ecosystem. Learn why high-quality, decision-grade data is essential and how insurance technology has only scratched the surface. 

Episode Highlights

• 4 signs it was time to sell (2:52)
• How Ilya organizes thoughts and priorities (14:50)
• How important is data? (17:10)
• What Bold Penguin is working on now (22:57)
• What Ilya does for fun (28:00)

Quote

“We've learned how to harness our own data, publicly available data, and there's a couple hundred different sources we're able to put together, put in a blender and make a beautiful cocktail with. “

About the Guest

As the founder of several successful insurance technology start-ups, Ilya Bodner has changed the way people buy, sell, and engage with commercial insurance. Bodner began his career on the front lines of insurance as an agent, experiencing the challenges of the industry firsthand that he would later go on to solve as an entrepreneur. Recent recognitions include “Executive of the Year” by BizTech and Best in Biz, “People’s Choice Innovation Leader of the Year” by the Insurance Innovation Awards, EY “Entrepreneur of the Year” Finalist, and “Most Admired Executive” by the C-Suite Awards.

In this episode of The Insurance Technology Podcast, Reid speaks to Ilya Bodner about the challenges and rewards of starting your own business. Ilya speaks in-depth about how his philosophies as an entrepreneur led his small startup of “bold penguins” to take on the massive insurance industry “whales” and come out on top.

Episode Highlights

• Columbus, Ohio – a hidden insurance hotbed (2:00)
• How Reid and Ilya met (14:50)
• Why the success of Bold Penguin lies in its people (17:13)
• The challenges and rewards of being an entrepreneur (24:15)

Quote

“If you just sprinkle a little bit of tech, life can get easier for some people. If you can sprinkle a lot of tech at the right problems, then you can build this machine and make things a hell of a lot easier for a lot of people.”

About the Guest

As the founder of several successful insurance technology start-ups, Ilya Bodner has changed the way people buy, sell, and engage with commercial insurance. Bodner began his career on the front lines of insurance as an agent, experiencing the challenges of the industry firsthand that he would later go on to solve as an entrepreneur. Recent recognitions include “Executive of the Year” by BizTech and Best in Biz, “People’s Choice Innovation Leader of the Year” by the Insurance Innovation Awards, EY “Entrepreneur of the Year” Finalist, and “Most Admired Executive” by the C-Suite Awards.

In this episode of The Insurance Technology Podcast, Reid speaks to David Wroe about how APIs have the potential to be the most impactful piece of technology for the insurance industry to date. Get a free lesson from an industry heavyweight on how APIs give insurers more options to adopt new technology in smaller pieces.

Episode Highlights

• A little bit of history and big names in the industry (9:21)
• The most impactful piece of tech (11:13)
• David’s plans for today and tomorrow (13:24)

Quote

“There's all kinds of investments going into artificial intelligence, big data, et cetera, but I really come back to the APIs. What's happening is that the whole insurtech momentum is spawning so much innovation. So many other ideas, all of which are sort of a small scale. Something needs to be able to put them all together to create a greater value than anyone individually. In APIs, we have the potential to do that.”

About the Guest

David has spent his career in the insurance industry with a focus on technology. He was very involved in the creation of the first agency carrier interface, the formation of ACORD AL3, and the birth of IVANS. For many years he was the Chairman and CEO of Agency Management Services now Vertafore. He was the Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for CNA Insurance Companies in Chicago. Today, as President of Clareworks, he remains very active consulting with and sitting on the boards of a number of private equity backed technology companies in the property and casualty insurance space.  

In this episode of The Insurance Technology Podcast, Reid speaks to David Wroe about why decisions made early in the evolution of the insurance industry have kept it from reaching its true potential. Tune in for David’s take on where and why collaboration initiatives failed and the tremendous impact it’s had on standardization and automation across the industry.  

Episode Highlights

• David’s journey into insurtech (2:12)
• The birth of interface and AL3 (4:52)
• A consortium of 7 insurers built AMS (7:45)
• The thread of opposing solutions (9:50)
• Factors of AMS growth (13:20)

About the Guest

David has spent his career in the insurance industry with a focus on technology. He was very involved in the creation of the first agency carrier interface, the formation of ACORD AL3, and the birth of IVANS. For many years he was the Chairman and CEO of Agency Management Services now Vertafore. He was the Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for CNA Insurance Companies in Chicago. Today, as President of Clareworks, he remains very active consulting with and sitting on the boards of a number of private equity backed technology companies in the property and casualty insurance space.  

In this episode of The Insurance Technology Podcast, Reid speaks to Kabir Syed about how rebels have the optimism and drive needed to create innovative breakthroughs in InsurTech. Drawing on his wide-ranging experiences in the industry and as an entrepreneur, Kabir provides invaluable insights into what it will take to launch InsurTech into the future.

Episode Highlights

• Advice for startup InsurTech companies (1:45)
• Playing with someone else’s money (5:32)
• The importance of delegation (7:25)
• Other InsurTech rebels (11:25)
• Get to know Kabir (14:35)

About the Guest

Kabir Syed is the Founder & CEO of Ennabl, Inc., a bespoke cloud-based platform for insurance intermediaries. He has 28+ years in insurance at startups and large organizations. Kabir founded RiskMatch, a data analytics company in 2013 and exited to Bain Capital & Vista in 2017. Prior to that, he was at Marsh McLennan in various roles including strategy, operations, and marketing. Kabir sits on various boards for InsurTech and FinTech corporations.

In this episode of The Insurance Technology Podcast, Reid speaks to Kabir Syed about the growing pains of new career paths, becoming an entrepreneur and moving on. They also dissect the limitations of legacy insurance business operations and the room for innovation through technology. Kabir’s colorful commentary about entrepreneur life and the opportunities for InsurTech today make this an exciting addition in Part 2 of this compelling conversation with “the man, the myth, the legend.”

Episode Highlights

• An entrepreneur is born (3:06)
• The story of RiskMatch (3:46)
• The dilemma of selling your own company (6:49)
• The insurance business ecosystem (10:51)
• Inspiration from other industries (13:27)

Quote

“I always say, when you start a company you have to be naive because if you take the entire risk of it, you will never start a company.”

About the Guest

Kabir Syed is the Founder & CEO of Ennabl, Inc., a bespoke cloud-based platform for insurance intermediaries. He has 28+ years in insurance at startups and large organizations. Kabir founded RiskMatch, a data analytics company in 2013 and exited to Bain Capital & Vista in 2017. Prior to that, he was at Marsh McLennan in various roles including strategy, operations, and marketing. Kabir sits on various boards for InsurTech and FinTech corporations.