The Wolfcast

The Wolfcast

By Michael Waitze MediaBusinessManagement
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The Wolfcast episodes

  • The Wolfcast News RoundUp - EP 01 - Rene Papesch and Michael Waitze - The Value of Connectivity Is Growing Over Time

    Why does there seem to be so much news about internet outages, connectivity issues, and online services being unavailable?  Rene Papesch and Michael Waitze had a quick chat about three of those recent events.

    We discussed:

    1. KT Group's Decision to Pay 40BN Won as Compensation for Outage
    2. Another Facebook Messenger Outage
    3. Roblox Goes Down for Three Days

      4. For more news and stories like this, check out The Wolfcast here.

      11 min
    4. EP 12 - Oliver Lane - Head of Deal Flow at InsurTech Gateway - Market, Team and Product

      Oliver Lane, the Head of Deal Flow at InsurTech Gateway, and I had such a great conversation.  InsurTech Gateway is the only investor with its own FCA-authorised Incubator + Venture Capital Fund. The fastest place to build and launch an InsurTech idea.

      Some of the topics that Oliver and I discussed:

      • The beginning of his career in investment banking
      • The sheer volume and diverse InsurTech companies
      • InsurTech's need for capacity and underwriting risk partners
      • InsurTech Gateway's backing by global reinsurers
      • How InsurTech Gateway's relationships with carriers help startups grow
      • Gateway's FCA approval and its umbrella structure that allows InsurTech's to launch in two weeks
      • The difference between the InsurTech markets in the United States and Europe
      • Parametric insurance
      • The components of a great founder
      • The opportunity of blockchain solutions for insurance
      • CoinCover
      • AspenCoin

        • Some other titles we considered:

        1. The Fastest Place to Launch an InsurTech Idea
        2. We Act Almost As a Sandbox
        3. People Have Started to Take Note
        4. Trying to Push Forward One of the World’s Largest Financial Ecosystems
        5. We See Dots Not Lines
          6. 34 min
        6. EP 11 - Erika Krizsan - Insurance Factory - Innovation Meets Tradition

          The Wolfcast had an informative and insightful conversation with Erika Kirzsan, the Managing Director at the Insurance Factory Innovation Store and the Chief Inspiration Officer for MOI's Insurance Innovation Day.  As you listen to this episode, you can not help noticing that Erika is one of the most passionate people in the insurance industry!

          Some of the topics that were covered:

          • Decided at 14 years old that she wanted to be an insurance executive
          • As a young adult, Erika loved mathematics and economics
          • Notes that risk mitigation and hence insurance exists in every part of our lives
          • After many years of corporate life, leaving to start the Insurance Factory
          • Current trends in Insurance and InsurTech
          • Erika's ongoing interest in Insurance Innovation
          • Business model changes and mindset changes
          • The importance of Data Privacy and the different treatments in the US, Europe, and Asia
          • Erika's model for cooperation between incumbent insurers and InsurTechs
          • The integration of HealthCare, HealthTech, and Health Insurance

            • For the first 20 people interested in attending the Magic of Innovation's Insurance Innovation Day on October 20th and 21st, you can get a free ticket here by using the promo code WOLFCAST.

            31 min
          • EP 10 - Dipu KV - Bajaj Allianz General Insurance - COVID 19 Was an Unplanned Global User Acceptance Test

            It is always enjoyed catching up with Dipu KV, one of the most thoughtful and forward-thinking insurance executives in Asia.  Dipu is the President and Head of Operations, Communities, and Customer Service at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance in India.

            Some of the topics that Dipu discussed:

            • Emerging digital risks
            • The digital way of working AND living
            • Digital traffic is mirroring physical traffic and internet outages are becoming more common and critical
            • Data management and cybersecurity risks
            • How can physical and mental health be covered in a new way?
            • A shifting focus from illness to wellness
            • A move from conglomerates to ecosystems
            • Touchless customer service
            • Platformification is here to stay

              • Some other titles we considered for this episode:

              1. The Office as a New Offsite
              2. Imagine a Swan
              3. You Can Not Pivot to Digital at Scale Overnight
              4. What Is Good for the Customer Is Good for the Organization
              5. It’s About Scenario Building
              6. Think Big, Start Small, Scale Fast
                7. 32 min
              7. Emergency Podcast - Rene Papesch - CTO at Riskwolf - Somebody Literally Removed Facebook from the Internet

                Rene Papesch, CTO at Riskwolf popped back on the pod to address another unanticipated event that rocked the entire internet.  Somebody accidentally (?) messed up Facebook's Border Gateway Protocol settings and all of the company's properties vanished from the internet.

                Nobody is better than Rene at explaining these scenarios.  He discussed:

                • BGP is a standardized exterior gateway protocol designed to exchange routing and reachability information among autonomous systems
                • Because of the BGP config error, even internal tools could not work…so someone likely had to physically go to the data center(s) and remedy this
                • Due to this network problem, some employees could not even enter the FB offices
                • The implication of Facebook's ads not running and the resulting loss in sales as well as reputational risk
                • What is the recourse for those impacted?
                • The second and third-order effects may have seemed like DDOS attacks on the rest of the internet
                • ISPs, Telcos and other services were overloaded and overwhelmed leading to widespread system time outs
                • Reach out to Riskwolf if you are interested in parametric insurance for internet outages
                  • 15 min
                • EP 09 - Ugo Weyl - CEO at Koala - I Was Dating a Girl From Brazil

                  Ugo Weyl joined The Wolfcast to share the story of his unique entrepreneurial journey and the founding, building, and funding of Koala Insurance.  I really enjoyed talking with Ugo.  He was very transparent, straightforward, and generous.

                  Some of the topics that Ugo discussed included:

                  • His first business (Oui Reward) was to resolve flight delays and/or cancellations based on a European regulation that required airlines to pay cash compensation
                  • He went through the entire claims process because his girlfriend at the time (see the title of this episode) had her flight delayed by a day and was owed compensation
                  • He and one of his university friends decided they could build tech to solve this problem
                  • Oui Reward shut down 1 year after being founded to start his current company, Koala
                  • Koala only builds products that can be fully automated
                  • Koala's first underwriting partners were Wakam and Seyna
                  • Was sure Koala's first product could be built in two weeks, but it took 6 months
                  • This product for flight cancellation protection was meant to be launched just as COVID was hitting...decided not to launch
                  • Started fund-raising in the midst of the pandemic
                  • The impact of participating in TechStars Paris at the end of 2019
                  • The great team and support from InsurTech Gateway

                    • Other titles we considered for this episode:

                    1. I Just Knew I Did Not Want to Do That
                    2. It Is 100% Parametric
                    3. Why Are You Calling Me To Pitch Travel Insurance?
                      4. 37 min
                    4. EP 08 - Jordi Montserrat - co-Founder and Managing Partner at VentureLab - It's Not Just a Few, It's a Lot

                      The Wolfcast welcomed Jordi Montserrat, a co-Founder and Managing Partner at VentureLab.  Founded in 2004, VentureLab designs and operates flagship startup programs in Switzerland such as Venture Kick, Venture Leaders, TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award, and Innosuisse Start-up Training to support the best entrepreneurial talents.

                      Some of the topics that Jordi discussed:

                      • In comparison to when VentureLab was founded, almost all developed countries are committed to investing in innovation and startups
                      • VentureLab is not a hub of crypto per se but is definitely investing in this sector in places where it can add value
                      • Innovation in eCommerce will continue in payments, security, and supply chain integration
                      • B2B startups in Switzerland are extremely strong
                      •  ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) and its importance both personally and professionally
                      • The platform economy in Europe and regional differences
                      • Data regulations across borders and how it impacts platform economies
                      • Emerging digital risks and leaving your proverbial front door open
                      • Security, blockchain, and cryptocurrency
                      • Diginex Solutions and Merkle Science
                        • 43 min
                      • EP 07 - Timothy Chan - Norton Rose Fulbright - The InsurTech Lawyer - Oh, the Internet Is Down

                        The Wolfcast was joined by Timothy Chan, Insurance and Insurtech Lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright in Sydney, Australia.  Tim is also the Founder of The InsurTech Lawyer blog on which he shares news (and sometimes thoughts) on the emerging area of InsurTech Law.

                        Some of the topics that Tim and I covered:

                        • InsurTechs aim to make things simpler for consumers
                        • Where there is risk, there is an opportunity to insure that risk
                        • Recent internet outages including Microsoft Exchange, Akamai, and Fastly
                        • Emerging digital economy risks
                        • Aggregation and concentration risks
                        • Pricing internet outage risk
                        • Parametric insurance and third party validation
                        • Parametric products and some legal insights
                        • Regulatory requirements and product uniformity
                        • Data and the impact of Open Banking on Insurance
                          • 36 min
                        • EP 06 - Urs Gubser - Entrepreneur and Futurist - What If We Run Out of Floppy Disks?

                          The Wolfcast was joined by Urs Gubser, an entrepreneur, technology enthusiast, and futurist based in Zurich, Switzerland. Urs is a self-described 'classic nerd' who started programming when he was 12 years old.  He and I had crossed paths for almost 20 years before finally meeting each other through our work in the startup world.

                          Some of the topics that Urs and I discussed included:

                          • His work at UBS on the Next Step platform and meeting Steve Jobs
                          • The consumerization of technology and the resulting Digital Divide
                          • The accelerating complexity of technology and software and its implications
                          • The benefits and drawbacks of automation
                          • Internet outages and system dependencies
                          • Our shared experiences of working at global investment banks

                            • This is a Bernoulli Box.

                            37 min
                          • Emergency Podcast - Rene Papesch - CTO at Riskwolf - Akamai's Outage and Its Technical and Financial Implications

                            Rene Papaesch, CTO at Riskwolf, jumped onto the pod to have a quick discussion about Akamai's DNS outage and its technical and financial implications. 

                            Some of the things we discussed:

                            • What is a Domain Name Server (DNS) and what happens when it breaks?
                            • What is a Content Delivery Network (CDN) and why are they significant?
                            • The concentration in the services that drive the internet
                            • What actually happened to Akamai
                            • How internet outages and downtimes can create reputational and financial risks
                            • A parametric insurance solution can mitigate some of the financial risks
                              • 12 min

                            About The Wolfcast

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                            Definitive Conversations on Digital Risks, Parametric Insurance, and Other Interesting Topics