A question I get asked a lot is, ‘what are the best resources one could follow to keep abreast of all the Insurtech updates happening around the world?’.  

There are an abundance of newsletters, sites and items being shared on social media daily.  Sometimes it can be daunting to know which ones to click on. As we all have day jobs, ensuring we spend time wisely in the content we choose to ingest is of the utmost importance. 

As such, I’d like to provide the resources that I use to monitor what’s happening in the Insurance and Insurtech space on a daily basis.  Hopefully this can help you as you continue to follow the space.

Further, this past week and a half, there were a number of interesting reports, an article and a video, that I’ve curated for you.

Resources

This first one may sound quite simple.  When I started monitoring the space, the first thing I did was set up Google Alerts for ‘Insurtech’, ‘Insurance’ and ‘Amazon Insurance’. (These 3 give me a plethora of articles to go through each day.  I look for headlines that are appealing to me and have a quick read or save them for a day when I have the time to read them).  

Secondly, there are a number of daily/weekly newsletters out there.  Matthew Grant, Executive Director at Abernite and Partner of InsTech London put together a great article outlining his top 10 Insurtech newsletters.  

I subscribe to most of the newsletters on the list and I encourage you to as well (Coverager, CB Insights, ITL, Insurtechnews, Digital Insurance and The Digital Insurer are at the top for me from his list).

In addition to the list above, two other U.S. based ones I truly enjoy are Insurance Nerds and Agency Nation.  Both of these resources offer regularly published articles and a podcast.  Ryan Hanley, CMO of Agency Nation also has a brilliantly entertaining VLOG – The Show.  

For Asia, I love the content from Asia Insurance Review.

If you prefer podcasts, two of the ones I enjoy (which I have also been featured on) are Abel Travis’ Insurance Innovators Unscripted Podcast and Spot On Insurance.  Both have had a wide array of guests and varying topics to keep listeners entertained.  

I realize that this is a lot of information to digest.  Try all of these out and see which ones resonate for you the most.

Are there any major ones I’m missing?  Please share with me, I’m always looking for good, new resources!

6 Insurtech and Insurance items from this week that you should read and watch

Below are 6 Insurtech items that I have curated for you:

• Squaring Risk in the Sharing Age – This report from Deloitte and Lloyds of London has a twofold objective of 1) ‘To provide sharing economy platforms with an overview of key risks and the insurance solutions available to mitigate them’, and 2) ‘To help the insurance market further understand how this sector of the economy needs new insurance products and where the most compelling opportunities for product development are located’.  As this is a growing trend in the global economy, it is extremely important for our industry to know how we are to play a role in it.
• Breaking Boundaries – How Insurtech is moving beyond Insurance – This report from Startupbootcamp and PwC takes a look at the ‘226 startups that were taken through the final stages of selection’ of Startupbootcamp’s Insurtech accelerator program’.  This gives some real great insights as to the types of companies that are trying to improve and enhance the Insurance proposition and value chain. Further, it shows how this has evolved over the past 3 years, when Startupbootcamp Insurtech was formed.  
• CB Insights Global Fintech Report Q2 2018 – I’m a real big fan of the reports that come from CB Insights.  This report was interesting for me as it looks at various components of Fintech (including Insurtech) and what the latest funding trends are. Spiros Margaris shared with me last week, ‘For me Insurtech is part of Fintech. Fintech is like the mother of all and below it are subsectors.  Insurtech for me, is one of them. Insurtech will takes a similar path as Fintech took.  Insurance didn’t have as many interactions with customers – now Insurance companies have means to interact much more with customers through new features and tools they bring in’.  When reading this report from CB Insights, one can start imagining where some of the intersections will be between the various financial service offerings that are being put in place today.
• CB Insights Amazon in Healthcare – I’m sure our readers out there know by now that I’m pretty bullish on Amazon in Insurance.
• What is the new Insurance narrative – My friend and fellow Insurtech enthusiast Patrick Kelahan keeps on surprising me with his brilliant articles.  He has been in the industry for a long time and has a wealth of experience to share.  He has found a way to express his experience in a most creative way and this article takes a look at how Insurance may look in the future.  P.S. – if you haven’t seen yet, check out his Blind Man and the Elephant series.
• There is no Insurance Goliath – I mentioned Ryan Hanley above and will mention him again here.  This video was created in part as a response to the David and Goliath analogy being used when comparing Insurtechs to incumbents (I am guilty of using this last week too).  In this video, Ryan talks about how the most important ‘battle that we are fighting’ is not against each other. The battle that we are all fighting is ‘how to figure out the Insurance customer experience’ and how we can partner to better deliver this.  It’s great food for thought for everyone participating in the ecosystem.

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Stephen Goldstein is an experienced Insurance executive and Insurtech dealmaker with a core focus on growing revenue, launching go to market initiatives and advising industry leaders.

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