InsurTechTalk

Hosted by Gilad Shai

BusinessInterviews guests

Website RSS feed LinkedIn Facebook YouTube

Episodes

167

Latest episode

Oct 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Welcome to InsurTechTalk, the premier podcast where industry titans and trailblazers converge to unravel the fascinating world of InsurTech. Join us for insightful discussions, gripping interviews, and thought-provoking analyses with entrepreneurs, founders, investors, and executives at the forefront of the insurance and technology revolution.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

October 23, 2026Episode 2846 min

Why Insurance Claims Need a Pizza Tracker | Steve Johnson, insured.io

Steve Johnson, Founder and Chief Product Officer of insured.io and author of The Insurance UX Survival Guide, joins InsurTechTalk to talk about why claims is where customer experience is won or lost.Steve started as a policy processor, became an underwriter, and fell into technology at a Northern California MGA. Twenty-plus years later he is still trying to close the gap between what policyholders expect and what insurance technology delivers.In this episode:▸ Why policyholders do only a few things, and why those have to be easy▸ Why mobile still comes first (Steve reports 87% of portal use is on mobile)▸ The Pizza Tracker for claims, and why about 30% of claims calls are “where is my claim?”▸ How one carrier moved over half its payments to self-service without touching its core systems▸ AI chatbots, guardrails, off-ramps and the “doom loop”▸ Digital FNOL: if it takes more than about 10 minutes, something is wrong▸ Why small UX changes beat a full digital transformationChapters:0:00 Welcome1:09 From policy processor to founder4:04 The Insurance UX Survival Guide, second edition7:04 Nepotism, an MGA and a failed clothing company12:33 What policyholders actually do14:23 Why UX ranks next to brand18:00 Tier 1 vs Tier 2 carriers, and 87% mobile20:22 UX debt vs technology debt21:58 Moving payments off the phone25:01 The channels policyholders use27:06 Using AI without reinventing the wheel30:18 Claims and the Pizza Tracker34:25 How much transparency is too much?36:57 Who gets credit for the savings38:56 UX as a differentiator vs core vendors41:17 Rapid fire: doom loops and digital FNOL43:33 Which chapter to read first44:57 What insurance should talk about moreFigures are company-reported by the guest and were not independently verified.Guest: Steve Johnson, insured.io (https://insured.io)Book: The Insurance UX Survival Guide, second editionInsurTechTalk by InsurTech.me, conversations with the people building the future of insurance.https://insurtech.me

October 13, 2026Episode 2726 min

Most Brokers Skip the Extra 3 Points of Commission. Here's Why | Duncan Crystal, Herald

Every brokerage has a placement strategy. Then there is the placement reality: where producers actually end up placing business. Duncan Crystal, Co-Founder of Herald, spends his days closing that gap.In Episode 173 of InsurTechTalk, Duncan explains why Herald started with a unified API for commercial insurance, why forcing all of insurance into one API hit a ceiling, and how AI let the company move to "radical acceptance": helping brokers work wherever they already work. He also shares what surprised him most when he entered the industry: producers are so underwater that many skip an extra three points of commission just to clear their desk.Chapters:0:00 Intro: Duncan in Chicago for Broker Tech Connect0:29 What Herald sells: strategic placement at scale3:46 How big the placement problem is, and its five steps5:17 Who "the market" is: MGAs, wholesalers, portals, and the swivel chair8:21 The old insurtech mistake: "we will replace the broker"10:39 Herald's origin: the unified API and the ceiling it hit12:24 Duncan's path: wrestling, rugby, and At-Bay15:56 The messy middle between the CRM and the AMS17:55 How brokerages solve it today, and where AI fits20:53 Does commission drive placement? Why brokers skip the extra points23:13 Closing question: what insurance should talk about more25:55 Vibe coding is a double-edged swordIn this episode:Strategic placement at scale: closing the gap between a brokerage's placement strategy and its placement realityThe five steps of placement, from submission intake to binding and issuingWhy "the market" is really MGAs, wholesalers, carriers and reinsurers, each with its own email, portal or APIWhy "we will replace the broker" was the old insurtech mistake, and why Duncan has fallen into that thinking tooHow Herald's unified API hit a ceiling, and what changed with AIThe "messy middle" between the CRM and the agency management systemWhy strategically right placements lose to the easy ones, and how AI can flip thatWhy vibe coding makes judgment about what to build the new bottleneck🔗 Learn more: https://www.heraldai.com/https://insurtech.me/InsurTechTalk is the podcast for insurance professionals, InsurTech founders, and anyone who wants a no-BS look at where the industry is headed.🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week.#AIinInsurance, #BrokerTech, #CommercialInsurance, #DuncanCrystal, #Herald, #Insurance, #InsuranceInnovation, #InsurTech, #InsurTechTalk, #Placement

October 12, 2026Episode 271 hr 1 min

Why He Gave Away $100K of Caviar Instead of Conference Booth | Daniel Katz

Yehuda Daniel Katz got into insurance to fight back against a denied claim that devastated his family. By the time he could act, the statute of limitations had expired. So he studied insurance instead, worked his way through Willis, an MGA, and an insurance fraud investigation, and eventually built the company he needed all along.In Episode 172 of InsurTechTalk, Yehuda Daniel, Founder of RiskRemedy, explains what "book intelligence" actually means, why nearly two million reviewed endorsements can predict which coverage exclusions are about to spread to your state, and why he'd rather spend $100,000 on caviar than $50,000 on an ITI NYC booth.Chapters:0:00 Intro & off-topic banter (skip ahead if you want, but Daniel says some smart things in here too)11:50 What is RiskRemedy?16:03 Daniel's origin story: getting into insurance for revenge28:11 RiskRemedy's team size and business basics30:03 Tech stack: how Daniel runs a 3-person company on Claude and Notion35:44 The Backstory partnership: relationship intelligence for insurance37:18 Construction insurance data: how endorsements spread state to state41:31 Who actually buys RiskRemedy: brokers vs. insurance consultants47:56 The broker growth story: 20 to 37 employees, $42K to $75K salaries52:54 Closing question: the insurance talent crisis, by the numbersIn this episode:Why Daniel got into insurance for revenge, and what that has to do with building RiskRemedyWhat "book intelligence" means: an insurance library built from every policy, endorsement, and comment your team has ever producedHow endorsement trends spread geographically, and why New York and California predict what's coming to Pennsylvania and OhioThe broker who grew from 20 to 37 employees and raised entry-level salaries from $42,000 to $75,000, without hiring the back-office team he originally plannedWhy Daniel skipped the ITI NYC booth entirely and gave away $100,000 worth of caviar on the sidewalk insteadThe insurance talent crisis, in one number: 91% of professionals over 40 read a policy cover to cover every year. Under 40, it's less than 6%Why Daniel believes the industry risks a fundamental loss of faith if that gap isn't closed🔗 Learn more: https://www.riskremedy.ioInsurTechTalk is the podcast for insurance professionals, InsurTech founders, and anyone who wants a no-BS look at where the industry is headed.🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week.

October 12, 2026Episode 2648 min

The SaaSpocalypse, 9 Months Later: What Actually Happened | Michael Nadel

In February of 2026, the market wiped nearly $300 billion off software valuations in two days, convinced that LLMs would make traditional SaaS redundant. Nine months later, Michael Nadel, Global Insurance Practice Lead at Simon-Kucher, has a very different read on what actually happened, and what it means for every InsurTech company trying to price its product right now.In Episode 171 of InsurTechTalk, Michael breaks down the real difference between offensive and defensive AI monetization, why "price is an exchange of value" is the only pricing principle that has survived three decades unchanged, and why judgment, not intelligence, is still the thing AI hasn't commoditized.In this episode:→ What actually happened during the SaaSpocalypse, and why Michael sleeps easier nine months later than he did in January→ Why point solutions that survived early AI disruption were the ones requiring less subject matter expertise, and why that's the wrong lesson to draw→ The Benioff vs. McDermott framing (opportunity vs. commoditization) and why both statements can be true at once→ Why InsurTech vendors have flipped from "monetize my AI feature" to "defend my business model" in the span of a year→ The moat that matters most right now: aligning your pricing metric to value delivered, not to a human seat that might disappear→ Why "I have a thousand customers" often really means "I have five customers," and what that reveals about pricing discipline→ A live example from Michael's own fantasy football draft of exactly where AI judgment still fails→ A preview of his ITC Vegas 2026 masterclass on monetization and sales strategy in the age of AI🔗 Learn more: https://www.simon-kucher.com/InsurTechTalk is the podcast for insurance professionals, InsurTech founders, and anyone who wants a no-BS look at where the industry is headed.🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week.🔗 https://insurtech.me/ #AIinInsurance, #Insurance, #InsuranceInnovation, #InsurTech, #InsurTechTalk, #MichaelNadel, #MonetizationStrategy, #Pricing, #SaaSpocalypse, #SimonKucher

October 11, 2026Episode 2550 min

The "10x Cheaper Quote" Red Flag Every Insurance VC Should Know | Rick Zullo

Rick Zullo, Founder and Managing Partner of Equal Ventures, has never lost money on an insurance deal since founding his firm in 2018. When he started, his insurance portfolio generated under $2 million in combined revenue. Today it is between $250 and $300 million.In Episode 170 of InsurTechTalk, Rick breaks down the actual framework his firm uses to evaluate insurance startups (hint: traction and early unit economics are not on the list), why reinsurance capacity is getting harder to access rather than easier, and why he thinks a coming "super El Nino" cat year will split the industry between AI-native and legacy underwriters.In this episode:→ The "elbow chart": Rick's framework for what actually makes an insurance startup investable, and why it has nothing to do with traction→ Why distribution businesses are hitting 50%+ EBITDA margins under AI, and why carriers reward operational improvement instead of punishing it→ Why reinsurance capacity is NOT flowing down to niche MGAs, and why getting commercial paper has become a genuine competitive moat→ The Stand and Bluefield Specialty case studies: how being told "zero shot" on capacity became a durable advantage→ Why Rick agrees with Jonathan Crystal's "InsurTech is dead, long live insurance" framing, and what separates the dead InsurTechs from the surviving ones→ Equal Ventures' actual investment philosophy: building the "Berkshire Hathaway of venture capital," not chasing 0-to-100 AI hype→ Why bridging legacy and next-gen assets, not disruption, is where Rick sees the real opportunity in 2026 and beyond🔗 Learn more: https://www.equal.vc/InsurTechTalk is the podcast for insurance professionals, InsurTech founders, and anyone who wants a no-BS look at where the industry is headed.🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week.#AIinInsurance, #Bluefield, #EqualVentures, #Insurance, #InsuranceInnovation, #InsurTech, #InsurTechTalk, #MGA, #Reinsurance, #RickZullo, #Stand, #VentureCapital

October 11, 2026Episode 2444 min

650 Submissions, One Stage: Inside ITC Vegas 2026 | Nicole Peck, Patti Harman

Golf tournaments, 650 speaker submissions, a free solo rock climber on the main stage, and a room full of insurance regulators that most attendees don't even know exists.In Episode 169 of InsurTechTalk, Nicole Peck (President, ITC) and Patti Harman (Head of Content, ITC) give a full behind-the-scenes preview of ITC Vegas 2026 — this year's theme, "Horizon of Possibilities," the new Tuesday summit structure, and what actually happens in the private meeting spaces most badge-holders never see.In this episode:→ Why ITC restructured its entire week, moving the golf tournament to Monday and packing Tuesday with new curated summits (claims and fraud, AI, commercial and specialty lines, healthcare funding, underwriting, cybersecurity)→ Why carriers rarely say anything controversial on stage, and why founders and IT leaders are where the real insight comes from→ The hidden regulator room that most attendees don't know exists→ This year's main stage headliner: Alex Honnold, the first person to free solo El Capitan→ How ITC's low-cost startup kiosk model turns into six-figure sponsorships once those same startups raise real funding→ The Women's Forum, the Founders Forum, and the badge ribbon system designed to spark connections on the floor→ Why the "in-between moments" — coffee lines, hallway run-ins, even the bathroom line — matter as much as the scheduled sessionsPractical tips for making the most of the event, from Nicole and Patti's own playbook🔗 Learn more and register: vegas.insurtechconnect.comInsurTechTalk is the podcast for insurance professionals, InsurTech founders, and anyone who wants a no-BS look at where the industry is headed.🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week.#FoundersForum, #Insurance, #InsuranceEvents, #InsuranceInnovation, #InsurTech, #InsurTechConnect, #InsurTechTalk, #ITCVegas, #NetworkingTips, #NicolePeck, #PattiHarman, #WomenInInsurance

October 11, 2026Episode 2346 min

The 4-Layer Insurance Framework Every VC Should Know | Noam Inbar, Viola FinTech

Capital, underwriting, distribution, trust. Noam Inbar, General Partner at Viola FinTech, breaks insurance into four layers — and argues AI is commoditizing the middle while making the top layer more valuable than ever.In Episode 168 of InsurTechTalk, Noam walks through her path from teenage soccer referee to PayPal to Zooz to Forter to launching an early-stage fintech fund backed by The Phoenix, and finally to General Partner at Viola FinTech. Along the way: her "Contextual FinTech" thesis, why she thinks loss ratio obsession is necessary but not sufficient, and why the founder-investor relationship is closer to a marriage than most people admit.In this episode:The four-layer framework for insurance value: capital, underwriting, distribution, trustWhy cyber insurance's underwriting moat is disappearing — and why AI liability is "the new cyber insurance"Contextual FinTech: why INSHUR's embedded auto insurance inside the Uber driver onboarding flow works, and why not every embedded insurance moment doesWhy AI made her job harder, not easier — and the one question about founders "you can't answer with Claude"The 2021 bubble's 24-hour term sheets, and why that speed produced bad outcomesViola's portfolio spotlight: Advance, insurance infrastructure that never underwrites a policyWhy Viola is exploring "AI rollups" in insurance as a new business model🔗 Learn more: https://www.viola-group.com/fund/violafintech/🔗 Connect with Noam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noaminbar/InsurTechTalk is the podcast for insurance professionals, InsurTech founders, and anyone who wants a no-BS look at where the industry is headed.🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week.

October 11, 2026Episode 2246 min

Why "Detection" Will Never Solve AI Fraud in Insurance | Jeppe Nørregaard, InReality

Detection is an arms race you cannot win. That's the core argument InReality Founder & CEO Jeppe Nørregaard makes in Episode 167 of InsurTechTalk, and it comes from someone who spent seven years working on AI-based misinformation detection before concluding the entire approach was structurally doomed.His pivot: stop trying to catch fakes after the fact. Instead, cryptographically prove content is real from the moment it's captured, so fake evidence never enters the pipeline in the first place.In this episode:▸ Why Jeppe abandoned AI detection research after watching AI get better at creating misinformation than detecting it▸ What post-quantum cryptography actually means, and why old systems, not new ones, are the real quantum risk▸ Why AI has "absolutely no chance" of breaking a cryptographic proof▸ How Check, Sign, Verify works at the level of an actual smartphone camera▸ The insurance fraud numbers driving urgency: a 71% rise reported by Admiral in 2025▸ Why "undetectable AI" makes traditional fraud detection a losing long-term bet▸ GDPR, the EU AI Act, and why permanent blockchain records are actually a privacy liability▸ Why Jeppe wants fraud numbers to keep rising, not fall, and what a falling number would actually meanLearn more: https://inreality.ioConnect with Jeppe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeppe-nørregaard/InsurTechTalk by InsurTech.me is the podcast for insurance professionals, InsurTech founders, and anyone who wants a no-BS look at where the industry is headed. New episodes every week.

October 11, 2026Episode 2148 min

What Is a Lloyd's Managing Agent? Delegated Authority Explained | Paul Templar

Half a million bordereaux processed every year. Roughly half of Lloyd's Managing Agents as customers. And a data problem so persistent that Paul Templar has spent 17 years building the company that solves it.In Episode 166 of InsurTechTalk, Paul Templar, Co-Founder and CEO of VIPR Solutions, breaks down what Delegated Authority actually is, why bordereaux data remains one of the hardest unsolved problems in insurance, and why the US market is surprisingly further behind on this than most people assume.In this episode:▸ Delegated Authority 101: managing agents, Lloyd's brokers, and coverholders explained plainly▸ Why bordereaux data is still a mess after decades of "digital transformation"▸ The 11-year CTO-to-CEO transition, and what actually changes when you take the top job▸ What happened when VIPR closed its first private equity round during COVID▸ Why the US market's data problem is more complex than London's, not less▸ VIPR's AI philosophy: deterministic outputs, human-in-the-loop, and why hallucination is unacceptable in a regulated environment▸ The token cost conversation most vendors aren't having with their prospects▸ His closing argument: the industry needs to simplify data submission, not add more standardsLearn more: https://viprsolutions.comInsurTechTalk by InsurTech.me is the podcast for insurance professionals, InsurTech founders, and anyone who wants a no-BS look at where the industry is headed. New episodes every week.

August 5, 2026Episode 2047 min

96% of Cyber Failures Are People, Not Tech — Yagub Rahimov, Polygraf.ai

A few episodes ago, Cheri Martinen revealed that GL policies are now excluding AI-generated content. The question she left unanswered: who verifies whether content is AI-generated when a claim arises? Yagub Rahimov, Founder & CEO of Polygraf.ai, is one of the answers. In Episode 165 of InsurTechTalk, Yagub explains how his AI behavioral control platform addresses the three AI threats insurance companies are not ready for: deepfake claims fraud, shadow AI data leakage, and the context gap that checkbox-based claims processing can never close. In this episode: - Why 96% of cyber failures are behavioral, not technical — and why most security tools are built for the other 4% - The Beverly Hills problem: why regex-based DLP misses 32% of email-related data leakage and far more for contextual sensitive data - Why Polygraf runs entirely locally — no API exposure, no cloud, air-gapped when required - How deepfake claims fraud is evolving from isolated documents to coordinated fraud rings - The shadow AI crisis in insurance: what a CISO's "signed letter" solution reveals about how carriers are actually governing AI today - Why the biggest gap in insurance claims processing is context — and how AI can close it - Yagub's own Airbnb scam experience and what it reveals about embedded insurance failures 🔗 Learn more: https://www.polygraf.ai/ 🔗 Connect with Yagub: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yrahimov/ InsurTechTalk is the podcast for insurance professionals, InsurTech founders, and anyone who wants a no-BS look at where the industry is headed. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week.