By Justin Suttmiler, VP of Innovation and eXpansion
So, you’re thinking you might want to make a move in the insurance industry. Maybe you work for an incumbent and want to dip your toe into insurtech. Maybe you’ve never worked in insurance, but the insurtech space seems like a good move. If an insurtech move sounds interesting, here are some tips and tricks 👇
- Do an honest assessment of what experience and skills you have. Look at those items and what you know about the different functional areas within insurance. Create your shortlist of functional areas and roles you could play and are passionate about.
- Do a little research. Use resources like Coverager® 🐿️ to understand what insurtechs are out there, what stage they are at, and what their business model is. This stage can usually be a proxy for how “risky” the move is and what levels of specialization the company might need/want in roles. If you are very specialized and like structure Series B and early are NOT for you.
- When you’ve sorted businesses models you’ll know where/how you might fit. e.g. Claims roles won’t have value in a pure distribution play, line of business-specific startups won’t need/want other line expertise early on, etc.
- Have what feels like a long-time horizon. Lookout six to twelve months in the future and assume it’s going to take you that long across multiple opportunities to find your next role. A reasonable assumption is that it will take you three to five months to find a mutual fit.
- When you find a company that looks like a fit, don’t just look at the open jobs page. These aren’t legacy operations with defined organizations and set-in-stone jobs/functions. Do not treat them like a big company where you just submit a resume/application and wait. Bust down the gates. Get an in. Sell yourself.
- So you get the intro. Make the most of it. Be prepared. Be ready to talk about the value you can bring and be able to talk about why the company appeals to you.
- Be willing to be persistent and even be willing to take the initiative to schedule the follow-up if the open the door. Assume that they might not have formal HR functions and processes until they prove otherwise.
- So they move you to “the next round” (see prior bullet: this might be super-fast and informal; minimal HR process). Be ready to do your own diligence. Research and/or ask about business model details, team size, funding to date, runway, benefits, equity, and more.
- If you go deep in your diligence don’t be turned off by an non-disclosure agreement request. Things like growth metrics, valuation at last round, share price, outstanding shares are held very close to the vest and even above-board ethical founders might only share some of this with potential executive-level hires.
- You like what you hear. They make you an offer. Depending on stage the room for negotiation on base salary may or may not be there. Don’t be afraid to negotiate but in many early-stage cases equity might have more wiggle room than salary.
- You get the offer you want. You accept! Be ready to get welcomed with open arms onto a plane that you will soon realize is still in the process of being built and it’s already left the ground. FYI, landing gear is in the backlog and has been deprioritized. 😂
We wish you the best of luck with your career change. If you’re interested in working for Coterie Insurance, check out our open positions on our Careers page.
