CoverWallet was started by tech entrepreneurs who worked in software startups in the past, building easy to use online products for consumers and enterprises. Frustrated with how opaque, high pressure and time consuming the management of commercial insurance was, we decided to build a better experience for other business owners and a concierge service for them.
1. What’s your name and position at CoverWallet?
A. Inaki Berenguer, CEO & CO-founder of Coverwallet
2. Insurance is not exactly a traditionally “sexy” industry. When and why did you get involved in it?
A. Before CoverWallet started (in 2015), I founded 2 other startups and getting insurance was always painful and time consuming. I had to go through a traditional broker to understand what I needed and why I needed it. It was complex, cumbersome and I had to wait several days for a quote. This made me think, why hadn’t anyone thought of a way to solve these pain points yet? I immediately started doing some research and learned that 99% of small business insurance is distributed offline via traditional brokers, but everything else business related can be done online. So if you can get your accounting, HR, and banking all online, why not insurance?
Although we are reinventing insurance, we are a tech company and, as such, technology, marketing and design is what makes us sexy.
3. Most companies are formed to solve a particular problem – what problem does your CoverWallet solve?
A. CoverWallet is reinventing the way small businesses obtain insurance by utilizing data, design, and technology. Traditionally, when you buy insurance it can feel analog and painful, but with CoverWallet, we’ve built a customer-centric online product that is both efficient, convenient and intuitive.
4. CoverWallet works with a variety of companies in a variety of industries. Which industry do you think is most interesting (difficult?) from an insurance point of view?
A. There are 28M small businesses in the US, and 62% feel they lack a go-to solution for finding insurance for their business. We are laser focused on utilizing our innovative platform to serve small businesses everywhere, in whichever industry they operate.
5. The government is often thought of as a good-natured, albeit clumsy giant. Have you experienced any regulatory issues that have stymied your progress?
A. Tackling the world of insurance presents a unique challenge because it is a heavily regulated industry and these regulations are highly varied state-by-state. While our progress has not been stymied by these regulations, they have required that we take the utmost care in the development of our platform and ensure we are doing it right the first time.
6. What makes CoverWallet different than your competitors?
A. We are substantially improving all parts of the insurance value chain, enhancing the customer experience from the understanding insurance stage, to buying it and managing all things insurance. Ultimately, we are reducing the most manually intensive pieces of the insurance purchasing process from end to end.
Furthermore, we are a startup with tech DNA. A team of best in class engineers, data scientists, and digital marketers as well as insurance professionals, working together to provide a better insurance solution to small businesses.
7. What do you love most about working at CoverWallet?
A. That I have the opportunity to continue to build a platform that will protect small businesses better than ever before, improving the lives of millions of families. And I get to do this with an amazing talented team.
8. What is the best piece of advice you have for entrepreneurs looking to get involved in the tech space?
A. You need a team of very smart and committed individuals. And they are difficult to attract when you start and have limited resources. But you need to try your best at attracting talent early on, because they will set the culture and the bar of excellence in the company. A founder needs to spend one third of his/her time, trying to attract the best people for every open position.
BIO
Inaki is the CEO & co-founder of CoverWallet, a tech startup reinventing insurance for small businesses. Before, Inaki was the CEO & co-founder of Contactive, a big data platform acquired by Thinkingphones. Prior to that he was the CEO & co-founder of Pixable (50 employees, 10M users), an intelligent social photo aggregator startup acquired for $30M by SingTel, the second largest telecom operator in the world. He has also worked at McKinsey and at Microsoft Corporate Strategy. He is the recipient of the British Council, Fulbright, La Caixa, and Rafael del Pino fellowships and is the inventor of 4 patents. Inaki holds Master and PhD degrees in Engineering from Cambridge University (UK), an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and spent two years as a Fulbright Scholar (M.A.) at Columbia University, NY.
About CoverWallet
Launched in early 2016, CoverWallet combines deep analytics, thoughtful design and state of the art technology to help small businesses with all their insurance needs. CoverWallet delivers a seamless user experience while offering savings, customized coverage and best-in-class service to their customers. In a matter of minutes, any business can get peace of mind, buying and managing their insurance, all through CoverWallet’s online platform.
Stay in touch at www.coverwallet.com, @coverwallet or
