David McFarland on Why Speed, Simplicity & Service Win Small Business Insurance
October 14th, 2021
David McFarland, founder, and CEO at Coterie Insurance joins the podcast for an all-time conversation on insurance, insurtech and what it takes to win the small business insurance market. David is one of the smartest guys in commercial insurance and things he and his team are doing at Coterie are rapidly changing the standard for ease of business.
David McFarland on Why Speed, Simplicity & Service Win Small Business Insurance
In this episode of The Ryan Hanley Show, Ryan Hanley is joined by David McFarland, founder, and CEO of Coterie Insurance, for an all-time conversation about insurance, insurtech and what it takes to win the small business insurance market.
David is one of the smartest guys in commercial insurance and things he and his team are doing at Coterie are rapidly changing the standard for ease of business. Don’t miss this episode…
Episode Highlights:
David explains what an actuary is. (5:20)
What are some of the ways David worked within the business to overcome what seems to be a fairly common problem with carriers? (10:38)
David explains first-order positive, second-order negative in Coterie. (15:15)
David discusses how Coterie manages things in general.. (16:09)
David mentions that the most valuable asset of any firm is its people. (19:13)
David explains how Coterie gets people to believe in what they do. (21:55)
David mentions that Coterie hires on four criteria: integrity, intelligence, passion, and humility. (27:37)
David says they aim to create a tech and insurance product that will allow their distribution partners to run in ways they couldn’t before. (35:30)
David explains third-party data and how Coterie uses it. (42:27)
David mentions that they aim to ensure the success of their distribution partner. (49:10)
David says they’re always seeking new data sources, evaluating its influence on customers, and verifying its accuracy. (51:58)
What does David see happening with small company insurance in the coming years? (53:46)
Key Quotes:
“We create cross-divisional teams to accomplish certain missions. So, if we have a particular objective or key result, we will put together a group of people who are qualified to tackle this thing. And that is their job and they have to work together.” – David McFarland
“We hire on four things. Integrity, intelligence, passion, and humility, and humility elevates all the other three. And the one sentence way that we describe it is that we’re smart, passionate people who do the right thing, and we’re not going to brag about it.” – David McFarland
“What we want to deliver is a product, both a tech product and insurance product that’s going to enable our distribution partners to run in ways that they just couldn’t do before.” – David McFarland
