The Mohegan Sun did not disappoint and neither did the InsurTech Hartford Symposium. distriBind had a fly-in visit to Connecticut to attend its first event as a sponsor in the USA. With a recent signing in the USA, what better way to expand our network and showcase distriBind than with a start-up booth, a panel discussion, a media pitch, and plenty of networking opportunities in a fantastic and jam-packed two-day event. One of distriBind’s brilliant Business Analysts, Ailsa Wedderburn, even grabbed the opportunity to join Dave Connors (Founder and CEO), up on stage to bring distriBind to life and show how there is no re-keying or pre-processing from distribution through to capacity.
It is crazy how a venue can make an event feel quite small. This event was a generous size and had a great offering to make it worth traveling for. 1500 people and an immersive experience for startups, innovators, and entrepreneurs, just the place we wanted to be seen. Great minds and world-class insurtech leaders unlocked new and exciting networking opportunities.
Another event with two main streams and multiple break-out rooms meant there was plenty of opportunity for the attendees to see who they wanted to see and engage in the topics most interesting to them, but without being limited to one opportunity to do so. There was a strong start-up kiosk area with a vast array of offerings, a real insight into what the insurance industry has been lacking, but also what is available now. For me, one thing I really noticed that was different in the US market was that it has more of a focus on making the end user/consumer journey simpler and user-friendly with the use of embedded insurance. I feel that in the UK we talk about the consumer journey needing to be a focus, but ultimately we still have a more business process focus (for now at least).
Dave Connors joined a panel early on day one to discuss embedded insurance and how insurtechs fit in this space. There were definitely different opinions around the use of embedded insurance and how and where it has its place but for the most part the panels were in agreement that embedded insurance and other embedded processes have their place and insurtechs are here to provide. In preparation for the event, Dave wrote some of his thoughts down and you can also read them here ‘Embedded Insurance: How Real-time Data is Changing the Game for Insurers’.
Speaking to many (many) people throughout the two days gave the team at distriBind a great insight into the needs of the insurer and how we can help. Curing the insurance industry of its spreadsheet addiction is a bold statement, but it is a conversation starter and a declaration that we are yet to be challenged on. As one of few British-based companies at the event and four team members making the most of the experience, our accents did stand out a little (ok a lot) so if our tagline didn’t hook people in, having a British accent at an American event certainly made for some friendly conversation starters – which meant a lot of networking opportunities and after-party invites.
The event overall was great for connecting with people outside of our usual insurance circles. We certainly made some great allies in the SHIFT Team, Kevin and Joe were the BEST hosts at Game On and the distriBind team will not be forgotten for our (unbelievably bad) bowling skills...Ailsa may or may not have bowled down the wrong lane...
We are looking forward to catching up with everyone again in New York at the Insurtech Insights USA in June – please get in touch if you are going to be there and would like to catch up or follow us on LinkedIn to keep up with all the fantastic opportunities we were offered throughout the event and for the opportunity to listen to Dave all the great Podcasts he was invited to be on. We cannot wait!