Hosting a podcast has been a fantastic way to meet people from around the world and help share their stories and advice. I’ve learnt a lot. Running a successful podcast series requires commitment but we are not the only show in town.
So as we approach the release of 300 episodes for the InsTech Talks podcast series I’ve pushed the microphone to one side for a moment to reflect on nine other insurance flavoured podcasts you may want to sample.
But, be warned, this is rather a self-serving list – every one of these podcasts’ hosts has been generous enough to invite myself or one of my InsTech colleagues Robin Merttens or Henry Gale onto at least one episode. I’ve linked to that episode as your starting point. But we do have standards. This is not just a puff piece for us. Each of these podcast shows is worthy of following in their own right.
I love asking our guests questions, but I’m also very happy when asked to share my views on the world as a guest. But it’s not easy. The biggest lesson for me when I switch to the other side of the microphone is a reminder of how much harder it is to be a guest than a host. Anyone can ask a question, but it’s something of a juggling act as a guest to tell stories and get the facts right whilst not cramming too much into one lengthy stream of consciousness.
So a thank you to everyone who has invited us to speak on their podcasts – and another big thank you to all our guests on the InsTech podcast for agreeing to be in the hot seat and taking the occasional editorial guidance along the way.
You should be able to find all of these on your preferred podcast channel such as Apple or Spotify – or follow the links.
#1 InsTech Talk
Episode 287 January news: $73 million funding, ships, war and thunderstorms
Our very own podcast, released on Sunday morning. We’re usually interviewing a founder or insurance leader but we are now testing out a new format co-hosted with Nigel Walsh, Global Leader of Google Cloud. Each month we’re breaking from our usual interview format to review the news items grabbing our attention in a rather more freeform style. For this episode here we are joined by Martha Notaras (Brewer Lane Ventures) and Charlotte Halkett (Milliman) with a guest appearance by Amrit Santhirasenan (hyperexponential) who brings a glimmer of hope to all those depressed by recent insurtech funding rounds. If you like this, you’ll find the first news episode we did in 277 with Nigel, James Birch (Brit Insurance) and Bijal Patel (Aurora). Next one coming soon, but in the meantime we’ve a fantastic back catalogue of CII accredited episodes to listen to.
#2 Voice of Insurance
Episode 151 – Parametric: where traditional insurers fear to tread
Mark Geoghegan draws on his experience and network from his days as a broker and journalist as he delves into the serious side of insurance. Many of Mark’s guests are leading figures from major brokers and insurers. Robin and I were honoured to be in one of Mark’s earliest podcasts in the series. More recently Henry Gale and I returned to talk about parametric insurance in 2022. Still a great primer for those wondering what parametric is all about.
#3 Making Risk Flow
Season 3 Episode 4 What everyone is talking about in insurance
Juan de Castro is COO and host for the Cytora podcast. This episode explores what major insurance companies and industry figures are doing to help underwriters spend more time at what they do best – underwriting. Juan previously worked at McKinsey and Hiscox and so he brings a practical and focussed approach to his discussions. In this episode from February 2023, Juan and I discuss the current trends in insurtech. I returned again later that year to the Making Risk Flow podcast in October 2023 as host of the panel from our live InsTech event when we explored whether the future of underwriting had arrived.
#4 The Reinsurance Podcast
Episode 27 InsTech, Industry Challenges, & Innovation
Robin Merttens was interviewed and filmed by the founders of Supercede and hosts of the Reinsurance Podcast, Jerad Leigh and Ben Rose. Both Jerad and Ben were brokers in prior lives and the podcast is a successful side-hustle to their daytime job of building an insurtech company. As technology marches slowly forward, face-to-face relationships are essential in broking, and many parts of insurance. Settle down with InsTech’s chairman in the heart of London and find out what was on his mind that day.
#5 FNO: InsureTech
Episode 250: CEO of InsTech – Matthew Grant
Another popular podcast pair, Rob Beller and Lee Boyd bring some California and Texas sunshine to your day. With real jobs at US claims administrator Alacrity, the podcast provides them with a way to talk to a wide reach of insurance folk well beyond claims. Usually operating remotely out of the US, for this episode Rob and Lee joined me in our InsTech recording studio in London during a recent trip. We discussed the origins of insurtech, talked about why Lloyd’s exists and why it’s so important to the US market, particularly for the risks that insurers cannot or do not want to write. If you like your predictions for the year ahead, scroll back a few episodes to when Martha Notaras was their guest.
#6 Unstructured Unlocked
Episode 37 Christopher Wells, Indico Data, Michelle Gouveia, Sandbox Insurtech Ventures, and Henry Gale InsTech
Henry Gale stepped aside from his research and newsletter editing to talk to Indico data about generative AI. Henry runs our regular newsletter on that topic so he had plenty to talk about. The insurance industry still has a big problem with extracting and using data efficiently and Indico has dedicated an entire podcast series to support businesses looking to solve that problem. We’re delighted to be working with Indico Data and Robin Merttens speaks to CEO Tom Wilde on our own InsTech podcast episode 292.
#7 The future of insurance Podcast
Season 1 Episode 19 Robin Merttens & Matthew Grant, InsTech London
Bryan Falchuk wrote the book on insurtech, literally. If podcasts are not your thing then any one of these is worth a read. Bryan has worked as an insurtech founder, claims executive at a US insurer and now is CEO of The Property & Liability Resource Bureau (PLRB). Step back in time three years ago to discover what we thought would happen in insurtech then – did we get it right? – or fast forward to today with a more recent episode as Bryan keeps up the pace with his thoughtful interviews from the US.
#8 The first 100
Episode 125 How founders acquired their first 100 customers with Matthew Grant, a partner at Instech
Hadi Radwan takes time off each week from his day job building businesses to discover how other entrepreneurs found their first 100 clients. Hadi is a citizen of the world travelling between the US, Middle East and the UK and his guests reflect his global view and come from beyond insurance. We’ve had over 300 companies working with us at InsTech but if you are wondering how we found them, join Radi and I to learn more.
#9 Corelogic conversations
Episode 84 Some Insurers Banned AI — Will Insurtech Bring It Back?
I was delighted to spend 30 minutes talking to one of my earliest employers, catastrophe modelling company EQECAT, now part of Corelogic, for this episode in February of this year. My former colleague, host of the company’s in-house podcast, Maiclaire Bolton Smith was intrigued about what is really going on in Generative AI with insurers.
#10 RPC: Insurance Covered
August 2021 A look at embedded insurance (a podcast with Robin Merttens)
RPC is a law firm with a successful side-line in writing articles and recording podcasts. Embedded insurance is one the topics we’ve been talking about for a few years now – and it’s one bright hope of insurtech that has stood the test of time well. This podcast was released alongside our report “To embed or not to embed?” Travel back in time to this episode to find out what Robin had learnt and what he thought would come next.
That’s enough for now. Please let me know what you think about these or any of our episodes. We are always on the lookout for new guests for the InsTech podcasts, but due to demand we usually limit that to companies that are also members. You can find out how to become a member here, browse our full catalogue of podcasts or sign up to our newsletter so you don’t miss future episodes, events, reports and more.