Hey insurance industry! It’s me Carey. It’s been a while since we last talked, but I have something to say to you.
There are no more insurtechs coming to create innovation in the industry.
Capital markets have turned – investors aren’t investing and banks aren’t lending and comps are severely depressed. And we all know, it takes a lot of capital to start an insurance business – the terms aren’t that great when you’re just getting started because you don’t have a lot of experience and there’s no such thing as a cheap policy administration system.
So, realistically, and let me get you focused here –The crop of insurtechs you have right now, are the insurtechs that will produce the innovation in this industry for the next five years, at least.
You want to figure out how to evolve to climate change? You want to figure out how to write homeowners insurance in Florida ever again?
Insurtechs are the ones putting in the work – making the investment to evolve this industry, to be more profitable, more fair, and aligned with a modern society with AI/ML.
It makes no sense to stay the course, bury our heads 
in the sand, and lose money. When the loss ratio went through the roof for auto insurers in 2022, they raised rates 30%. We know what’s coming next – a wave of uninsured motorists who simply can not afford the same car insurance in 2023 that they had in 2022. The customer got no additional value, the company got zero percent better at underwriting, and the loss ratio… now it’s going to get worse.
For the sake of progress in this industry, it’s about time that we start to focus on, ‘what are we going to do to make sure these insurtech companies succeed?’ Otherwise, we are going to get to 2034 and be operating the same way we were operating in 1984, or worse.
It’s past time to say enough to the disbelieving, naysaying majority. Don’t be that guy (or listen to that guy) who stays on the deck of the Titanic because you’re still dry, for now.
We need to put full weight and confidence behind the insurtechs that are here today, because whether you like it or not, the insurtechs that exist in 2023 are the lifeboat. Inviting you, now, for the very last time, to get on board.
About Carey Anne Nadeau
Carey Anne Nadeau is the founder and CEO of ODN, a geospatial statistics insurtech focused on measuring the world of risk around insured customers. Her expertise is specifically in entrepreneurship, machine learning, and data, with a special focus on urban areas. Carey Anne is a Research Affiliate at MIT and formerly was a Data Analyst for the Brookings Institution and Urban Institute. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Atlantic, among others. Carey Anne lives and works in New York.
Carey Anne Nadeau is the founder and CEO of ODN, a geospatial statistics insurtech focused on measuring the world of risk around insured customers. Her expertise is specifically in entrepreneurship, machine learning, and data, with a special focus on urban areas. Carey Anne is a Research Affiliate at MIT and formerly was a Data Analyst for the Brookings Institution and Urban Institute. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Atlantic, among others. Carey Anne lives and works in New York.
