A Founder's Journey
One of the expert speakers at Insurtech Boston '24 was Jennifer Linton, CEO and Founder of Fenris. In her session, she shared insights about avoiding the myth of overnight success, building resilience, making the most of your competitive advantages, and staying true to your commitments.
Don’t buy into the myth of an overnight success
There is no such thing as an overnight success; it takes many years to get there. Before our API platform, Fenris was a bespoke software company — we built underwriting dashboards and brought the data in. Then, I hired the most brilliant CTO. He helped me understand scalability and repeatability. If you want to build a good venture-backed company, listen to your CTO.
Cultivate a resilience mindset
Part of being resilient, is to think about the roller coaster rides you take in an amusement park. You’re all buckled in; you’ve got the safety harness on; nothing is going to go wrong. You start to climb that first hill, the hill of fear. Then you remember what the attendant said, “keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times and have fun.”
Your brain is just a computer, and you can rewire the way you think. Reteach yourself to look at adversity through a different lens, one that involves an opportunity for strength or growth. Change automatic negative thoughts and reroute them to positive thoughts. Ask yourself, “What’s the worst thing that can happen?” and often, it’s not that bad. Or if it is, you’ll get over it.
Exploit your competitive advantage
The insurance ecosystem. I don’t think there is a tougher environment for a new entrant to come in and try to take a position. When you look at an industry that has had businesses around for hundreds of years in a 50-state regulatory environment, this is where some of the venture capitalists misjudged or misunderstood the pace of change in the insurance industry. How does a startup get a toehold in an industry? First, they better know the industry, but the secret is to find the early adopters. Don’t segment your market on anything except if it checks the box as an early adopter. Don’t go hunting elephants, you need to move fast.
When you find out there’s an opportunity and you have a competitive advantage, it is your duty to exploit it. You beat the drum, and you double down.
Deliver on commitments
As a founder, you have to think of your time as your most valuable asset. Time is the one thing you can’t replace. For me, my time constituents are my customers, my team and my investors. It’s really all about people; if you invest in them, they’ll invest in you.
If you can be viewed as repeatable and scalable if you deliver on your commitments, people will continue to deliver on their commitments to you, accelerating your journey. I am a founder, and I like to move fast.
Get more great tips in person at Insurtech Boston ’25 on May 15!