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!
A Founder's Journey
Telematics, AI, & the Road to a Safer Future
One of the expert speakers at Insurtech Boston '24 was Matt Fiorentino, VP of Marketing of Cambridge Telematics. In his session, he reveals the number of fatalities caused by impaired and distracted driving, what the statistics show and what we can do to ensure the numbers trend downwards.
Over 40,000 road fatalities per year
Over the past four years, we’ve lost over 160,000 people to road fatalities, averaging more than 40,000 deaths per year. To put this into perspective, this is equivalent to about 200 Boeing 737 Max crashes each year, which translates to roughly four crashes per week. Imagine living in a world where we experienced four plane crashes weekly, and life continued as normal.
Two of the main causes of car crashes are distracted driving and impaired driving. According to NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) estimates, there were over 12,400 road fatalities due to distracted driving in 2021. That same year, the NHTSA also estimated over 12,500 fatalities due to impaired driving. Each year, distracted driving and impaired driving result in a similar number of road fatalities.
24% of Americans admit to using Instagram while driving
Part of the problem is the addictive nature of apps. According to a CMT survey, Instagram is the most-used app while driving, with 24% of drivers admitting to using it in the past month. It’s the most-used app while driving for men (22%), women (15%), 18-29-year-olds (26%), and 30-44-year-olds (28%). Three of the top five most-used apps while driving belong to Meta.
4.5% lower distracted driving
Distracted driving has been on the rise in recent years, but this year showed a positive change. Last month, we published our annual report on distracted driving, and we shared some good news. In 2022, drivers in the United States spent an average of 2 minutes and 12 seconds using their phones for every hour they were on the road. In 2023, that number dropped to 2 minutes and 6 seconds. Though a reduction of just six seconds may not seem significant, every little bit counts. This 4.5% decrease has contributed to preventing 55,000 crashes and 250 fatalities.
What is causing distracted driving to decline? There are three reasons:
1. Usage-based insurance programs
Usage-based insurance (UBI) programs make roads safer. When people sign up for these programs and engage with them, their driving safety improves over time. The riskiest drivers tend to show the most significant improvements, reducing their level of distracted driving by over 20% within three months. This reduction leads to a 5.5% decrease in the likelihood of being involved in a car crash that results in injury. We know these programs contribute to safer roads and drivers.
Usage-based insurance programs have gained popularity in recent years. On the CMT platform, which supports UBI programs for 21 of the top 25 auto insurers in the US, enrollments increased by 142% from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2023.
2. Changes to State Legislation
State legislators and road safety groups have fought to make hands-free laws a reality in 29 states. CMT found that the four states that introduced handheld bans in 2023 have prevented an estimated 8,200 crashes and 37 fatalities through early March 2024. Hands-free states overall saw 9.5% lower rates of phone distraction in 2023 compared to states with no-texting laws. Road safety officials are watching these state-level figures closely and are drilling deeper into the issue by leveraging street-level driving analytics, identifying areas with elevated driving risk, and measuring the impact of their campaigns and infrastructure solutions.
3. Growing Awareness
In 2023, the media produced over 65,000 articles about smartphone distracted driving, resulting in 3.6 billion impressions, a 31% increase over 2021. Google Trends data suggests that consumer awareness for smartphone distracted driving rose in 2023 as well, a 54% increase in the same time frame. Just by reporting on it, the media is changing the stigma around distracted driving and saving lives.
More work needs to be done
Forty-five percent of UK drivers say their fellow road users take road safety very seriously while only 29% of US drivers feel the same. It should come as no surprise that drivers in the US are more distracted. But what is surprising is how much: US drivers spend 187% more time interacting with their phones than their UK counterparts.
The good news is that we know what works, and everyone in this room—carriers, agents, media, and insurtech providers—we all have a role to play in this. We know we need to get more people onto UBI programs, help pass more hands-free laws, and increase education, awareness and media coverage to reduce distracted driving. We know what works; now, we need to go and do it.
Get more great tips in person at Insurtech Boston ’25 on May 15!