Alex Maffeo

We’ve been heads-down building for the last several months, the core team came together about 4 months ago, and I have personally lost some hair and gained some lbs. All worth it, because today we get to announce a massive accomplishment — one that we think other insurtech startups will be happy about. Boost has secured reinsurance capacity commitments from some of the smartest, most innovative, and formidable capital providers in the (re)insurance industry. We officially welcome Nephila (well, technically they were already here!), Markel Digital, and Renaissance Re to the Boost party as participants on Boost’s dedicated reinsurance facility. It took a REALLY long time to get here — 1.5 years to be exact (6 months after our seed round plus a year prior to that)— with countless frustrating meetings with folks who were curious about us, but reluctant to deviate from their script. Ones that wanted to dip their toe in insurtech, but not willing to take the plunge. Ones that were just mining us for information and looking for free startup deal flow. It was hard. Really hard. We knew that going into this and, as one of our newly minted reinsurance partners said to me yesterday, I’m glad it was hard — otherwise, why would we be doing this? We pounded the pavement and endured this process so that our future insurtech partners won’t have to. We are sick of watching insurtech startups waste precious time and resources on meetings that will go nowhere with partners that don’t appreciate the sacrifices entrepreneurs make, lack the creativity and gusto to let startups innovate, or are just looking for some shiny PR. Now we’ve experienced this rigmarole ourselves and were lucky enough to come out the other end — more motivated than ever to power our insurtech partners as they reinvent this industry from the ground up. We knew Boost Insurance needed to be more than just a technology platform, startup accelerator, or even a broker to impact the insurtech movement the way we wanted to — and now we are. We’re a general agent appointed by State National with the authority to let insurtech startups plug in and manage their own insurance programs. And now we have more than enough reinsurance capacity from capital providers that are known for being outside-the-box thinkers. These “analog” features of the Boost Insurtech Platform are arguably just as valuable as the end-to-end API-driven system we’ve built (which is pretty badass if I’m being honest). We aren’t a broker. We’re not picking up the phone and arranging intro meetings for insurtech startups — the “send it and forget it” model. We’re a general agency offering every single thing an insurtech startup needs to launch and manage their own insurance program and will collaborate with you every step of the way. We aren’t one of these “digital insurers” — forcing you to sell their own insurance products (“white label!”). We create bespoke products tailored to our insurtech partners needs (and their cool ideas). Bring us all your crazy stuff — alien abduction insurance? Sure! Zombie apocalypse insurance? Maybe! We aren’t a technology company either. We’re a modern, technology-enabled insurance company.¹ No, you can’t just use our policy admin system! I’m insanely proud of our team for getting this done. It’s a big step for us, but it’s only a small step towards the ultimate goal of powering the future of insurance. We are here to support insurtech startups and fuel their growth. Those are our core customers and our (re)insurance partners know that. They’re on board. Want to join the party? Give us a shout and let us help you get from concept to reality (or if you just don’t like your current (re)insurance partners!). ¹ The fun police (our lawyers) will get mad if I don’t distinguish that we’re an AGENCY and not an insurance carrier.

Pretty soon, I’ll be relegated to being one of those perma-blogger/Twitter founders in order to add some value around here, so I’d better step up my blog game. The good news is that it’s been well over a year since my last post, and that was an absolutely insane year, so it’s well past time for about 2,000 words of catching up. To those of you who asked for more blogs, just remember that you literally asked for this. To those of you who don’t care, feel free to read something even more clickbait-y. Sure, I could take that personally...but why bother? ;) Now, let’s get started... Boy, does it feel good to say this… Today, I’m thrilled to announce the close of Boost’s $20M Series B, led by RRE Ventures with participation from FinVC, Gaingels, Hack VC, along with a strategic investment from a leading global reinsurer (bet you wanna know, huh?). I couldn’t be happier to welcome this group to the party, and we’re all incredibly grateful for the continued support from our longtime partners Greycroft, Coatue, Conversion Capital, and MetLife’s Chairman Glenn Hubbard. Not only is that a Murderers’ Row of a cap table, but these investors also don’t just express their conviction about their investments - they actually work to help build and grow their portfolio companies. Like, for real. It’s awesome. 30+ employees, dozens of amazing insurtech and embedded partners, a tech platform that has expanded almost as fast as my BMI during Covid. Now, to top it all off, a $20M Series B with a group of amazing investors to give Boost one heck of a…boost (okay, I know, that was terrible). We make it simple for any company to build, launch, and manage insurance programs, and then offer those solutions to their customers through a fully embedded digital experience. Boost follows in the footsteps of companies like Plaid, Affirm, and my personal favorite Marqeta.[1] Back when they were getting started (call it 2010-2015), these now-Goliath fintech leaders were transforming the fintech landscape by providing picks and shovels for innovative companies across all segments. We now recognize what they were creating as “Fintech Infrastructure” or “X-as-a-Service” or “Embedded Finance.” That approach will drive significant value to insurance as well – and that’s where Boost lives. Boost’s platform is built to power this fintech revolution for insurance. We’re the picks and shovels of insurtech, we live in the background of our clients' businesses, and we like it that way. If you want to learn more about Boost, you can get familiar with our company here, our API here, or just reach out here. …or, just read on for some more hot air from its founder. Your pick. As I said, there are now 30+ incredibly talented people building this Boost machine – and we are on track to at least double that number over the next 12 months. That’s a surreal thing to be part of, and holy hell, is it exciting. Our team is one of the few things that I’ll shamelessly take some credit for, because helping with its assembly, development, and growth is my proudest professional achievement – like, by a mile. By far, the most instrumental part of Boost’s success has been the people (way smarter than me) who’ve jumped in to build what was effectively a fever dream. And they’re not crazy, they’re confident. The people I have the privilege of working with every day at Boost are at the top of their respective fields, and they’ve traded comfort and security for this extreme challenge because they want to build something special, and they know that something special is Boost. Even I’m not crazy enough to diminish how risky that decision was for all of them and their families. Holding up my end of the bargain for my team is the only thing that ever keeps me up at night. I’m eternally grateful to each and every one of them. That’s why today’s announcement and any celebration around it isn’t about me, or our investors, or any APIs or buzzwords – it’s about this incredible group of people on the Boost team who have literally built Boost from the ground up, day in and day out, for nearly five years now. Today isn’t just about them. It’s because of them. They’re the ones who built this and they did it all the hard way – because it was the right way… Over the last 18 months, Boost has transformed in such a massive way, and it has been absolutely incredible watching this team execute. Not too long ago, we were still mostly an early-stage startup with a huge idea, on a mission that was still just “a little early” for many of the VCs we met. Two key components of our strategy at Boost were intentionally contrarian (ill-advised?) relative to the unofficial ‘startup playbook’ best practices. First, we went with the dreaded ‘horizontal’ (unfocused?) platform model and are stubbornly committed to that. Second, we took a slow and bottoms-up (unscalable?) approach with our go-to-market plan, which started by addressing an equally ‘risky’ or ‘a bit too early’ insurtech startup market to boot. But despite skeptics, our team firmly believes in our long-term plan, and I’m incredibly proud that we’ve resisted countless urges to rush it or take shortcuts. It was so hard (dumb?) that it damn near killed us twice, but you know what? Totally worth it. Since then, we’ve been honored to play a small role in dozens of other startups’ journeys as they build, launch, and scale meaningful insurance businesses on our platform. We work tirelessly to do one thing: make it simple for our partners to shake things up in their businesses, and we’re firmly committed to our role as their picks and shovels. Doing so allows them to focus on the important stuff, like providing superior insurance products and delivering them through experiences that the modern consumer deserves - and that’s what matters. Everyone knows that working at a startup is like living a movie in fast forward, so it’s already been one hell of a journey for the Boost Squad. Closing our Series B after such an insane year is an awesome milestone for a lot of reasons, but I for one am glad that it means we can finally look back at some of the things we’ve been through together and laugh. You know, things like... Our original logo was clearly just a blue Beats by Dre logo (Thanks, freelance design platform...I want my $200 back!) Back when we almost called the company a “virtual carrier” (Fun fact: that was a dumb idea. Thanks, regulatory counsel!) Our randomly orange and purple website, the two grossest colors in the history of colors (which is a universal truth and indisputable fact!) That time we looked each other in the eyes and made a really hard decision, one that would sacrifice a whole lot of short-term value in the interest of the long-term mission …and did it together with the utmost trust and confidence in each other ...during a global pandemic  …in the midst of black swan-level macroeconomic uncertainty  …while teaching me how to use Zoom (that wasn’t fun, but it feels like one heck of a special moment now) Then there was the period after that hard decision when we all buckled down and proceeded to 10x the company in nine months ...swatting away all of the external headwinds and attacks that came our way ...because why not get all the hard stuff out of the way early – just to be sure, right? And, finally, now a $20M Series B to put a bow on that horrible yet incredible experience …that we got through together  …not just to survive, but to thrive with momentum that can’t be stopped. That last one brought me back to the days when we were in the “sweatbox” that we called home on Day 1. It was yet another reminder about why I’d gladly run through any wall or take any bullet for this team. And always will. Today, Boost is quickly transforming into the machine that we dreamed of building, and its engine is humming louder and faster every day. We’re at that stage where you find yourself thinking “okay...I should probably be a little scared now, but it’s working so let’s just keep going.” Luckily, none of our investors or commercial partners want to slow down either. I’m pretty sure we forgot to install a brake pedal in the first place - and this capital is even more fuel for the machine. The machine that is Boost has 10x’ed its customer base over the last few months, has launched six proprietary products (and counting) which are available through its full-feature policy admin API platform, and is consistently doubling every major financial KPI. Plus, we get to work with some of the most innovative companies in the world – startups and enterprises alike – every single day. How awesome is that? Like any startup, we’ve basically lived five lifetimes over the last five-ish years. There have been countless super high-highs and plenty of super low-lows, but it’s been incredible to watch our team work together to navigate it all, every step of the way. The lows are always hard, but we’ve always been hard to kill, and the highs can be fleeting – but it’s starting to feel like we’re getting pretty damn close to unstoppable. I can’t wait for what’s next. For anyone crazy enough to have read this far and eager for more, we look forward to welcoming you into the Boost family. Join us as a Boost MGA partner (Get Started), a reinsurer (Contact Us), a member of the team (We’re hiring…a lot!), or as a friend of the company (Follow us on social) Today, we’re going to celebrate in true Boost fashion – with a nice mix of aggressively unapologetic enthusiasm and gratitude for everyone that supports us...and maybe, just maybe, even a few drinks. Tomorrow, we’ll wake up, dust ourselves off, and refocus – locked, loaded, and as always, just a little bit dangerous. We have a ton of work to do, but we plan to keep that party going strong for a very, very long time. Bring it on. [1] Humblebrag Disclosure: I helped lead Marqeta’s Series C back in 2015 when I was still a VC. They were (and still are) one of the biggest inspirations for Boost. Such a kickass company all around.

Yesterday, I was sad to announce one of the hardest decisions we’ve had to make at Boost since we got started back in 2017. We’ve reduced the size of our team by about 20% and, as such, said goodbye to 15 extremely talented colleagues and friends. A change like this will always feel terrible, but it feels even worse for a company like ours that has been executing exceptionally well for years. It’s no secret, however, that the startup and broader technology market has shifted dramatically over the last several months and the new macroeconomic landscape has had a particularly significant impact on the fintech and insurtech segment specifically. This has forced all companies to rethink their approach to growth and budgeting.  While we have always prided ourselves on being lean and disciplined at Boost, we simply are not immune to a market swing as extreme as this one. We have to adapt to ensure we are in position for long-term success and, unfortunately, that means making some really hard decisions like the one we’re announcing today. Approximately 20% of our team were impacted by this decision, and each and every one of them has made meaningful contributions to our company. We are and will always be incredibly grateful for that. We are committed to supporting them by trying to make their transition as smooth as possible. This includes: I want to sincerely thank those affected for everything they’ve done to help Boost become what it is today. I have been inspired by their passion, ability, and dedication to our mission every step of the way, and their contributions are deeply appreciated. We have been experiencing hyper growth across the business for the last two years, which is exactly what we were building towards since this company was founded, and is one of the reasons this decision was even more difficult to make. For all intents and purposes, we have been executing extremely well relative to the broader market. However, the macroeconomic environment began to show cracks in early 2022, and those cracks started looking more like fault lines as the year went on. All companies - both good and bad - are impacted when a market shifts as drastically as this one has. While we tried to minimize the impact this new market dynamic would have on our team by reducing discretionary spending wherever possible, there is unfortunately no way we could reduce that impact to zero. Regardless of any external or macro forces at play here, I take full responsibility for not only this decision but for everything that led up to it. It’s hugely important to me that Boost be not only a huge success, but also a safe and fulfilling place to work. This is my priority as the founder and CEO of this company, and I am fully committed to putting that work in. We do not want to be building a company around the ebbs and flows of the market. We want to be building long-term, sustainable value for our customers and our industry with our eye always on the bottom line. If we focus on that, we will control our own destiny. While yesterday's changes are painful, Boost is an extremely resilient company, and our team is exceptionally talented. No matter what, our mission to fundamentally transform the insurance industry does not change. I remain fully confident that Boost is well on its way to leaving an indelible mark on our industry. -Alex

How many of you said, “I want to work in insurance!” when someone asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up? Personally, I was planning on either playing shortstop for the Yankees or being a garbage man (I was a weird kid), but here I am….an insurance entrepreneur. Today, we announced the close of our seed round, and Boost Insurance is off to the races. Boost is a B2B insurtech platform built to solve three critical issues faced by entrepreneurs in the insurance industry: I’ll talk more about what Boost Insurance is a little later, but first, let me explain why I’m doing this instead of playing shortstop for the Yankees (or collecting garbage)… Boost was born while I was leading insurtech venture investing at IA Capital Group, a top fintech/insurtech-focused firm. I spent the vast majority of my career at IA. It’s a pretty cool place where I not only got to speak with some of the smartest fintech/insurtech entrepreneurs on a daily basis and invest in some awesome startups, but I was encouraged to explore projects that fell outside the traditional direct investment activity. From time to time, the firm would formulate a specific investment thesis, but could not find a startup that was addressing the need. We would then explore the opportunity further to see if it made sense to build and incubate an operating business around our thesis. IA has done this successfully multiple times in the past with a Bermuda-based life and annuity reinsurer in the late 90s, a Texas-based P&C insurance carrier called Homeowners of America in the mid-2000s, and an SMB lending business called Credibility Capital in 2014. About two years ago, IA had an idea for its next play in insurance. We wanted to start an MGA to sell a brand-new insurance product in the student loan market. It was (and still is) a good idea. There is a huge market for it. It would provide a legitimate social good and it would be profitable. We did a ton of work on it, spent money on third-party stamps of approval (actuaries, lawyers, and bears — oh my), and had the perfect TPA to partner with (an existing IA portfolio company).  Things were looking good. Then we hit the road to find insurance paper and capital to let us test the product. My colleagues at IA — specifically, Andy Lerner and Rick Viton — have been in the re/insurance and insurtech industry in some capacity for more than 25 years. Andy has been a managing partner at IA for 20 years and has invested in two dozen companies in the insurance industry. Rick was the lead investment banker at some of the world’s largest banks advising the likes of AIG, MetLife, and Prudential on global transactions. The firm collectively has a huge network in the industry and has an excellent track record of picking winners. Should be a no-brainer for an insurer, right? Wrong. It was miserable. Here’s how a typical conversation would go: Insurer: “How much can you sell?” Us: “Well, based on our market research our projections show…” Insurer: “But what will your losses be?” Us: “Well, we compiled data from [Insert Source] and our models show loss ratios of x%” Insurer: “Do you have any historical data to validate those ratios?” Us: “No, the product doesn’t exist yet so we haven’t sold any policies…” Insurer: “Oh, well why don’t you come back after you sell some policies and have some more data” [BRAIN EXPLODES] This headache was happening in parallel with our day-to-day venture capital activity. I was talking to entrepreneurs in the insurtech industry every day and they were all experiencing the same thing. It was way worse for the entrepreneurs who didn’t have the insurance network that IA has. According to CB Insights, the average go-to-market timeline for an insurtech startup with an MGA business model was 24 months — 18 of which is spent finding paper/capacity from an insurance carrier. Honestly, this may be a low estimate. It could take many years and a lot of startups simply die on the vine. The lucky few who can endure the go-to-market marathon with an insurance company are rewarded with the task of integrating with archaic technology systems. First, you get to wait in their backlog for a few months — which isn’t the worst thing in the world since it will give you the time you need to read the hundreds of pages of documentation. Eventually, after many months (or even years depending on the product) and a multitude of conversations with their implementation team, you will have successfully integrated with the carrier — left with a system that measures response time in seconds and is as reliable as the NYC transit system. We’re basically slapping apps on top of Windows 95. We spent a full year before we finally found a promising lead for a reinsurer-through-a-front arrangement. At that point, however, we were so annoyed by the process and had already identified a bigger problem (and opportunity) — that’s when Boost was born. With the close of our seed round, Boost is officially an independent operating company. It took a long time to put together the investor syndicate, but I was extremely picky about who Boost should partner with. I could not be happier with how it came together. Norwest has an endless track record of helping startups disrupt big markets (Lending Club, anyone?). Greycroft's fintech portfolio (Venmo and Braintree to name a few) would give any VC portfolio envy. State National basically invented the fronting business — the OG “platform” in insurance. Nephila is a goliath in the “alternative” insurance capital industry and has quietly helped dozens of insurtech startups get off the ground. And, of course, Boost would not exist without the support of IA Capital Group over the last year or so. Special thanks to Andy Lerner and Rick Viton for being driving forces behind taking Boost from an idea to a real company (and for dealing with my craziness for the past 8 years). I’m looking forward to pushing the ball forward and fixing this problem we identified together. If you want to read more about what we’re building, check out PART II: What is Boost?

As I described in my previous post, Boost is a B2B insurtech development platform built to solve three critical issues faced by entrepreneurs in the insurance industry — (i) the glacial go-to-market pace for new products, (ii) the integration and data flow issues experienced between high tech startups and low-tech insurance companies, and (iii) the cultural disconnect between incumbents and startups. The words “development” and “platform” have very different meanings in insurance and technology. In insurance, product development is drafting an insurance policy form, conducting actuarial analysis to develop rates for said policies, and working with regulators to get those rates and forms filed with each state. It’s extremely complicated and awful if you’re talking to a technology company. In technology, product development is building cool stuff with code. Programming, documenting, testing, bug fixing, etc. This is extremely complicated and awful if you’re talking to an insurance company. In insurance, being a platform means you don’t take any direct balance sheet risk. In technology, being a platform means you facilitate data flow between two parties. Boost fits in both buckets and brings everything under one roof. We think this is kind of a big deal. We are putting together an awesome team of venture, technology, and insurance professionals. We believe insurtech startups should be evaluated through a venture capital and technology lens, but that insurance capital and expertise is arguably more valuable to them. If you’re interested in joining the team, reach out here. Insurance may be boring, but we’re not — at least that’s what our moms always told us. On the front end, our core customers are distribution and product-focused insurtech startups. Do you have a cool idea for a new insurance product? Do you have a more user-friendly way to sell insurance? Are you using technology to improve underwriting and pricing? Are you pre-launch looking to test and launch? Are you already in market but looking to grow into new products/markets? We want to talk to you. Boost is a fully-B2B model and has no desire to build a consumer brand. Our insurtech customers control as much of the user experience as they want and own the brand. On the back end, our core customers are re/insurance companies that believe in the insurtech movement and want to outsource all or part of their startup partnership efforts to Boost as an insurtech program administrator. Boost will legally be a Managing General Agent (“MGA”) which basically means we will have authority to underwrite and bind insurance policies on behalf of regulated insurance carriers. We’re working on obtaining those licenses now (I personally get to live out a lifelong fantasy of being an insurance agent), but for now we are strictly an advisor and facilitator. We have been working with some of the most forward-thinking insurance and reinsurance companies in the world (including our investors!) to get Boost streamlined and dedicated access to licensed paper and insurance capital. If you’re one of those and interested in joining the party, you can reach out here. We have also spent the last year building capabilities to offer all of the insurance services necessary for an insurtech startup to get to market with a new company or roll out a new product. Boost brings everything under one roof for insurtech startups and allows insurance companies to enhance their startup partnership programs. Here is a not so pretty graphic that shows where Boost is placed and what we offer (sorry, we don’t have a graphic design team — yet!).  Now let’s dive into some of these further…. Real Go-to-Market Acceleration If you’re an insurtech entrepreneur who doesn’t come from the insurance industry, I estimate that you will spend at least 6 months just figuring out who to talk to. I can speak form experience on this issue. There are “paper” providers, “capacity” sources, actuarial firms, lawyers, rating & form filers, data reporting bureaus, standardized forms, other standardized forms, even more standardized forms (how many versions are allowable before the term “standardized” doesn’t apply anymore?). Oh and each state has its own set of regulations, its own set of application/filing procedures and its own set of ongoing reporting requirements. We have done the leg work for you and consolidated these services under one roof. We can help you navigate the winding road yourself or just handle everything for you. Boost also has streamlined access to regulated insurance paper and capital. This is critical. After all of the product development & regulatory legwork described above, you will still need to find paper and capital. Insurance companies are large organizations and have developed very specific procedures to approve new programs. The procedures typically take a long time. Boost on the other hand is also a small, nimble startup — which eliminates this (months long) friction on the front end — and Boost’s paper and capital partners are true believers in the insurtech movement and want to support entrepreneurs in product launch. Superior Technology Building a modular, API-driven platform that provides Rate/Quote/Bind, real-time policy endorsements, and statistical reporting services. Our CTO Chris Vitone comes from the insurtech world. He led an engineering team at a well-known insurtech startup and was responsible for integrating with 15 different insurance carriers. Chris has PTSD from this experience. Chris is also apparently a masochist — because he’s back in the insurance world. Chris and his team are intimately familiar with the integration issues faced between insurtech startups and we are building our technology platform around those exact issues. It’ll be fun and we welcome side-by-side collaboration with other insurtech startups who are building their own tech stacks. Startup Expertise Most of our team has worked for and/or invested in startup companies for throughout their careers. We like to think we know a thing or two about how to identify best-in-class startups and help them grow. Rather than reject things outright because they’re new and different, we will embrace them. Rather than dismissing entrepreneurs because they have never worked in the insurance industry, we will welcome and support them. Curation and Aggregation of Insurtech Startups Boost’s re/insurance partners can enhance their startup partnership programs through our digital insurance platform. Re/insurance companies get pitched every day by startups. This can be very annoying when it’s not your core focus. These are not venture capital firms and their businesses are typically massive operations with huge balance sheets. While most re/insurance companies recognize the value in the insurtech movement, it’s simply not cost efficient for many of them to dedicate meaningful internal resources to these partnerships. Most startups that insurance companies partner with will not generate meaningful premium for them for years — if ever. For this reason, it’s understandable why insurance companies are often reluctant to go all-in evaluating and partnering with startups. Boost’s core business, on the other hand, is 100% focused on startups. Our team uses its venture capital, technology, and insurance expertise to vigorously vet insurtech opportunities. We separate the wheat from the chaff so that insurance companies that partner with Boost know that they will only have the best-in-class insurtech startups generating premium for them. We then aggregate these programs through one platform. Access and Insight into Innovation Trends Boost provides insurance companies access to insurtech innovation and product trends without dedicating significant internal resources to individual partnerships. This insurtech thing is happening. Will it completely destroy existing all insurance carriers? No, of course not. Will all of these startups be successful? Nope, definitely not. But this trend will chip away at market share. New brands will be established. There will be winners. Formidable competitors to incumbent insurers will emerge. Some of these winners will partner with your competitors and improve their businesses, not yours. Insurance companies need to stay in front of these trends rather than trying to play catch up in the future — and Boost wants to help. We’re super excited to get started, so please feel free to reach out if you’d like to learn more.