“You can’t let one part of the business get too far ahead of others”, says Ty as he shares his journey to co-founding Openly after a 12 year spell with Liberty Mutual.
A full-stack home insurance company – founded in 2017 and launched in 2019 – Openly sells through independent agents in 17 US States.
Outlining the benefits to customers and agents, Openly offers better coverage, more accurate pricing and is drastically faster and easier to use. When it comes to home insurance, Ty maintains, “A lot of people, their data is stale. On average people are 10-20% under-insured.”
With a current headcount of 170, the business is looking to add 100 people over the next 12 months.
“We wait for the great”, says Marcella, who emphasises the higher cost a poor hire can have against waiting for the right cultural fit.
Maintaining culture is a key part of scaling. “It starts from the top”, explains Marcella. “Culture is going to happen, you need to be intentional about it.”
Ty and Marcella discuss remote-working, the value of an insurance career to an insurtech and the advice they would give to founders and leaders looking to scale.
“Make sure you are balanced as insurance and tech. You need both types of expertise. And build with long-term relationships in mind”, concludes Ty.
Connect with Ty Harris or Marcella Butler on LinkedIn or find out more about Openly.
The Insurance Coffee House Podcast is hosted by Nick Hoadley, CEO, Insurance Search, the Executive Search Consultancy for growing Insurance and Insurtech businesses across the globe.
To discuss identifying & attracting the very best talent to your team or being a podcast guest, reach out to Nick via nick.hoadley@insurance-search.com or connect on LinkedIn
