Chances are, you’ve heard about InsurTech startups.
It’s hard to miss them especially during these times, where words like Innovation, Creativity, Inspiration have become so popular. These startups are the trendy contrast to sluggish corporate giants, fast-paced and full of “positive vibes”. They’re exciting, unpredictable, and sometimes even hard to keep up with. The lucrative amounts of raised capital and young founders behind the ideas often make headlines, and these startups have now become a picture of the modern-day collaborative workplace and inspiration for young generations.
But these startups are more than open concept desks, bottomless beverages, and dog-friendly offices that they’re known for. InsurTech startups possess the agility and vision to adapt in the face of difficulties, and as recent events have shown, they have incredible survival skills.
Here are 3 insights we can gain from InsurTech startups:
1. These startups are champions of transformational technology
It’s no secret that larger companies deal with cultures that resist change. Traditional mindsets dedicate less of their tight budgets to innovation and more to maintaining legacy systems, pulling corporate giants even further into the past. A single change must be approved by countless decision-makers before it can be implemented, and it is likely that the idea will be snuffed out long before it makes it to the end of the list.
Compare this to the startup model. These smaller companies are entirely focused on innovation and creating their own futures, making them willing adapters of new technologies. They concentrate on the main purpose – creating a solution for their customer, a solution they know takes away pain. A common goal means less resistance to change. And so, these companies develop a unique decision-making and decision-implementing agility that is unmatched by corporate giants.
2. These startups know the secret to retaining employees despite lean budgets
Startups are continuously adapting, learning, and growing. They focus on sustainable scalability and possess a growth mindset that larger organizations often lose sight of. Startups focus on creating an environment to promote the growth of their employees, allowing for meaningful, high impact work that centers around shared core values. Their team is their family.
In comparison, corporate giants have many obstacles to overcome in order to transition out of a performance-based culture. Employees in these companies are offered raises and promotions in order to retain them, but the lack of connection or fulfillment causes these companies to lose employees anyway.
Startups recognize that there is more to motivation than money and have successfully harnessed this to win their employees’ loyalty and commitment.
3. Startups have knocked over organizational silos for good
Traditional silos are one of the biggest pain points for large companies. Employees prefer to stay within their departments and keep valuable knowledge to themselves, often due to competition.
Startup culture is all about collaboration and knowledge-sharing. A single employee wears many hats within the company and can offer a multi-dimensional skillset. All members of the team are united by the common goal they work towards.
When the startup wins, everyone wins. It’s a family celebration.
Organizations must adapt the startup mindset so that they may thrive. As many companies recognize the need to become agile and accelerate innovation, they have turned to startups to help them with this transformation.
In our co-creation Sprint next week, we will explore ways organizations can use to collaborate with InsurTech startups. What is the delicate balance between accelerating competition while encouraging learning and collaboration? How can you find the right collaboration partner? How can you eliminate conflicts of interest during the partnership? And most important – ask InsurTech startups what collaboration means to them.
We invite you to join our team of innovators as we find a collaborative solution during this innovation project, beginning on Tuesday, May 26th. Join the project here!
