At the core of Cookhouse Lab’s values is the belief that co-creation through collaboration brings forth greater value than the sum of its respective parts. I have previously discussed about our diverse member pool as well as ongoing interactions with customers, both, directly impacting our day-to-day lab work. In addition to these, we have formed several partnerships to provide support to our members and projects. The first question we often get asked is how we handle Intellectual Property (IP). Given the competitive nature of the insurance business, IP is a critical topic of interest. To address IP and other legal inquiries, our lab partners, Dan Pollack Law and Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Blakes) provides legal and advisory expertise to our members and the innovation projects being facilitated in Cookhouse Lab. With this partnership in place, we have the appropriate legal knowledge and tools in place to continue with our project milestones, every step along the way.
In January, we announced our partnership with Highline BETA. As an early-stage investment firm, we recognized that Highline BETA brings new venture (startup) acceleration expertise and connections that we can leverage. Three weeks into our journey, and they have introduced us to several relevant InsurTechs, ideated with our project teams and planned thought leadership sessions. This has not only contributed to the velocity of our project progress, but also provided us paths around roadblocks.
“Cookhouse Lab is an extremely unique and collaborative space for Open InsurTech Innovation. Developing solutions to problems is always a challenging task, yet that challenge is easier met through smart collaboration. Cookhouse Lab is a true catalyst for bringing it all together and we are excited about what’s to come.” Ron Kunitzky, Chief Partnership Officer, Highline Beta
On our launch day, we hosted six InsurTech startups as they pitched their businesses to our panel of experts. Each of the startups were compelling in their own way but in the end, the judges decided on Drop as our inaugural winner. Since then, we have invited Derrick Fung, CEO of Drop to share his experience with us that propels our Loyalty and Rewards project to the next level.
As mentioned in Week 1, our approach to loyalty and rewards has been one that is rooted in a high level of customer care. One aspect of attaining this high level is a better understanding of our customers by gathering information in the simplest way possible. Collaborating with Drop gives us one of many avenues to pursue this, and this introduction from Highline BETA shows great potential.
All in all, we leveraged our partnerships this week towards finalizing the Month 1 release of our MVP. Whether it was UX/UI, features, or trends, our partners have played an integral part in our progress to date. Aligned with our problem statement, we now have an initial solution that will move towards rapid prototyping and validation next week. I continue to be amazed at the progress we have made and our partners are an essential part of making this happen.
Interested in becoming a partner, please don’t hesitate to contact us.