John Swigart's guest appearances

John Swigart

Entrepreneurs on Fire

FNO: InsureTech

The Future of Insurance

Jamie Hale

David McFarland

Chris Cheatham

Rick McCathron

Sean Harper

Rob Galbraith

Steve Lekas

Tony Lew

Gabriel Halimi

Bryan Falchuk

Katelyn Johnson

John Hall

Jay Weintraub

Martha Notaras

Brewer Lane

OwlTail

John, who was named a 2020 Mid-Atlantic Entrepreneur of the Year, has been responsible for overseeing all aspects of Pie since its establishment in May 2017. He brings over 20 years of experience in tech-enabled insurance and financial services businesses. Prior to Pie, John served on the Esurance executive team for 13 years, where he initially led all of the financial functions from 2000-03 and then became the company's first Chief Marketing Officer. Under John's leadership of the marketing team, Esurance premium volume grew from $50 million in 2003 to $1.3 billion in 2013. Esurance was sold to Allstate in 2011 for $1 billion. John holds a B.A. in Economics from Haverford College. Highlights from the Show  John started in insurance through his family's business while he was in college, making his way to Esurance in 2000, ultimately leading the Finance team and then as Chief Marketing Officer until 2013 After swearing he'd stay out of Personal Auto because of the competition dynamics, he met his co-founder, Dax Craig, in 2016, who together created a different vision for small business commercial insurance buyers They wanted to make their offering as easy as pie, hence their name, Pie Insurance Small Commercial is a target market for so many, yet few have really been serving it well, despite how well it performs They found Small Commercial to be an underwriter-driven space even though most businesses in the space don’t have the loss history and complexity to require that kind of attention Instead, Pie was built to look at the data available about the business and think through the risk with an algorithm; they still have underwriters behind the algorithm They've found this to be critical in their lines, starting with Workers Compensation, because there is a lot about a risk that isn't available in data or as finite as it would be in Personal Auto or some other lines That makes it hard to figure out what the business actually does, and therefore what the exposure behind it is This is especially problematic in Workers Comp because you're on the risk, whether they or you mis-categorized the business as the injured worker isn't a party to the policy, and therefore can't be denied coverage Pie therefore looks at taking in the 'digital fingerprint' of a business through its online presence, to develop a more accurate picture of what the business actually does than you'd get on an app The net result of inaccurate underwriting when the market is making money is that insureds are being over-charged, or at least many risks are being over-charged to make the total risk pool profitable for the carriers writing the business By being able to more accurately segment and price risks, Pie is able to charge less for risks it understands better and yet still earn a competitive return Pie's algorithms are working to distinguish rate within a class, while the rating agencies like NCCI are determining it between classes at an average level for a given class This has allowed them to grow rapidly and profitably because they price accurately to win the right risk rather than doing what others have done, which is just under-price to sell  They've doubled the book in the last year, growing to over a $300 M run rate as of earlier 2022 They also sell direct, through agents and brokers and partners   John learned lessons from his first go-round with Esurance:  Underwriting comes first, so you need to build a profitable book, especially if you're using someone else's balance sheet because you must have that support to do business It is all about the people (which they call Pie-oneers)   Looking forward, line of business matters, so there are lines Pie isn't considering (like Cyber), but they recognize that their customers have additional needs like Commercial Auto, Liability and Property  Where they can have a data and analytics advantage, it makes sense to think about expanding But they couldn't start with so many lines up front because you have to have vision and focus to execute successfully   The market will continue to digitize, but that's not the same thing as everything going direct  This episode is brought to you by Ascend (useascend.com/futureofinsurance) and by The Future of Insurance thought leadership series (future-of-insurance.com) from Bryan Falchuk. Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes. Music courtesy of UPbeat Music, available to stream on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Google Play. Just search for "UPbeat Music"

John, who was named a 2020 Mid-Atlantic Entrepreneur of the Year, has been responsible for overseeing all aspects of Pie since its establishment in May 2017. He brings over 20 years of experience in tech-enabled insurance and financial services businesses. Prior to Pie, John served on the Esurance executive team for 13 years, where he initially led all of the financial functions from 2000-03 and then became the company's first Chief Marketing Officer. Under John's leadership of the marketing team, Esurance premium volume grew from $50 million in 2003 to $1.3 billion in 2013. Esurance was sold to Allstate in 2011 for $1 billion. John holds a B.A. in Economics from Haverford College. Highlights from the Show <ul> <li>John started in insurance through his family's business while he was in college, making his way to Esurance in 2000, ultimately leading the Finance team and then as Chief Marketing Officer until 2013</li> <li>After swearing he'd stay out of Personal Auto because of the competition dynamics, he met his co-founder, Dax Craig, in 2016, who together created a different vision for small business commercial insurance buyers</li> <li>They wanted to make their offering as easy as pie, hence their name, Pie Insurance</li> <li>Small Commercial is a target market for so many, yet few have really been serving it well, despite how well it performs</li> <li>They found Small Commercial to be an underwriter-driven space even though most businesses in the space don’t have the loss history and complexity to require that kind of attention</li> <li>Instead, Pie was built to look at the data available about the business and think through the risk with an algorithm; they still have underwriters behind the algorithm</li> <li>They've found this to be critical in their lines, starting with Workers Compensation, because there is a lot about a risk that isn't available in data or as finite as it would be in Personal Auto or some other lines</li> <li>That makes it hard to figure out what the business actually does, and therefore what the exposure behind it is</li> <li>This is especially problematic in Workers Comp because you're on the risk, whether they or you mis-categorized the business as the injured worker isn't a party to the policy, and therefore can't be denied coverage</li> <li>Pie therefore looks at taking in the 'digital fingerprint' of a business through its online presence, to develop a more accurate picture of what the business actually does than you'd get on an app</li> <li>The net result of inaccurate underwriting when the market is making money is that insureds are being over-charged, or at least many risks are being over-charged to make the total risk pool profitable for the carriers writing the business</li> <li>By being able to more accurately segment and price risks, Pie is able to charge less for risks it understands better and yet still earn a competitive return</li> <li>Pie's algorithms are working to distinguish rate within a class, while the rating agencies like NCCI are determining it between classes at an average level for a given class</li> <li>This has allowed them to grow rapidly and profitably because they price accurately to win the right risk rather than doing what others have done, which is just under-price to sell <ul> <li>They've doubled the book in the last year, growing to over a $300 M run rate as of earlier 2022</li> <li>They also sell direct, through agents and brokers and partners</li> </ul> </li> <li>John learned lessons from his first go-round with Esurance: <ul> <li>Underwriting comes first, so you need to build a profitable book, especially if you're using someone else's balance sheet because you must have that support to do business</li> <li>It is all about the people (which they call Pie-oneers)</li> </ul> </li> <li>Looking forward, line of business matters, so there are lines Pie isn't considering (like Cyber), but they recognize that their customers have additional needs like Commercial Auto, Liability and Property <ul> <li>Where they can have a data and analytics advantage, it makes sense to think about expanding</li> <li>But they couldn't start with so many lines up front because you have to have vision and focus to execute successfully</li> </ul> </li> <li>The market will continue to digitize, but that's not the same thing as everything going direct</li> </ul> This episode is brought to you by Ascend (<a href="http://www.useascend.com/futureofinsurance" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">useascend.com/futureofinsurance</a>) and by The Future of Insurance thought leadership series (<a href="http://www.future-of-insurance.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">future-of-insurance.com</a>) from Bryan Falchuk. Follow the podcast at <a href="http://future-of-insurance.com/podcast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">future-of-insurance.com/podcast</a> for more details and other episodes. Music courtesy of UPbeat Music, available to stream on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Google Play. Just search for "UPbeat Music"

The Future of Insurance – John Swigart, CEO & Co-Founder, Pie Insurance

John Swigart, who was named a 2020 Mid-Atlantic Entrepreneur of the Year, has been responsible for overseeing all aspects of Pie since its establishment in May 2017. He brings over 20 years of experience in tech-enabled insurance and financial services businesses. Prior to Pie, he served on the Esurance executive team for 13 years. John holds a B.A. in Economics from Haverford College. Top 3 Value Bombs: 1. The first and second primary drivers of any person's success are grace and blessings, and the third would be what you would end up doing those things. 2. Making it easier, faster, and affordable for people will make Pie successful in the market. 3. Work towards your vision, have clarity on it and ensure that you understand what might need to change along the way as you go towards that vision. Visit and find out what you could save on worker’s comp insurance - Pie Insurance Website Sponsor: HubSpot: Start giving your customers what they deserve. Learn more about how you can transform your customer experience with a HubSpot CRM Platform at HubSpot.com!

John Swigart, who was named a 2020 Mid-Atlantic Entrepreneur of the Year, has been responsible for overseeing all aspects of Pie since its establishment in May 2017. He brings over 20 years of experience in tech-enabled insurance and financial services businesses. Prior to Pie, he served on the Esurance executive team for 13 years. John holds a B.A. in Economics from Haverford College. Top 3 Value Bombs: 1. The first and second primary drivers of any person's success are grace and blessings, and the third would be what you would end up doing those things. 2. Making it easier, faster, and affordable for people will make Pie successful in the market. 3. Work towards your vision, have clarity on it and ensure that you understand what might need to change along the way as you go towards that vision. Visit and find out what you could save on worker’s comp insurance - <a href="https://pieinsurance.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Pie Insurance Website</a> Sponsor: <a href="http://HubSpot.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">HubSpot</a>: Start giving your customers what they deserve. Learn more about how you can transform your customer experience with a HubSpot CRM Platform at <a href="http://HubSpot.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">HubSpot.com</a>!

Empowering People, Creating Value and Driving Change with John Swigart

Dax Craig

On this episode of FNO: InsureTech we are joined by the Co-Founders of Pie Insurance (Pie), Dax Craig &amp; John Swigart. Our guests this week make getting worker’s comp as easy as pie. Pie provides workers’ compensation insurance directly to small businesses. They also partner with local, regional, and national insurance agencies to provide coverage to their clients. They’re reimagining the insurance experience for small businesses, from the quote to the claim. Join Dax, John, Rob, &amp; Lee as they discuss: what led to the founding of Pie, Pie as solution providers to small businesses, the impact of COVID-19 on Pie and its customers; worker’s comp and fraud; a peek at Pie’s roadmap for 2021, and more.

On this episode of FNO: InsureTech we are joined by the Co-Founders of Pie Insurance (Pie), Dax Craig &amp; John Swigart. Our guests this week make getting worker’s comp as easy as pie. Pie provides workers’ compensation insurance directly to small businesses. They also partner with local, regional, and national insurance agencies to provide coverage to their clients. They’re reimagining the insurance experience for small businesses, from the quote to the claim. Join Dax, John, Rob, &amp; Lee as they discuss: what led to the founding of Pie, Pie as solution providers to small businesses, the impact of COVID-19 on Pie and its customers; worker’s comp and fraud; a peek at Pie’s roadmap for 2021, and more.

Ep 112 – Pie Insurance Co-Founders Dax Craig & John Swigart