Stories About Life, Tech & Insurance

It’s the craziest thing: in the State of New York, Lemonade appears to have overtaken Allstate, GEICO, Liberty Mutual, State Farm and the others in what is probably the single most critical market share metric of all.

For a tech company, launching in the tech capital of the world is a huge thing. For an insurance company, launching the two largest economies in the US within a matter of months, is unheard of.

“When I saw what Lemonade had to offer – no paperwork, immediate claim payment, and far cheaper premiums – the more convinced I am it can transform the entire industry.”

We’ve learned so much in the eight months since our launch. We got some stuff wrong, iterated and improved, and hopefully we got some things right as well. Since then, things have gone a little nuts.

Maybe the simplest productivity trick is to think about our productive hours. Most people are productive between 9-11 AM. That’s it.

It’s not easy being a chatbot. People think I’m not real, and it pains me sometimes to admit my AI has an alter-ego: me! Real Jim steps in on those claims that can’t be instantly paid.

Trust is a public good- as long as we all contribute to it- we all benefit. But once we stop contributing, the system collapses. Fraud wins.

Knowing you’re not in conflict with your insurer, and that you embellish claims at the expense of a cause you believe in, may change your behavior too, setting off a virtuous cycle.

Incumbents find the idea of a 560% price gap unsettling. Understandably. I get it. That’s why I’m writing this post.

Long story short: instead of fighting with our customers over the same coin, we join our customers in fighting for a common cause.