Focus on a concrete trouble spot and create a unique solution

Meet Frank Genheimer at the MOI – THE MAGIC OF INNOVATION in Vienna

Please introduce yourself to our readers!
Frank Genheimer: Hi, my name is Frank and I am managing director with New Insurance Business, a consulting company that focuses on insurance industry and its cooperation partners. With more than twelve years of experience in insurance business I am concentrating on topics such as new business strategy, product development & innovation as well as cooperation management. Before I founded New Insurance Business in 2015, I worked as product developer, project manager, product manager and life actuary with different insurance groups and for several European countries. Since several years I am a regular speaker at actuarial seminars & workshops and various other events throughout the financial service industry.

Please tell us about your business?
Frank Genheimer: New Insurance Business has three main pillars: consulting of insurance companies and their cooperation partners (e.g. banks and startups), connecting startups and incumbents as well as developing and marketing own InsurTech ideas and concepts.Can you describe a typical workday of you?
Frank Genheimer: To be honest, there is no typical workday, however, a workday usually includes a lot of phone calls, project conference calls, e-mails, reading articles and newsletters and communication within my network.

You are a speaker of the event MOI – THE MAGIC OF INNOVATION. What do you talk about of the event?
Frank Genheimer: I will talk about the transition in life insurance business. This transformation is no ordinary evolution because it already becomes apparent that the magnitude of change is bigger and the speed, at which the change will move through the industry, will be significantly higher than ever before. In parallel, the FinTech / InsurTech movement steps in.

Present challenges and opportunities of life insurance business offer a promising target for these startups. FinTechs / InsurTechs allow a much shorter time to market which will be essential in the digital age. They allow for totally new, flexible and individual products and related services. Consequently, product development will be more interactive and more customer centric than ever before. Existing market players and their classic cooperation partners like reinsurers and banks have taken notice of that movement. I see numerous new cooperation and totally new constellations: reinsurance companies that run primary insurance companies that focus B2C, banks that cooperate with IT service providers, insurance companies that cooperate with startups regarding e.g. sales and product development – and many other more.

What do you mean: How changed the startup scene in the last years?
Frank Genheimer: The startup scene in insurance area has become very vivid and heterogeneous. Because of the numerous startups the landscape has become already a little bit confusing. The scene has geared up in terms of professionalism and structured approach. Hopefully, the startups do not get into the waterway of the incumbents. The accelerated upturn in the scene – comparable to a gold rush or the mood of the discoverer around 1492 – is good for the insurance industry and will accelerate the necessary transformation.

The most mistakes of startup founders?
Frank Genheimer: I have no idea if the following answers are the most common and thus representative, however, I observed the following two shortcomings: (a) Founders stick too long to an idea. It takes too long until a prototype is developed and a pilot project is acquired. (b) Startups lack of knowledge about insurance business and the organization of insurance companies.

Which books do you read?
Frank Genheimer: Unfortunately, reading books is a very rare event to me these days. Nonetheless, I highly recommend «Sapiens» and «Homo Deus» from Yuval Noah Harari.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
Frank Genheimer: Well, I will talk at Magic of Innovation 2022 about the new life insurance business, how it changed for good during the last five years and how it finally reached real customer centricity.

What 3 tips would you give to startup founders?
Actually, I do have at least four advices:
(a) Focus on a concrete trouble spot and create a unique solution. Do not try to invent a «Swiss army knife» for insurance business in a single step.
(b) Build your network and your supporting alliance. Do not waste your time in vague accelerator programs and related «chair circles».
(c) Maintain your dynamism. Do not learn to be patient although insurance industry travels with walking pace.
(d) Last but not least, never let bozos grind you down.

More information you will find here

Thank you Frank Genheimer for the Interview

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