Quick Hits from ITC18 — Massively Grand
After getting into a bit of hot water from my wife for describing InsureTech Connect as my favorite time of the year — ignoring Christmas, our anniversary, Thanksgiving or Valentine’s Day — I figured I would give my Quick Hits of the latest and greatest incarnation of ITC:
The venue to announce new stuff
Many RGAX backed companies used ITC to unveil to the community what their blood, sweat & equity has been to up to. Ranging from Cover’s announcement of a successful $16M Series B, Fabric’s introduction of Trusted Contacts aimed at reducing unclaimed life insurance benefits, to our case-study of a wearable accidental death insurance product created by Cardiogram, Amica, & Greenhouse. ITC2018 continues to be the place to announce new stuff.
6-miles worth of steps
2018 brought a change of venue to the massive MGM Grand: A better location for presentations and informal meet-ups compared to the LVCC or the Bellagio. However, the most frequent icebreaker from attendees was the 20-minute hike between the Conference Center and the Hotel / Restaurants. I caught up with Kyle from ClearCover who mentioned that his Apple Watch was clocking 6 miles of daily steps.
Standing room only
Generally at conferences, if the hallways are full, the sessions are empty. I would expect this to be especially true with the massive MGM Grand. But with over 6,000 attendees the halls were packed, the restaurants and coffee shops were full, and despite this — many of the sessions still had standing room only. Ranging from startups to regulators, these folks weren’t just from the US, but from all over the world. We saw it firsthand in the form of RGA’s global offices reaching out and introducing us to their local partners from LatAm, Asia, Bermuda, and Europe.
Bring back Brella.
I’m not sure what the economics of 1:1 meeting apps are. But I’m guessing it becomes cost-prohibitive above 6,000 attendees. Or, the lack of seamless integration into the ITC website prompted a change to a new meet-up app. The near-universal sentiment was that it was too glitchy compared to Brella which ITC trail-blazed two years ago (and influenced the adoption at a few other conferences).
Still intimate and serendipitous.
Despite the scale, I found ITC2018 to be refreshingly intimate. RGAX booked out a Skyloft for the entire conference to facilitate coffee breaks and spontaneous conversations. In the Skyloft, we were able to assist two partners to outline a new agreement in the span of one 30-minute chat and come to a handshake agreement that would have taken weeks of phone and email tag.
Product Market Fit to HyperGrowth
ITC has crushed Product-Market fit and is now in hypergrowth. That serendipitous Skyloft meeting was just one of the thousands of connections that will likely become the feeding ground for the next wave of announcements in 2019 and beyond, fueling the increasing need to be at ITC to advance business goals in a fast and efficient manner. That is great for the industry, in order to overcome its well known tendencies towards risk aversion and a lack of innovation.
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About Greenhouse Life Insurance Company is a multi-state life and disability insurer custom-designed to partner with insurers and entrepreneurs to accelerate innovation in the life insurance industry. For more information, please visit www.getgreenhouse.com. Greenhouse Insurance was founded in 2018 by RGAX, the transformation engine of Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated. RGAX leverages its global platform to build and accelerate transformational businesses in the life insurance industry with a mission to help people live longer, healthier, more financially secure lives.
