When you’re building consumer products and you see something that violates your expectations, that’s usually when you need to double down.
Recently, the CEO and co-founder of Cover, Karn Saroya, sat down with Rich Adam, the host of Raise, a podcast presented by PwC Canada.
In the episode, Karn discusses how the start of Cover was an experiment for the four co-founders. They built apps that explored different industries, like healthcare and entertainment.
The experimenting paid off once they landed on Cover and the insurance industry. They decided to launch on the Canadian App Store as a test. At the time, the app only had a camera view that allowed customers to take a picture of something they wanted to insure.
Within three days, it was ranked number one for car insurance, home insurance, life insurance, and every combination of insurance-related keyword terms.
Soon enough, people were sending in photos and videos of cars, homes, cats, and all sorts of things.
What we had just observed building this thing was something that no insurance executive on Earth had ever observed because they had never attempted something like this.
Following the success of the experiment, Karn also talked about life after finding a product-market fit. What it’s like to split the business across offices in San Francisco and Toronto, the shift in the role of CEO as the company continues to grow, and the differences in funding rounds.
As for advice Karn would share with his peers and fellow founders looking to raise? “Think about what you need and double it. That’s probably okay, don’t triple it.”
If you’re interested in hearing more about Cover, the most important lesson Karn learned during fundraising, and anything he’d redo during the raising process , click here to listen to the full episode.
