“We do what we say and we are doing well because of it.”
Since being accepted into the winter 2016 batch of Y Combinator, Cover went from a simple app with a camera view to a nationally licensed insurance broker. But it wasn’t an easy journey to get there.
Recently, the CEO and co-founder of Cover, Karn Saroya, sat down with Craig Cannon, host of Y Combinator’s podcast, to talk about how Cover evolved from an idea to a successful insurance app.
In the episode, Karn discusses how he shifted from having a career in consulting to becoming an entrepreneur. His first startup, Stylekick, at one point had over 400,000 active users. It was the number one style app in France. And it was driving millions of people to the app.
It doesn’t seem like a logical jump to go from fashion to insurance. But the founding team had worked with insurance brokers while at Stylekick. They had one idea: “Take a picture of something you want to insure.”
That idea led them to become a national insurance brokerage in under 12 months. Cover works with 30 carriers in 49 states. It is changing the insurance business through creating a unique user experience.
Karn discusses Stylekick, his previous startup, and how they took their learnings from that to create Cover and how Cover is changing the insurance business through creating a unique user experience.
“We make the underwriting application process super simple. We do not spam our customers with phone calls or emails. Every single one of our customers gets a dedicated text line where they can text us back and forth to ask questions. It’s a truly millennial first experience, which is a cliche thing to say, but it’s the thing we do.”
If you’re interested in hearing more about Cover, Karn’s advice for other startups at YC, and more, head over to Y Combinator’s website to listen to the full podcast.
