Betterview: A Diamond in the Rough

Betterview: A Diamond in the Rough
By Brian Desmond, Guidewire CMO, Betterview Board Member

Four months ago I was privileged to be given the opportunity to join Betterview’s board. I knew about the company as one of Guidewire’s technology partners. Once I learned more, it became clear that Betterview is a special company with a unique opportunity.

To date, billions of dollars have been invested in hundreds of InsureTech start-ups. The majority will not make it. Many don’t really understand insurance. Many have questionable value propositions. Some are taking a competitive posture.

However, out of the hundreds of InsurTech startups, there are a select group that will become the “diamonds in the InsureTech rough”, the companies that help the industry to accelerate transformation and go on to become well-known brands that are part of a noble industry. Betterview has a great shot at being in this group, as it has these five characteristics:

Focus: Betterview helps insurers to precisely understand risk and improve customer service by combining aerial imagery, data science, and computer vision with deep P&C expertise. It serves one industry and does so with specific use cases across the lifecycle.

Value: The business case for Betterview is real and impactful. Betterview customers can increase market share and profitability through optimizing underwriting and renewal processing. At the same time, they are enabled to improve customer service with faster quoting and claims handling.

Scale: Rather than being dependent on one or several sources of imagery, Betterview’s model is to use many sources at internet scale and to curate and visualize the data to provide much better risk signal.

Momentum: It’s critical in this word-of-mouth industry to have referenceable customers who will serve as a role model for their peers. Betterview now has a critical mass of customers that not only justify investment in this field, but should cause it to accelerate.

Culture: Betterview’s co-founders, Dave Tobias and David Lyman, remind me of Guidewire’s co-founders and leadership team. They are driven, committed to the industry they serve, and are humble leaders.

These are five great characteristics to have. Naturally, success will be hard earned. I’m very happy to be given the opportunity to play my part to help Betterview become one of the  diamonds in the InsureTech rough.