What it’s Like to Build a Lab at a 200-year old Insurer? (w/Christopher Lowell, ex-Head Innovation Lab at The Hartford)

Christopher Lowell created The Hartford's Small Business Innovation Lab and was tasked with building out new channels to test whether the organization could launch a new service before bringing it back to the core. The Hartford are leaders in small commercial, true experts at running their core day-to-day business. They went in with a strategy to innovate from a position of strength, knowing they were a leader and wanting to take that leading position further.

Chris' role was partly to partner with the outside world. He describes insurers as builders with a strong brand that needs to be nurtured and kept safe. Whereas Insurtechs tend to be smaller, scrappier and lacking "Fort Knox" security standards. So the lab ended up building most of its own new things versus partnering with Insurtechs.

The team insisted going beyond powerpoint and concepts into building real products to sell. People who worked there needed to understand the demands of a 200-year old company that does not build "playthings." Lots of people are going to care about outcomes, particularly in compliance. Chris selected people who were willing to perform in a team versus being a deep subject matter expert, who ask questions that build up an opportunity versus tear it down.

Chris describes a wave of people flooding towards the insurance industry because of the massive opportunity to change it for the better. So there is a huge need for insurance-specific subject matter expertise, particularly in underwriting.

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