bolt is a marketplace connecting the supply and demand sides of insurance distribution. Through bolt’s insurance exchange, partners can provide simpler and more valuable access to insurance for customers, expanding product choice and enhancing digital experiences. 

Through a partner-led model, bolt has grown into the largest technology-enabled property and casualty marketplace worldwide. It quotes more than $44 billion in premiums annually, connecting over 120 carriers and 35,000 agents across the US.

In the words of bolt’s CEO, Jim Dwane, the company isn’t a “disruptor,” but an “enabler”: It lets all players—insurance incumbents and digital newcomers alike—meet customer expectations. In an interview with The Financial Revolutionist, Dwane details bolt’s growth strategy, highlights bolt’s value proposition, and shares his view on bolt’s future.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Financial Revolutionist: Do you frame bolt as a disruptive product?

Jim Dwane: We don't consider ourselves disruptors. We think of ourselves as an industry enabler, and our ultimate goal is to transform insurance in a way that all players stand to benefit. Our insurance exchange lets people buy and sell insurance in more convenient and efficient ways. One example is how our partners are distributing insurance in places where it hasn’t traditionally been offered by leveraging embedded insurance capabilities. 

In what spaces do you feel bolt is actually disrupting things?

I’ll give you two examples. Fifteen years ago, many insurance carriers started advertising their own quotes as well as those of competitors. It may be commonplace now, but that was something carriers couldn’t or wouldn’t do before. Our technology enabled them to do that. 

When a realtor, a mortgage company, an auto dealer, or a small business aggregator begins selling insurance at different points of sale—through bolt’s insurance exchange—that’s enabling and advancing the traditional distribution model, which has primarily relied on agents and brokers.

What was the original pitch to insurance carriers to get them to buy into bolt as an exchange?

If you ask our partners why they work with us, they will give you reasons that connect back to one of three things. First, we enable companies to diversify distribution. People who used to do distribution one way can now do it in two or three more ways, gaining access to new markets and more customers.

Second, we’re enabling partners to own more of their customers’ lifetime value by being able to provide more of what customers need. In the case of an insurance company, being able to select the risk they want on their balance sheet, and then meet customer needs outside of that risk appetite by offering competitor’s products. Or in the case of a non-insurance entity like a realtor, enabling them to offer insurance as part of an additional suite of products and services that are complementary to their core customer proposition.

The final reason companies engage in this type of technology is to gain more efficiency through process optimization. It helps companies lower costs and digitizes what have traditionally been manual processes.

Why would these companies choose you over some other exchange, though? What sets bolt apart?

We are currently the largest P&C insurance exchange in the US, and we have the most liquidity, meaning the number of carriers and products available on our platform. We service more than 25 lines of insurance, both personal and commercial per state. As you know, insurance is a state-by-state regulated business in the US. We'll end the year close to 6,000 different endpoints, meaning 6,000 different product variations, defined by carrier lines of business and state combinations.

We're actually one of the only insurance exchange businesses in the United States that does both personal lines and commercial lines. I'm not aware of anyone else who does both personal and commercial on one common tech stack. That's unique and offers significant efficiency by having access to both lines on a single tech stack, which is a very meaningful and powerful value proposition for our partners.

We also offer flexibility; we can meet our partners’ business requirements, whether that’s a white-label service or a custom solution. And lastly, we are able to combine deep insurance expertise with our technology solutions, with more than 120 insurance experts on staff. Combined, these capabilities support our partners, all of whom are on their own unique digital transformation journeys, and we can assist them while they digitize and leverage technology and tools.

That’s a savvy move to have both personal and commercial insurance on the same tech stack. That must bring CAC down for your clients, and it must have been an intentional move while building out the exchange—right?

It was intentional, for sure. We built it in partnership with our early partners. Our partners over the years deserve credit for helping us through our own product journey. That liquidity I referred to: We achieved it because we were serving our partners. We didn't just go out there and say “let's build it, they will come.” We definitely set out to build a scalable and responsive technology-enabled infrastructure to better connect the players in the industry, but it was our partners who walked with us to help build it out to what it is today.

Speaking of tech-driven evolution, what other aspects of the insurance landscape do you think will change over the years?

It’s a three-act play. The first act of the play is the whole concept of embedding products at a point of sale, like adding travel insurance when buying a plane ticket.

The second act of the play involves more than one product, offering customers a choice of products to secure the right coverage to meet their needs.

Act three of the play is where you start getting into the fun stuff. That's where new exposures are emerging every day that didn't exist a few years ago. Think about the sharing economy; think about the mobility space. Scooter sharing, home sharing, pool sharing, boat sharing, have needed insurance products for risks that didn't exist previously. So act three is not only about distributing insurance or making insurance available for people in different places, but also about answering more quickly the different needs and emerging risks of insurance.

Any final advice for The FR’s readers?

This is going to sound very clichéd, but don't be afraid to take a chance on something new. Don't be afraid to take a chance on something you might not 100% understand. And don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Those tenets are important to keep in mind when you're thinking about where you want to go and what you want to do. When you're in the insurance industry, which is known to be a traditional industry, these tenets will help you move things forward.