Hippo launched on a crisp, thrilling day in April. Time has moved quickly and now, seven months later, I’m taking a moment to reflect on everything I’ve learned about starting a second company, releasing an innovative insurance product and guiding a team toward success.
On countless occasions, I’ve seen that it takes a village to move mountains. Fortunately, my village is made up of an incredible group of people. Coming straight from the heart of a passionate Israeli and two-time startup founder, here are nine things I’m most thankful for at Hippo.
1. Our customers
I have to start with the people who understood the value of Hippo’s small but valiant efforts right out of the gate.
You loved our product and supported our vision, without making us sweet-talk you into getting onboard. A user-friendly product and unbeatable rates were all it took to bring you into the fold. Thank you!
2. Our customer service team
We set up our customer service team with specific goals in mind:
- Our claims advocates should provide concierge services, be compassionate and treat customers throughout the claims process with dignity and respect. Because honestly, there are few situations that require a human touch more than a fire, robbery, flood or another crisis that commonly drive claims.
- The application process should be efficient. Customers should walk away from the experience knowing that in exchange for paying a fair price, their homes and valuables are fully protected. Our sales team uses direct customer feedback to refine their process, constantly ensuring that we meet the needs of modern homeowners.
- Our underwriters are also part of our team, so they treat customers like the gems they are, not like an added risk to their company.
Customers have noticed our commitment to providing a quality product and service. Seventy percent of our reviews within the past two months thank us for our “great,” “professional” and “fantastic” customer service. Thank you! Here’s what we heard from you:
“I didn’t expect clear communication, really good customer service and competitive pricing all in one home insurance company but that’s exactly what I got with Hippo.” – Linda Bronker
“Found the Hippo insurance process easy from start to finish. They offer good coverage, very friendly and professional staff and easy accessibility across the board.” – B. Nayak
“Hippo has great pricing and fantastic customer service.” – James Howorth
3. A 60-second application process
My team and I spent MONTHS refining our application process.
We turned a traditionally lengthy process of applying for homeowners insurance into a 60-second questionnaire that uses multiple trusted data sources to backfill information on homes and offer fast and accurate quotes. Then, we simplified the language in our online application so that it’s easy to understand.
Once the application process was set, it was easy to fine-tune the website and create a consistent experience that aligned with our customers’ expectations. But it required a lot of hard work from our product, tech and quality assurance teams. Thank you everyone! Here’s what some of our clients have had to say about our application process:
“Thanks to Hippo’s reasonable rates and excellent service I was able to secure insurance for my home in less than five minutes.” – Lydia Santin-Cabral
“Hippo Insurance offers a very human, very responsive touch to home insurance. Their application process is incredibly efficient and the customer service support has been great! Keep it up Hippo. This is the kind of service homeowners need from an insurance provider.” – Jovita Lai
4. The people I work with
Speaking of my team, building a staff at a startup isn’t just about finding employees who believe in a company and its potential for growth. They have to believe in the founders, too.
My co-founder and I are passionate and straightforward and have found some of the most incredible and diverse talent to support our mission. I’m beyond thankful that they believe in us and our cause: modernizing homeowners insurance.
We’ve built a team of 30 from companies like Esurance, PolicyGenius, Beepi and LinkedIn. Every day, they remind me why they’re essential and why we’re lucky to have them. Thank you all!
5. Willing consumers
Consumers weren’t necessarily ready to buy insurance online five years ago. The industry made it difficult to migrate online and everyone was still warming up to the idea of making key financial decisions online. But as fintech took off, insurance providers understood that change was afoot.
Still, they continued selling the same products, giving companies like Hippo the opportunity to bring something new to the table. We know how homeowners operate and what they need. With 60% of homeowners underinsured, there’s a major gap in the market and much at stake for homeowners — many of whom live in their most valuable asset.
Thank you for educating industry giants and moving the market into a customer-focused space.
6. Our growth
We surpassed our goals in week one, month one and quarter one (and two). What does that mean for us aside from happy investors?
We are more confident than ever before that there’s a strong desire for our product and service in the market. Ask any startup founder and they’ll tell you that they’re guessing about what’s going to fail and what’s going to stick. Often, their predictions turn out to be wrong (that’s why 99% of startups fail in the first year), but ours were spot on.
Our growth is primarily fueled by three things: using a solid customer feedback loop to constantly improve user experience, tailoring our product to meet statewide and consumer category needs and scaling our business in order to provide personalized customer service. It’s just that simple.
Thank you customers for your support.
7. Our investors
We closed a Series A funding round last year and were honored to bring on smart, driven and honestly very helpful investors. Horizons Ventures lead the $14 million round and RPM Ventures, Propel Venture Partners, GGV Capital and Pipeline Capital all joined in to offer their financial support and insight. We’re lucky to work with investors who believe in us, help push us and always support us.
8. Our families
Building a startup isn’t just a team effort, it’s a family affair. We set aggressive goals and sometimes have to work late or over the weekend to achieve them. At times this means stepping away from family, personal and social obligations. Fortunately, we are lucky enough to have some very supportive families, significant others and even soccer teammates to cover us and ultimately support us when we need to focus on Hippo. But, our families are not just covering for us, they’re interesting and invested in our growth.
One of my favorite Hippo mascots is the daughter of a member of our leadership team. Dad has to answer to this young lady any time he needs to squeeze in some weekend work. Once she realized that her dad was focused on refining our underwriting and sales processes she began asking specifically how many policies we’d sold each day and would benchmark it against our best days each month. She asked so much that he started diverting the questions to me. So, last time she was in the office I uploaded our company Geckoboard onto her secure phone so she could track us in real time. And she does, since I hear from her whenever our sales fall below our best day of the year.
Building Hippo is a family affair because I want families to feel like they are part of the team. Thank you to the families of our team members for your unwavering support!
9. Our new offices
Come on. Look at this place!
