The Business Leadership Podcast

Salli: You're listening to the business
leadership podcast with Edwin Frondoso.

Scott Boston: We want people who are
doing business to have the confidence

that They're getting the right
insurance at the best possible price.

Across North America.

We're the only one doing it
on both sides of the border.

Edwin: Good morning.

Good afternoon.

And good evening biz leaders.

Welcome to another episode of
the business leadership podcast.

I'm your host, Edwin Frondozo.

And today.

We're featuring.

A special episode from our future narrator
mini series, which was recorded live

at the collision conference in Toronto.

In this series, we explore
the future of leadership.

Innovation and storytelling
with visionary leaders who are

not just designing products.

But our creating entire
new world's end markets.

Joining me today is Dr.

Paul Newton and together we'll
be speaking with Scott Boston.

The CFO of Fox quilt, a company
that leverages technology to

transform insurance provisioning
for small businesses.

With high tech, low touch,
underwriting services.

Fox quilt cater specifically to small and
home-based businesses such as e-commerce

sellers and home service professionals.

In our conversation, Scott we'll
discuss how Fox quilt simplifies

the insurance acquisition process.

Through their online platform.

Eliminating the need for traditional
brokers and making customized policies

easily accessible to twenty-four seven.

We'll explore how the company uses
machine learning to continuously

improve and tailor their services in
their unique positioning in the market.

With the embedded insurance model.

Scott, we'll also share Fox
schools ambitions to expand

across north America and beyond.

While highlighting the challenges
scaling in the Canadian market.

And the importance of
staying mission focused.

So without further ado, here we go.

We're now speaking with Scott
Boston CFO of Fox quilt.

Scott, how are you doing today?

Scott Boston: I'm really well.

Thanks.

Thanks for having me.

Edwin: Super excited to
have you jumping in Scott.

I'd love it if you could share
the problem that Fox quilt is

solving for underwriting services.

Scott Boston: Well, Fox Quilt, we leverage
technology to change the insurance world

so that, uh, every small business can
get the insurance that they need no

matter where they are or when they need
it and so it's a very, , high tech, low

touch, underwriting process that allows
us to deal with small businesses that

might not otherwise have a chance to get
insurance that really fits their needs.

Edwin: And when we're talking
about insurance, is this

everything from business
insurance, operating, or personal?

Scott Boston: Our sweet spot is for small
business insurance, general liability.

We have the ability to write
any kind of business insurance.

Our core customer, we have a couple
of profiles that we think of.

One is someone who's selling on
an e commerce site, like an Amazon

or Best Buy, , the other is sort
of a home services professional.

Think like, an electrician, a plumber,
a drywall, or a handyman or a handy

person, that is doing something
around your house, with a truck and a,

maybe a crew or installing something.

Edwin: And when it comes to, I guess,
servicing the small businesses and these

folks, typically, how are they getting in?

Like,

how do they get this, insurance and
how does it, you know, working with

Fox Quilt really make it easier?

Scott Boston: Well, that's the key is.

It used to be that they would have
to like anyone go to a broker,

maybe they could get a quote online,
but they're going to have to call

someone, talk to someone, maybe go
into their office to get a, quote.

That quote is going to take
them maybe up to a day.

Brokers then going to find it
in a market, find options in a

market, come back with pricing.

And there's very little
transparency in that.

Fox Quilts online platform is
completely different where the

contractor can access it 24 seven.

They can put in all their information
in very specific fields that define

them as an actual, uh, professional.

And the big thing is, rather than getting
rated on the most risky profession that

they do, or lumping them all into one kind
of profession, we are able to rate them

very specifically on a multi ISO basis,
we call it, where you're, you're getting

them at the percentage of revenue or the
percent of activity that they're doing.

So they're getting a very fit for
purpose insurance policy and they're

getting everything they need and nothing.

They don't.

Edwin: Oh, that's interesting.

So it's really based in terms of where
they are as a business owner and,

and I'm assuming it has the coverage
that, Any other general liability

insurance would cover as well, but
the pricing would be very specific

to them and customized to them.

Scott Boston: Yeah, that's right.

We have underwriting authority as a, as
an MGA with our reinsurance capacity,

which is Greenlight and Markel.

But we can also then access any other
carrier, any other market for insurance

if the product doesn't fit right in
that box that we, uh, that we offer.

, so again, we're there to
solve the customer's problem.

We don't want to.

Say no to them because just cause
they don't exactly fit into this box.

We try to , be creative and solve the
problem, uh, the best way we can for them.

Edwin: And it's, and it sounds a
little, a lot different in terms of,

for those who are looking for the
insurance and their professionals or

their contractors, you know, they're
filling this out in the middle of the

night, for example, the experience
is that they'll be able to know where

they stand before they're complete with
that first interaction with Fox Quilt.

Scott Boston: Exactly There it's very
much, uh, kind of a self assessment with

a very their business, if you want to
think of it that way, but they know their

business better than anyone else, right?

So,

Edwin: hmm.

Scott Boston: and we know through
our many ratings tables and

experience with, , People like them.

We know what questions to ask and
our machine continues to learn and

ask new questions and more specific
questions and better questions with

every application that comes in.

Even if we don't write for the, for
the customer, we learn something if we,

if we can't write them a policy too.

Right.

So, we're able to continue to
build on that, , and get better

and better fit for our customer.

Edwin: What's interesting is you mentioned
machine learning, so how does machine

learning really help or revolutionize,
the offering within, within Fox Quilt,

or even in the insurance industry,
because I imagine this is something

that, The end users, the clients may
or may not even know what's happening.

Scott Boston: Yeah, you're right.

And for us, we want it to be as simple and
as easy for them as possible, which we've.

Been able to give them that through
our platform, but the backend has

been designed from the ground up, all
in house, , all the IP is our own.

And our team of, uh, engineers has built
a, a platform that can, that like, like

I said, every time it, it gets a new
data point, it can, um, it can aggregate

them and it can use them to inform what
the next, um, application might look

like we had a, uh, kind of an internal
study that we did a few months ago.

Where 5, 000 policies that we had
written and we found, like 500

overlapping policies where the
criteria were exactly the same.

So it gives you a sense
of how differentiated all

these small businesses are.

And so it's really important that
we're able to, get so specific on them

to give them exactly what they need.

And again, every time we do that,
we get more and more policy data.

Think about in a legacy insurance
business, a broker is just kind of

using this off the top of their head.

They've maybe been in the business
for a long time, maybe not as long.

So they're trying to remember
what they did last year or for a

different business some other time.

Is that really very accurate
in terms of getting that

customer exactly what they need?

Paul: No, of course not.

Scott Boston: And the carriers,
they don't deal in a lot of

specific data around this.

So they're not necessarily.

Looking at the data in depth to understand
what the actuarial science behind it is.

Our machine does all that.

Again, every single transaction,

Edwin: Yeah.

It almost seems like it's, I mean, for
a lack of a better word, like a no and

no brainer in terms of really offering
people what they need, because I imagine

even from my own experiences in the
past, working with insurance brokers,

it's like you said, it's, you know,
they're working from their experience and

whether they know me personally or not.

Um, you know, to get to that type
of detail, you really have to ask

me a lot of questions and hopefully
you understand which way to go with

that when you answer those questions.

Scott Boston: To put it in kind of
real terms, a lot of those policies

that you get, remember the broker's
trying to make money too, right.

And they have a commission
based on what they sell.

So in a lot of cases, you're going
to see them, you know, try to add in

a few other coverages, that's going
to make them more money, It's also

going to get carriers, attention
in terms of writing the best policy.

They may or may not want to take on
another policy for a smaller dollar value.

So a lot of our customers would
see something like a 5,000 policy.

If they went into a broker, when they
come to us, you're dealing in more like

a 2,000 And again, sacrificing margin.

We're actually getting better
margin than the broker does, but

we're just selling them what they
need and not what they don't like.

They don't need a property policy.

They might not need an auto policy,
if they just need their general

liability, but if they do need it,
then we can, we can bring those

things together seamlessly for them.

Edwin: I mean, that's, it's really
interesting because a platform like

Fox Quilt, it really, Seems to me, your
biggest competitors are may be the, the

brokers and do you see opportunities
to partner or leverage the brokers as

well, uh, and collaborate with them?

Scott Boston: That's a great question you
ask because it's exactly how we do this.

I mean, anyone can just go to
foxquilt.com and create an application

and in 10 minutes you can get a quote,
you can buy that policy and then you

can complete the payment all online.

So, you know, we do have customers
that find us that way, both in

Canada and in the United States.

, but what our main sort of go to
market, channels are, is what we call

on the one side wholesale, where.

Uh, exactly what you just said.

The brokers can actually use for
our insurance and make it, really

easy for them to bind a policy for
their customer and that customer

may have even found us online first,
and then they still just want to

have that human touch in some cases.

The other really exciting way that
we go to market is by partnering

with enterprises, we call them.

So embedded enterprise.

And this is a true embedded.

Thing with, uh, you know, think about a
Home Depot or a Lowe's these installers

that they have in their network.

When they get onboarded by the
bigger enterprise, the enterprise

has insurance requirements.

They want the contractor.

They want to know that the contractor
is protected because it protects their.

You know, multi billion dollar
brand and they need to know that.

So when Fox Quilt comes in and
partners with them, we make it really

easy, obviously for that customer,
that, that service provider to get

their insurance in the first place.

But then we have the data right there
and it's all very, , integrated so that

we can inform the enterprise partner
that their, their network is covered.

And that their network can go to work
and do the things that's, that serve

the customers that they're serving.

And so, um, so it's kind of
a win for the enterprise.

It's a win for the end customer.

And then it's, again, it's a win for the
insurance markets in general, because

they're getting connected to customers
that they might not have had access to

previously, because they're just too
small of a ticket size to really want to.

Uh, To find that, that small customer,
that small business, provider.

Edwin: And I'm just thinking that could
have also, for the insurance industry,

that may have been a gap because as you
mentioned, people may not be looking or

have a go to market strategy to hit them.

And on the flip side,
these small contractors.

They're probably just afraid to how
much a insurance policy looks like.

So they don't even call anyone.

But whenever they need something or from
the enterprise, they get a little educated

in a sense like, Oh, by the way, you
do need insurance and this is the cost.

And, you know, they're getting educated
at the same time and realizing

that, Oh, it wasn't that bad either.

I imagine that like, that's sort of
another, I'm sure you guys thought

about this in terms of benefit
and, and ideal like distribution.

Scott Boston: Yeah, it's, and it's a
great, you know, it points to a story

that we hear often, which is, you know,
so and so was in his or her truck at

the job site at the person's home that
they were going to install flooring in

or, or do some drywalling, um, and they
realized that they can't go to work

because they haven't been approved.

They don't have insurance.

They go back to the truck,
they fill out the application.

10 minutes later, they've got it
in their inbox with a certificate

and now they can go to work.

If they didn't have us, they might
have, they'd have to drive downtown

to go to the, um, to the broker.

They'd have to wait potentially
a week to get a policy in place.

So, you know, then they'd be
stuck for that period of time.

And so it's something that we're
just making it so that they don't

have to think about this stuff.

Nobody really likes thinking about
insurance except for some of the

insurance nerds in that, in our shop.

But we want people who are doing
business to, to have the confidence

that They're getting the right
insurance at the best possible price.

But then otherwise don't, you don't
have to think about it that much.

You just want to be able to go on
and do the work that you do, that is,

benefiting your customers, but also your
family, obviously in your own livelihood,

Edwin: That's great.

I really appreciate that.

Um, aside from.

I guess this automated machine learn
learning backed platform that Fox

quilt has, um, do you, are there any
other like major disruptions that

are shaping the industry right now?

Scott Boston: I think that,
that this embedded, idea of,

working so directly with.

Uh, both again, enterprises and
the sort of agent broker, wholesale

networks in North America, is
a true differentiator for us.

And it's a way that we're upending
the, the sort of legacy world where

insurance requirements or desire goes
to a broker, broker, broker, broker.

It talks to a bunch of people in the
market and then, you know, it gets sent

off to a reinsurance capacity provider.

And that whole cycle of it's not
data driven and it takes a lot

of time and it's very manual.

It's very ripe for, error or bias.

I mean, that's, where we're coming in.

We're, we're eliminating that bias
because it's truly just based on the data.

We're making it much faster, and
we're getting, access to both.

We're kind of in this middle layer
where carriers are getting access to

customers they wouldn't otherwise have
and customers are getting access to

insurance they wouldn't otherwise have.

Edwin: Yeah.

So it's definitely just,
it's not a lack of trans.

I wasn't going to, I was thinking
transparency, but it's not transparency,

but it's really just, I think
it's back to what I was saying.

It's where people are getting
educated and the access and I'm really

connecting it, what people are doing.

So, so it's really cool in that
sense and that ability, right?

Because I do have people, even friends
and family who are contractors, right?

It's always, it's always
interesting with insurance.

So I guess.

Thinking about that and the offering
that you have, what, what does a future

of automated insurance look like now?

Scott Boston: Uh, I mean, we want
to keep, uh, obviously growing.

We're only scratching the surface
here in North America in terms of

what we can do for the customers that
we have, we certainly have ambitions

that could go beyond North America.

There's insurance all
over the world, obviously.

And we can bring our technology
again with, without sort of bias

or, it's sort of agnostic platform.

We can bring that anywhere we want to go.

We can bring a distribution strategy
like that anywhere, you want.

And the other kind of key thing we have,
on our roadmap is to broaden our sort

of vertical into the more professional.

Services space.

Think about accountants, doctors, lawyers,
dentists who are again, sole proprietors

or working with a small office, a small
team, and they're, you know, they have

a need for potentially general liability
insurance, but also errors and omissions.

Insurance is a big thing for groups
and again, you're talking about

professions that are And Typically
parts of larger associations.

So you've got that distribution
strategy that can work in there.

And then the insurance product
that we're developing now that can

become, again, a really fit for
purpose, uh, insurance product that,

that meets the exact requirements
of what these.professionals need.

Edwin: oh, that's great.

So I guess when, when thinking about
your roadmap, the strategies that you're

going through, whether it's expanding
across North America or hitting different

verticals, like what are the, what are
the challenges that face you and the

leadership team as you move forward?

Scott Boston: Well, these aren't
new probably for many of your

listeners, but it's a very Canadian
sort of venture startup company.

So access to capital is huge.

It's always challenging for us
in our environment right now.

And so we're constantly looking for.

Capital providers that really see the
benefit and the value in what we're

doing and believe in that vision, that
sort of supports the small business,

community across North America.

And then it comes down to, talent again,
which is sort of tied into capital, but

it's , bringing those, our founders, Mark
and Krim, uh, they're from the GTA and

they're very Canadian educated and they
really want to keep the talent in Canada.

That's part of what they built this
business to do is to really try and, um,

give opportunity to young Canadians who
are, building their skills, whether it's

in technology or insurance or sales.

And so that's, you know, we, we're
constantly looking for, as we grow,

we're going to be looking for more
people and, and trying to find

them, uh, locally as best we can.

Edwin: No, that's amazing.

Appreciate that.

I guess, Scott, just thinking about future
visions, can you share the future vision,

whether it's, you know, thinking about
yourself, maybe the founders, you know,

what is the future that they're building
or you guys are building together?

Scott Boston: Yeah, it's that, uh,
connected insurance piece where the

kind of get win, win, win all the way
around where the carriers are winning

the, uh, the customers are winning and
our different partners are winning.

And we're just that middle layer that
sort of reduces friction in the, uh,

in the whole system and, and allows
data to create a better overall system.

And, and you're sort of expanding
the pie on the one hand, but

then you're also making sure that
it's a more fair distribution.

Okay.

Edwin: So when we realize this vision
that Fox Quilt is creating in terms

of this more connected network, like
what, what does, what does that mean?

I guess the entrepreneurs, the
contractors, or even those around them.

Scott Boston: Well, so insurance is the
whole premise of insurance from hundreds

of years ago is shared risk, right?

So, the key is that the more risks,
the more good risks, especially that

we can sort of aggregate and as a whole
insurance industry, the more, and the

more kind of positively we can support.

Businesses all over, the better the
whole insurance world performs, the

better hold the world, you know,
has the risks managed in that way.

So we're trying to be
a piece of that puzzle.

By again, bringing in good businesses
that have a really, strong presence in

their own home markets , and allow them
to, uh, you know, do their business well.

And expand that pie and expand , the sort
of risk sharing across the whole network.

Edwin: That's great.

I got, I got a question and maybe Paul
might have a question for you, but I

guess my last question when it comes
to that vision, I'm curious when it

comes to the offering and this connected
network, , who are the big players in

your space , , that are doing what you're
doing, whether they're playing catch up

, or you're defining that category now,

Scott Boston: the truth is no one's
doing what we're doing with the embedded

insurance, across North America.

We're the only one doing it
on both sides of the border.

We often get compared as far as, uh,
our, Um, the by our customers in terms

of if they're getting multiple quotes,
they might be getting a quote from next

insurance,which is the US based company.

They're only in the U.

S.

Um, I mean, they've
raised a billion dollars.

They're an order of magnitude larger
than we are, and they have a broader

spectrum of offerings were much
more focused on a very on these very

specific verticals that I mentioned.

And the products, we're continuing to
expand our products and our verticals.

We are, you know, we're
chasing them in that sense.

, in terms of our focus, this
is where we're at right now.

And that's where we really want
to, um, you know, penetrate

that market much more deeply.

As we continue to grow.

Paul: I'm just wondering what, the
contractors are the people that have this

easier access to insurance and lower cost.

What do you see yourselves changing
the face of small businesses?

Or is there something that
you're aiming to shift there?

Scott Boston: I mean for now we're
focused on the insurance aspect of it.

I mean, there's lots of examples of,
ways that we could, Add more value

from overall business perspective.

So if we're, we could, we could
help, uh, businesses understand

their risks better, understand where
they fit in their specific market.

I mean, a drywall or in Florida is very
different than a drywall or in Ohio from

a risk perspective and from the type of
environment that they live in and work in.

So there's ways that we could
certainly add additional value.

I mean, you know, we're not necessarily
trying to compete in sort of the other

finance, small business landscape.

There's lots of really good incumbents
there, but, um, you know, you could

imagine a world where that, where
some of those, uh, value ads might be

part of, an offering, in the future.

Edwin: Um, Scott, do you have any final
thoughts, recommendations, or advice

for , the business leader, executive, or
founders that who may be listening today?

Scott Boston: Um, yeah, I think, you
know, I think about this from again, a

Canadian sort of market lens and, and
Foxgold is a very great example of a

company that, you know, Really proved its
product in Canada and got really good.

Product market fit and traction in Canada.

But the Canadian market, as we
know, is really not big enough to

properly scale a business when you
have big ambition and big vision.

And so we always had the U S in mind.

We kind of built the product and the
technology with the ability to, and the

distribution strategy with the ability
to go into the US and really do a.

Um, and have a really strong
presence there as well.

And, and really then, you know, that's
something honestly that we were told

not to do on a number of occasions.

We were asked to kind of stay in
Canada, focus on the market here.

You can make a difference
in this Canadian market.

And, you know, Mark will say all the time
that like, he was always hyper focused on

the mission that we had to be, Omnichannel
to be in North, all across North America.

And so, you know, rather than use the
distractors, and detractors, to kind of

hold you back, like use them as motivation
to pursue your mission, just focus on

what you, uh, what you really want to do.

Edwin: That's amazing.

I really appreciate that, Scott.

Thank you for joining us on the
business leadership podcast.

Scott Boston: Yeah.

Appreciate it guys.

Thank you.

Edwin: That's it busy leaders.

Thanks for joining me on
this special episode of the

business leadership podcast.

Part of our future narrative mini series
recorded at the collision conference.

It was an insightful
conversation with Scott Boston.

Exploring our Fox quilt is
revolutionizing insurance

provisioning for small businesses.

For links to all the resources we
discussed, connect with Scott N to learn

more about the future narrative project.

Check the show notes in the app
that you're listening to right now.

If you're also interested
in reading more about Scott.

And the other business leaders
we profiled at collision.

Jordan the waitlist for our upcoming book.

If you found value in this episode,
please subscribe, rate and share

it with the first person who
comes to mind that would benefit.

And most importantly, be
grateful from hearing from you.

Your support helps us grow
and bring more great content.

Thanks again for tuning in and
being a part of our community.

Until next time have a 100 X day.