The CEO of Converge Insurance talks about focus, innovation and perseverance

Converge Insurance CEO Tom Kang said one of his top tips for other InsurTechs is a seemingly obvious but often overlooked point, and that is to remember the insurance side of InsurTech.

“Maybe this is an obvious point, but I think it’s important to know that you’re still in insurance — that you’re serving insurance carriers, insurance brokers and insurance customers,” he said. “You might be able to move at the speed of cyber light at a small startup, but sometimes, you have to move at the pace of insurance.”

He said this means it’s important for InsurTechs to strike a balance between moving at cyber speed while matching the sometimes slower, steadier pace of the insurance market. It’s also important to avoid innovating just for innovation’s sake, he said.

“It’s absolutely critical that we don’t forget our customers, our partners and their critical business needs in the midst of innovation,” he said. “As we innovate, we are laser-focused on the solutions we can bring.”

Converge Insurance is a newly launched Cyber ​​InsurTech in August 2023 with backing from QBE North America and funding from Forgepoint Capital. At the helm, Kang brings leadership experience from Willis Towers Watson, Allianz and The Hartford, particularly in cyber insurance, which he said gave him a unique look at the early days of the InsurTech sector.

“During some of my executive roles, I had the chance to review and vet most of the first wave of InsurTech offerings in the cyber insurance market at that time, probably over 10 years ago,” he said. “When they first came on the market, I was very excited about the new data, the new efficiencies they were bringing to the market.”

During that time, Kang realized there was an opportunity to bring technology and data into the insurance value chain in a more cohesive way, he said.

“To me, this integration between data, technology and assurance is extremely critical, especially in – as everyone says – this increasingly connected world where threat actors are getting smarter and more powerful tools,” he said. he said.

As Converge continues to focus on growth, Kang said his goal for the company is to make cyber assurance as dynamic as possible, as the threat landscape continues to be volatile and ever-evolving.

“I think that means we need to be able to move as quickly as bad actors find and exploit new vulnerabilities in the wild, so that insurance truly can and should respond in real time with business solutions, while maintaining the underwriting rigor and underwriting discipline necessary to be successful,” he said.

While doing so, Kang said it’s important for InsurTechs not to lose sight of what he calls their “north star”: customers and business partners.

“It’s not necessarily about you or the company, it’s really about your customers and your partners and how you solve their business problems,” he said. “I think that becomes a very important part of helping you persevere and ultimately find success. You can’t lose sight of your customers, and I think as InsurTechs, we often move so fast to innovate that we leave some of our customers and partners behind. And to me, that’s not a long-term solution to success.”

He said other InsurTech leaders embarking on a similar journey will need to have a well-formed vision and, most importantly, know how to persevere.

“You need great technology, you need great people, you need great solutions and a value proposition, but I think if you succeed over the long term, the leaders and companies that persevere through difficult challenges will, in the latter, those who will leave. an impact,” he said. “It’s not easy to build something from the ground. It is not easy to change existing business processes, especially in a market like insurance. So I think you have to expect it to be difficult. You have to keep working and persevere. And I think to do that, you really need a great team around you, but also a strong belief in your vision and the solutions you’re bringing to market.”

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InsurTech