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Insurtech & Innovation

Founders, new product categories, and how carriers and distributors are changing the way they build, buy, partner, and hire.

S1E9 · 42:27

"A Garage Full of Mac Minis" — AI, Angel Investing, and the Next Wave of L&A Innovation

James Wong built a massive IMO from scratch, sold it to a Fortune 500, and then launched The Founder's Chair — an insurance-focused angel investing platform that has funded 17 companies and deployed $11M+ in two and a half years. He breaks down what AI is actually doing to startup teams right now and shares his unfiltered read on the LPL-Anthropic deal and why it overnight made the biggest firms every startup's competitor.

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S1E7 · 25:48

"The InsurTech Petting Zoo Is Over" — And What Comes Next

Nick Gerhart — former Iowa Insurance Commissioner, insurtech investor, and now COO of Homesteaders Life — makes the case that smaller carriers can finally outmaneuver the big guys. He talks about building adjacencies around pre-need insurance, why the AI governance framework needs rethinking, and why his single piece of advice to every insurance professional is the same: don't do nothing.

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S1E6 · 30:00

We Figured Out Pet Insurance — Why Not Fertility?

Cally Myhrum, founder of Lotus Fertility Insurance, shares how a personal experience led her to build the first fertility protection product embedded in life insurance. With IVF costing $60-70K and no individual coverage options, she's creating a $265 billion blue ocean — and carriers are paying attention.

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S1E5 · 41:08

Building an Insurance Company from Scratch

Michelle Gordon, COO of Axonic Insurance, reveals how a startup grew to $2.1B in issued annuities in its first year — with its own cloud-built policy admin system and 125 employees. Plus, her passionate case for why the SEC's 1987 ruling on financial planning is harming American retirees and the insurance industry alike.

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S1E2 · 28:00

Life Insurance That Helps You Live Longer

Darren Rowe, CEO of Kadance, explains how his precision health management program is changing life insurance from a death benefit into a living benefit. Learn how genetic testing, cancer navigation, and pharmacogenomics are being embedded into life insurance policies — and why Nationwide bet on this approach.

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S1E3 · 28:38

Where's My Money? Solving Insurance's Last Mile Problem

Moshe Golomb, CEO of Juice Financial, tackles the $10 trillion check problem still plaguing insurance. After 26 years digitizing payments across retail and banking, he's bringing Uber-like transparency to insurance disbursements — from death claims to annuity payments to international stablecoins. Plus: why 20% of insurance costs are fraud, and how open banking is changing the game.

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October 1, 2025 · Awards

Everly Life Insurance Company and Zinnia Recognized with Datos Impact Award in Technology for Advancing Customer Experience in Life Insurance

Everly and Zinnia jointly received the prestigious Datos Impact Award in Insurance Technology within the Digital category, recognizing their collaborative efforts to develop TermVest+, an innovative universal life insurance solution designed to simplify and democratize access to life insurance products.

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July 7, 2026 · Partnerships

Zinnia and Carriers Partner to Drive Annuity Innovation as Annuity Market Hits New Highs

Zinnia's platform accelerates product innovation, intelligent automation, and next-generation digital capabilities as carriers invest in the future of annuities. USAA expands its relationship with Zinnia, launching new annuity products on the platform.

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January 20, 2026 · Partnerships

Zinnia Announces Collaboration with Snowflake to Deliver Real-Time Insurance Analytics and AI Solutions

Zinnia partners with Snowflake to deliver cutting-edge analytics and AI solutions that transform how insurers leverage data for real-time decision making with enterprise-grade security and scalability.

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March 8, 2023 · News

Musings from the LIMRA Distribution Conference

The LIMRA Distribution Conference is a great place to get the latest updates on the state of the industry, and we spent several days in Orlando last week attending sessions and meeting with customers and prospects time well spent! In addition, this conference provides an opportunity to get caught up on trends in distribution, and we continue to get a worrying picture.

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