This week, the tables turn as Matthew Grant steps behind the microphone solo to reflect on seven years, 400+ episodes and the lessons learned from building one of insurance innovation’s most recognisable podcast platforms. From storytelling and interview technique to AI-assisted editing and the evolving role of podcasts in B2B marketing, Matthew shares an honest look at what works, what doesn’t and how InsTech is thinking about the future of content in an increasingly crowded landscape. Rather t...
May 17, 2026•13 min•Ep. 407
In this episode, we revisit a live panel discussion from last year’s Agentic AI event, moderated by Robin Merttens featuring Ian Thompson of IMT Advisory, Sasha Haco, Co-founder and CEO of Unitary, Dr Paul Dongha from NatWest Group, and Nick Williams-Walker, Group COO at McGill and Partners. Recorded at a moment when Agentic AI was beginning to dominate conversations across insurance, the discussion explores what the industry might look like three to five years into widespread AI adoption — and ...
May 10, 2026•29 min•Ep. 406
In this episode, Matthew Grant is joined by Carrie Thomas, Account Director at Datos Insights, for a deeply personal look at what happens when insurance risk becomes a lived reality. Having spent years working closely with insurers, Carrie brings a rare dual perspective, both as an industry insider and as a homeowner navigating one of the most challenging insurance markets in the world. After relocating from the Carolinas to Florida, she found herself caught in a system where cover is not only h...
May 03, 2026•24 min•Ep. 405
Introduction In this episode, Robin Merttens is joined by Max Richter, EMEA CEO and Global Growth Leader at the mea Platform, to explore why AI in insurance is finally moving from theory into real operational impact. After years advising insurers on transformation at Accenture, Max made the shift to building technology inside the workflows he once analysed. His view is clear: the industry doesn’t need more AI strategy, it needs systems that actually execute work. The conversation focuses on a fu...
Apr 26, 2026•29 min•Ep. 404
Introduction In this episode, Matthew Grant speaks with Mark Cunningham , Managing Director at PriceHubble, about how insurers can move from fragmented data to genuinely informed decision-making. Despite decades of investment in data and analytics, many insurers still lack a clear understanding of the assets they are covering. Mark offers a candid view of where the real problems lie, and why improving outcomes starts not with more data, but with better data. He introduces a simple but powerful f...
Apr 19, 2026•26 min•Ep. 403
Introduction In this episode, Matthew Grant speaks with Rachel Delhaise , Chief Sustainability Officer at Convex, about what climate sustainability really looks like inside a modern insurance business. While attention may have shifted elsewhere, the underlying challenges have not gone away. Rachel offers a clear view of how insurers are continuing to respond through underwriting decisions, risk modelling and long-term investment thinking. Rachel joined Convex in the early stages of the business ...
Apr 12, 2026•28 min•Ep. 402
In this episode, Robin Merttens speaks with Sasha Haco, CEO and Co-founder of Unitary, about how AI is being applied in practical, high-impact ways across insurance operations. Sasha’s route into the industry is far from typical. With a background in astrophysics and no prior experience in insurance, she set out to build something tangible using AI, focusing on real-world problems rather than theoretical ones. What began as a mission to make the internet safer has evolved into a fast-growing pla...
Apr 05, 2026•18 min•Ep. 401
In this episode, Matthew Grant and Robin Merttens hit the 400-episode mark and ask a slightly uncomfortable question: after all these conversations, are we still human or just very convincing AI? What follows is a sharp, unscripted reflection on how the industry has evolved from early insurtech scepticism to today’s surge of enthusiasm around generative AI. But beneath the milestone moment is a more interesting story, how insurance has shifted from resisting technology to almost over-embracing i...
Mar 29, 2026•23 min•Ep. 400
In this episode, Robin Merttens is joined by Martha Dreiling, Co-founder and President of Reserv, to explore how AI is actually transforming claims, and why the biggest breakthroughs are happening in places most people overlook. With a background spanning FinTech, InsurTech and risk analytics, Martha brings a practical perspective on how data and technology can improve decision-making, not just automate existing processes. At Reserv, she’s helping build a claims model that combines operational e...
Mar 22, 2026•28 min•Ep. 399
In this episode, Matthew Grant is joined by Richard Louden, Partner (Indirect Tax Financial Services) at KPMG, and Candy Staples, Director (Innovation Reliefs and Incentives), to explore a topic that many insurance and InsurTech businesses underestimate until it becomes expensive: tax. While tax is often viewed as a back-office concern for finance teams, it can have a significant strategic impact on how insurance businesses operate, scale and ultimately exit. From the complexities of VAT and Ins...
Mar 15, 2026•32 min•Ep. 398
In this episode, Robin Merttens moderates a panel with Tessa Wardle of QBE, Emily Stanford of Gallagher and Jonathan Spry of Envelop Risk, recorded live at the InsTech London event Some lead, others follow: Smart underwriting and broking strategies for 2026 . As algorithmic underwriting and portfolio solutions reshape the London Market, insurers, brokers and reinsurers are rethinking how risk is placed, followed and managed at scale. Facilities are multiplying, digital trading models are emergin...
Mar 08, 2026•23 min•Ep. 397
In this episode, Matthew Grant sits down with Nicola Turner and Alex Ley , co-founders of Scrub AI , to explore one of the most pressing strategic questions facing insurers today: Build vs Buy in the age of generative AI. Five years into building an AI-driven data cleansing platform for carriers and brokers, Nicola and Alex have seen the market shift from scepticism to urgency. Boardrooms are now asking how AI is being embedded into underwriting workflows, and whether those capabilities should b...
Mar 01, 2026•32 min•Ep. 396
In this episode, Robin Merttens sits down with Frank Perkins , CEO and Co-founder of inari , to explore what it really takes to build and scale a modern MGA in 2026. From founding an insurance business himself to leading a technology company serving specialist MGAs across Europe, Frank brings a rare dual perspective. He understands both the pressure of getting premium through the door and the responsibility of building systems that underwriters actually want to use. As private equity capital acc...
Feb 22, 2026•22 min•Ep. 395
In this episode, we bring you a live panel from InsTech’s May event at CodeNode, exploring how automation is reshaping claims in the Lloyd’s and London market — and why the belief that specialty is too complex to automate no longer stands. Moderated by Matthew Grant, CEO of InsTech, the panel features Simon White, Chief Claims Officer at Apollo, Aidan O’Neill, Founder and CEO of DOCOsoft, and Zoe Woods, Claims Improvement Manager at Lloyd’s. Specialty claims have long been viewed as too bespoke,...
Feb 15, 2026•17 min•Ep. 394
What actually makes automated and enhanced underwriting work in practice? In this episode, three early movers in automated underwriting share hard-earned lessons from building digital underwriting propositions that have survived real market cycles. Rather than theory or hype, this conversation digs into where technology genuinely creates advantage, where it does not, and how underwriting judgement remains central even in highly algorithmic models. Drawing on experience across cyber, US property ...
Feb 08, 2026•15 min•Ep. 393
What happens when AI meets the backbone of the insurance industry - policy administration systems? In this episode, Liselotte Munk, CEO of Fadata, joins Robin Merttens to unpack how artificial intelligence is reshaping the software layer of insurance. With candid insights into Fadata’s AI strategy, Liselotte reveals how the company is using AI to accelerate software development and reduce implementation costs while improving quality. She tackles the big question: will AI make policy admin system...
Feb 01, 2026•18 min•Ep. 392
In this episode, Robin Merttens is joined by Tobi Schneider , Sector Engagement Lead for Financial Services & FinTech at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, to unpack one of the most ambitious research initiatives currently shaping the future of AI risk in insurance. Backed by UKRI and developed in collaboration with AXA Group and three leading universities, the project aims to build a foundational blueprint for how insurers can understand, audit and underwrite emerging AI risks. Tobi shares wh...
Jan 25, 2026•15 min•Ep. 391
This week we bring you an episode of Bootstrap Confidential featuring InsTech’s very own CEO, Matthew Grant, who joined Charles Green in the latter half of 2025 to reflect on the eight-year journey of building InsTech from the ground up without outside funding, and with an intentional focus on sustainable growth. Matthew’s route to growing InsTech wasn’t typical. With a background in risk, analytics and around 400 podcast episodes as a host, he brought a deep understanding of the insurance secto...
Jan 18, 2026•38 min•Ep. 390
In this episode, Robin Merttens is joined by Andy Yeoman, CEO of Concirrus, to unpack how a key player in marine insurance tech has reinvented itself as a core platform provider for the specialty market, and what that transformation says about where the industry is heading. Andy shares the thinking behind Concirrus’ pivot from ship tracking to full risk lifecycle processing, what it takes to build end-to-end technology in just 18 months, and why underwriters, not just CTOs, are now leading the c...
Jan 11, 2026•26 min•Ep. 389
How can AI weather models improve the accuracy and scale of catastrophe modelling? Matthew Grant is joined by David Wood, Managing Director at JBA Risk Management, and Jochen Papenbrock, Head of Financial Technology (EMEA) at NVIDIA, to explore how accelerated computing is unlocking new ways to simulate and manage flood risk. JBA has long been a pioneer in flood modelling, while NVIDIA’s GPU technology has helped drive the recent breakthroughs in AI and generative modelling. Together, they discu...
Jan 04, 2026•36 min•Ep. 358
In this episode, Robin Merttens is joined by Dr Thomas Kuhnt (HDI Global SE), Ed Ackerman (Qover) and Vincent De Ponthaud (AXA) for a rare C-suite perspective on Agentic AI — what it is, how it's being deployed and why senior leaders are walking a tightrope between bold innovation and operational risk. Agentic AI promises transformative value, but for decision-makers at the top, it also brings real uncertainty. What do you build vs. buy? How do you prove ROI? And how do you prevent over-trusting...
Dec 28, 2025•30 min•Ep. 388
In this episode, Claire Souch is joined by Tom Philp, CEO of Maximum Information; James Lay, AVP of Product Management at Verisk; and Stephen Martin, Head of Catastrophe Modelling at Westfield Specialty, for a timely discussion on the future of catastrophe model evaluation, and why it's no longer enough to simply trust what’s in the black box. As new specialist model vendors emerge and market expectations evolve, the panel unpacks a growing demand for transparency, interoperability and smarter w...
Dec 21, 2025•24 min•Ep. 387
In this episode, Brian Owens is joined by Dana Foley (Head of Catastrophe Research at Chaucer), Joss Matthewman (Chief Revenue Officer at Reask) and Olivia Sloan (Head of Catastrophe Products at Fathom) to explore the growing influence of specialist model vendors in catastrophe risk modelling and why they’re anything but “niche”. With decades of combined experience across underwriting, model development and scientific research, the panel discusses how climate change, regulatory pressure and the ...
Dec 14, 2025•26 min•Ep. 386
Introduction In this episode, Robin Merttens is joined by Jack Miller, CEO and Co-founder of nettle, to explore how generative AI is being applied to one of insurance’s most complex and resource-constrained challenges: risk engineering. Jack shares how his work at McKinsey, leading AI transformations for insurers, exposed him to the inefficiencies in assessing commercial property risks and how that inspired Nettle’s founding. From mass retirements of risk engineers to the reality that most prope...
Dec 07, 2025•28 min•Ep. 385
In this episode, Richard Gunn, President & CRO at hyperexponential, joins host Matthew Grant to share the inside story of hyperexponential's expansion journey from the UK to the US, and how the company is reshaping pricing and underwriting in the insurance sector. Richard reflects on seven years at hyperexponential, starting as the first non-engineering hire to now leading a fast-growing US team in New York. He explains how hyperexponential has evolved from a pricing platform into a broader ...
Nov 30, 2025•33 min•Ep. 384
In this episode, Robin Merttens is joined by Tim Hardcastle, CEO and Co-founder of INSTANDA, to reflect on what it takes to turn a contrarian vision into a global insurtech platform and what the next decade of innovation might look like. Tim left a senior role at Hiscox to build a no-code platform for insurers at a time when most said it couldn’t be done. Ten years on, INSTANDA powers operations around the world and is gearing up for its next big leap. This conversation revisits the early sparks...
Nov 23, 2025•20 min•Ep. 383
In this episode, Robin Merttens sits down with Haris Khan and Arved Pohlabeln, co-founders of Novee, to unpack what’s broken in specialty underwriting — and how AI is finally in a position to fix it. Having met as consultants at Deloitte, Haris and Arved kept encountering the same themes: overworked underwriters, inconsistent submissions, and transformation efforts that rarely made a real difference. That frustration turned into action. Today, they’re building Novee — an AI assistant designed sp...
Nov 16, 2025•30 min•Ep. 382
In this episode, Matthew Grant sits down with Jonathan Rake, CEO of Risk Data Solutions at Swiss Re, to explore how a major reinsurer is building data and analytics as core capabilities beyond traditional risk‑transfer. Jonathan explains why the shift matters, how analytics are being embedded in real‑time workflows, and what insurers and corporates should focus on as risk becomes more interconnected and dynamic. In this conversation, Jonathan shares: Why Swiss Re launched Risk Data Solutions and...
Nov 09, 2025•40 min•Ep. 381
Catastrophe models have come a long way - but are decision-makers keeping up? In this panel from InsTech’s The future of catastrophe risk: where science meets reality , Alice Kaye (Inigo), Caroline McMullan (Verisk) and host Dickie Whitaker (Oasis LMF) confront the challenges of turning sophisticated risk models into clear, actionable decisions. Together, they explore why uncertainty is often more valuable than the average, how human biases still cloud our understanding of extreme events, and wh...
Nov 02, 2025•20 min•Ep. 380
In this special episode of the podcast, originally hosted by Indico Data’s Unstructured Unlocked , Matthew Grant, CEO of InsTech, joins Tom Wilde and Michelle Gouveia to discuss how insurers are harnessing third-party data and AI to make more informed, efficient underwriting decisions. With over 25 years in catastrophe modelling and analytics, Matthew shares his view on where the real innovation is happening and where insurers are still facing friction. From the rising value of external data sou...
Oct 26, 2025•29 min•Ep. 379
