Beyond the Policy: an Insurance Requirements Podcast

In this episode of Beyond the Policy, Patrick Waites joins us to talk about risks startups face around scaling their teams. Our discussion includes topics such as scaling too soon versus too late, how relationships with staffing agencies work, things to index for when making a lot of hires, and the normal amount of time it takes to go from prospect to signed offer letter.

After the episode is over, check out howyouinsurethat.com for our entire catalog of previous episodes.

Please enjoy my conversation with Patrick Waites!

In this episode of Beyond the Policy, Alan Ringvald, CEO of Relativity6, joins the show. Alan and I dive into what it's like at a startup that pivots its business model.

Included in our conversation are tips like how to know when it's time to pivot, obstacles you'll face in a pivot and how to avoid them. We also talk about the emotional toll of needing to pivot.

After the episode is over, check out howyouinsurethat.com for our entire catalog of previous episodes.

Please enjoy my conversation with Alan Ringvald!

I’m joined today by Stuart Winchester, the founder and CEO of Marble.

Like many aspiring founders, Stuart listened to his fair share of How I Built This episodes before taking the plunge himself. But as a first time founder, Stuart was more captivated by a blog post of how a startup didn’t pan out. That blog post, Reflections on a Failed Startup, was written by Sam Stone in 2019. It chronicles the journey of a startup that enjoys some initial success, but ultimately missed signs of its own down fall.

One aspect that caught Stuart’s attention is the concept of Team Beats Problem Beats Solution and how it informs Marble’s culture and team building today. So much so that the blog post is required reading as part of new team member onboarding.

We dive deeper into how Marble’s culture building is centered around transparency and healthy debate. We also spend some time outlining how listeners can implement their own version of Team beats Problem beats Solution in their own business.

We then wrap up by sharing signs to look out for when your business is not performing well and ways in which you can right the ship.

After the episode is over, check out howyouinsurethat.com for our entire catalog of previous episodes.

Please enjoy my conversation with Stuart Winchester, CEO of Marble!

But throw in a global pandemic? It makes you appreciate so much more how company culture is built on in-person interaction.

My guest today is John Fohr, CEO of TrustLayer (trustlayer.io). He’s built the majority of his team during COVID-19. They’ve had to transition from being in-person, one room with a whiteboard, to a decentralized group spread across multiple timezones.

During our conversation we touch on things like how important building habits of asynchronous communication are in a virtual environment, just how much we underestimate overhearing in-person conversations are, recreating the in-office energy and morale over Zoom and Slack, as well as how to instill confidence of everyone you work with to duck out of a meeting if they shouldn’t be there. Hint: it starts with the CEO throwing up the peace sign in multiple meetings and encouraging others to do so.

This episode is packed full of advice from a team that just raised their Series A, but it’s also a very honest conversation about navigating a global pandemic. It hasn’t been easy, ever, and it’s had its share of down moments. But I’m most impressed with John and team’s fearlessness to keep moving forward and finding ways to celebrate huge milestones even under less-than-ideal circumstances.

After the episode, please visit howyouinsurethat.com to catch up on all the latest episodes.

Please enjoy my conversation with John Fohr!