Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Chris, thanks so much for joining us.
Chris Bacon, Openly
Really appreciate you having me today. This is a great opportunity. And I'm excited to say the chat.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Likewise, Chris, I'm excited to talk to you, because we're gonna talk about Openly which, when I think about the insurance industry, there's so much disruption happening, which is a good thing, and Openly is right in the mix of it all. So talk about Openly and what the company does.
Chris Bacon, Openly
Yeah, so Openly is a tech enabled insurance provider that works, that sells high-end homeowners insurance to more of a mass affluent customer that sells exclusively through independent agents. And what's interesting about that is a lot of other companies that are in the insurance, technology space that is more of the startup type companies, they've gone direct to consumer, what differentiates Openly is that we work exclusively through independent agents. And our perspective is that over the long run, consumers are going to want that choice, they're going to want that consultative approach that an independent adjuster or independent agent provides to a consumer. And then but carriers today, whether they're legacy carriers or startup companies, they're not they're not providing technology and advancement for this space. So it's a great opportunity to get in. And really make a difference for the agents that we partner with.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
So talk about the background story of the company, how did the idea come to fruition?
Chris Bacon, Openly
Yeah, so Openly, was founded in 2017, by Ty Harris and met Bill, but Ty was the Chief Product Officer at Liberty Mutual, he was overseeing profit and loss for their entire global personal lines and small business, basically, about $20 billion. And Matt was in he actually had done a couple of different startups, but was actually running an independent agency at the time. And they realized that the technology capabilities, and the ability to scale agencies very quickly just wasn't there. And so the two of them left. And it wasn't, it wasn't a perfectly linear process, but they ultimately got to where they landed on, there's a lot of disruption opportunity within the independent agent space to help provide a more simple product that eliminates gotcha moments that eliminates a lot of those different challenging parts for a consumer that has complex insurance needs. That wants to work through the independent agent channel. And so they started the company we went to, we went through the TechStars incubator program, came out of there, started hiring some folks, we actually started selling our products for the in our first state. In Illinois in October of 2019. We had at the time, we had about 13 employees. And we are now up to right around 200 employees across 40 Different states Openly sells insurance in 18 Different states, and works with about 5000 Different agencies across the country.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Wow. Yeah. And I think that's the key to the business model. When I first heard about open Lam, why it was different is that, you know, going through the independent agents, which I just know, as a consumer, I like working with an agent where he can actually have someone and have a relationship, because when you have an issue, you'd like to be able to talk to a person, you know, and that's part of the Yeah, exactly. So that's a big piece. So talk about, you know, the plans moving forward as far as growth and hiring.
Chris Bacon, Openly
Yeah, so we are, we're rapidly continuing to hire this year, I mean, it's going to be a continue continuing investment into what we're trying to build and what we're trying to scale up. You know, a lot of what open Lee's approach is, is that we try to use technology to maximize the experiences of all of our employees. So we're not losing technology to replace the human side of things. So we are continuing to scale up. So we have roles that we're looking at currently, across our operational sides are folks that are in my organization, whether they're their claims handlers or agent experience, folks that help work with agents every day. We've got insurance products, actuarial-type roles that we're looking for where and then, of course, we are a tech-enabled company. So we're looking for great engineering talent. And so we'll continue to scale up and we'll probably look to do about another 40 to 50% increase in total, total headcount by the end of the year. And the great thing about openly is is we are remote-first company, so we're not going to be we're not limiting ourselves in terms of geographic locations and things along those lines. We are open to anybody who, you know, is very inquisitive, and really aligns with what the they openly value. Core values are of just being empathetic and curious and really working well in a team in those roles.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Well as an extension of that, what's the culture? Like? What's the day to day culture? Like work again, Openly?
Chris Bacon, Openly
Yeah, it's a collaborative world that we work in. And I think that's one of the most important components of what we're trying to do, we really focus hard on pulling, pulling things out of working in silos. And we do try to bring people across different organizations. So you may have someone and if you're, if you're working in the agent experience world and answering customer questions, you may be working with an insurance product actuary, and then a salesperson and a product, a product manager and an engineering manager all in the same day. And there's a very strong collaborative approach, we're very, you know, we joke around a little bit of a call ourselves a little bit on the nerdy side, which is a good thing. We'd love to love to ask a lot of questions. We're always, you know, poking and prodding and trying to figure out, you know, why, and is there a better way that we can do this? And can we challenge the norms a little bit more, and I think that's a lot of what we're trying to do. And, you know, I would, the other piece, I would say, is, we really try to resonate back to what it is we ultimately here for, and ultimately, when a customer has a loss, and they're filing a claim to empathy, and that urgency that we work with to get that claim settled as fast as we can, and really execute on the promise that we're making with our policyholders.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Now, the job market out there is very competitive, there are lots of opportunities for people, which is a good thing. So why is now the ideal time to join Openly?
Chris Bacon, Openly
This is a great time to join a company that is scaling up and it's it's, we're still in a world where we're getting big enough that we can, we have a great group of people that we're working with, but you're still going to have your fingerprints all over every aspect of the business, you're going to have your fingerprints on process on overall direction of the company. You know, there's a lot of, you know, we truly do go by the name openly, we our leadership team is, you know, is open and transparent as we possibly can be, we meet with all of our team members on a regular basis, we want that closed loop, we want the feedback so and we can, we can kind of continue to drive excellence going forward. And there are a lot of really great career opportunities as well. So, you know, as I mentioned, we're gonna be adding 40 to 50%, more headcount, there's different levels of opportunity across whether it's in the same organization where the same function or moving cross functionally into different type of roles.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Well, if you are interested in exploring opportunities at Openly, you can go to their company page on VentureFizz, which has all their job listings there. As Chris mentioned, they are hiring across all different functional areas. And actually, if you want to hear more of the background story in the company, I did conduct an interview for our podcast with Ty Harris. And through that, we talk about the full lifecycle, his background, his experience, and what he did at Liberty Mutual and of course, the real background story and growth of Openly so it's a great episode that check out but if you want to check out their listings, go to venturefizz.com/openly. You'll see everything there. Chris, thanks so much for taking the time to walk us through all the great things happening at the company.
Chris Bacon, Openly
Yeah, thank you so much, Keith. I really appreciate it. And you know, if folks ever interested also in chatting directly with me, I can. You can find me on LinkedIn and shoot me a quick note too, as well.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
