We’ve partnered with some very cool companies that help small businesses and startups grow and succeed. They'll be writing a series of posts about their areas of expertise on our blog. This "Featured Tech" piece introduces the company behind the advice.
What is Founder Shield?
Founder Shield is a boutique commercial insurance brokerage that takes the stress out of getting insurance for venture-backed startups. We currently work with almost a thousand startups across the country (and a few across the pond!) backed by the leading VCs and accelerators in NYC, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Texas and more. We offer the full suite of commercial insurance products needed for when companies close their Series A round, land their first big customer, or sign the lease to their new office.
What makes your company different?
Simply put: we get it. Founder Shield is run by startup veterans that understand the community and the funding/life cycle of startups. Our team works closely with the underwriters at various top tier insurance carriers to help them understand the nuances of the space. Traditional insurance brokers a) don’t understand the space, or b) don’t want to take the time to learn c) don’t utilize tech to improve the customer experience.
How does Founder Shield help startups?
At a high level, we streamline the insurance purchasing process and make it easy to understand. We’ve created a one-stop shop where startups can get all types of commercial insurance coverage that will be required by their landlord, investors, and clients/customers. We have tech in place to automate much of the back-end paperwork so that we can quote quickly and remain responsive. Our 3 base insurance packages can be customized to fit the needs of any client, regardless of size or amount of funding received to date.
What advice would you give a startup?
“Strike a balance.” Startups clearly aren’t risk averse. That’s obvious. It’s a community that runs on the “it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission” mantra. This mentality and the agility that comes from it helps startups get so far ahead of competition. However, it can also lead to unnecessary and easily avoidable mishaps if founders aren’t careful.
The easiest way to balance out this risk-taking mentality is to outsource risk management where you can. Creating relationships with a good lawyer, insurance broker, payroll provider, etc., can save a lot of headaches along the way. Let the professionals handle those topics so that the team can focus on core competencies.
Anything else you’d like to share?
When our clients succeed, we succeed, so we do everything we can to make that happen. Our website and our team are resources to help companies mitigate the risk inherent in scaling up hiring/operations. Also, Founder Shield is part of a hybrid incubator/accelerator called Interplay and we have amazing relationships with some of the top VCs in the world. When the fit is right, we love connecting our clients with interested investors.