Inaki Berenguer, is CEO and co-founder of CoverWallet, the first online insurance manager. Inaki holds a master’s and a Ph.D. in engineering from Cambridge University, as well as an MBA from MIT Sloan. He spent two years at Columbia University as a Fulbright Scholar. Before founding CoverWallet, he worked at McKinsey, Microsoft, Intel, NEC and HP. Inaki is a serial-entrepreneur and is the founder and former CEO of Pixable and Contactive.
Where did the idea for CoverWallet come from?
The idea came from a person painpoint. I had already founded 2 other startups and getting insurance felt painful, time consuming (especially the back and forth with a broker), frustrating and analog (PDFs instead of an online experience). There was nothing online to educate me, so I had to go through a traditional broker to understand what I needed, why, and in the end buy the insurance. It felt worse than doing my taxes.
So, I started to research and I learned that 99% of small business insurance is distributed offline via traditional brokers, which made me think. Why hadn’t anyone thought of a way to solve this painpoint yet? If small business owners wear so many hats and can do accounting, HR and banking online, why not get and manage their insurance there, too?
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
Ideally, I wake up early for a run, although there are days where I stop the alarm and go back to bed, but when I run I can feel the endorphins pumping which helps me start the day off on the right foot.
I get into the office by 8:15a and at 8:30 we do a 10 minute company-wide stand-up meeting. It’s a great way to synchronize the cross-functional teams and set priorities for the rest of the day.
As a CEO, I have a lot of distractions, but I know I have to stay focused on these three things:
- Attracting the best talent for the company
- Setting the vision and making sure the rest of the team stays focused and that we’re all moving in the same direction
- Making sure there is always money in the bank
The rest of the time I try to contribute as much as possible to the product, this includes anything from doing wireframes to testing the product.
I usually head home around 8:30p and from home I try hard to get away from my computer, but I do catch-up on emails from my phone after spending time with my family. Rest of interview.