Scouting for Growth

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Laurna Castillo, Senior Vice President of Product at CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA insurer serving millions of customers across the western United States. Laurna has become a leading voice in reimagining how the insurance industry – and entire communities – can build resilience in the face of escalating wildfire risk. On this ep...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Yo Kwon, CEO at Voltaire. Claims. Together, we pull back the curtain on how enterprise operations (and in particular finance and insurance operations) are being reinvented – not tomorrow, but right now. KEY TAKEAWAYS           I was working with my co-founder on Ai technology trying to work out what would be applicable for wid...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Bobbie Shrivastav, co-founder and CEO of Solvrays about building AI-driven workflows that aim to eliminate 70% of manual back office work with governance, auditability, and with human-in-the-loop controls directly built in. They also talk about what makes vertical AI for insurance defensible and measurable, compressing sales a...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Amit Santhirasenan, co-founder and CEO of hyperexponential, an actuary and software engineer who has built the AI native pricing and underwriting platform used by leading specialty carriers. In this episode we cover how to turn messy submissions into structured signals your pricing model can trust – without hiring an army, mul...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Will Ross, Co-Founder & CEO of Federato, and if you’re an underwriting transformation leader—drowning in Excel, stale pilots, and disconnected data sources—this episode is for you. Will Ross isn’t here to sell you hype. He’s here to show what it looks like when AI actually delivers: faster quotes, better decisions, happier...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Sara Mikulski, CTO at Kingstone Insurance, about the moment in her career that convinced her that the claims ecosystem could be rebuilt around a single, trusted data spine. KEY TAKEAWAYS When I started my career, success looked like stabilisation: getting to a point where we all understood what was happening in which system, w...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Arvind Sontha, COE and co-founder of Kyber, an AI startup redefining how carriers handle claims correspondence. The insurance industry is undergoing a seismic shift as carriers face mounting pressure to deliver faster, more transparent, and compliant communications to policyholders and clients, making the need for digital clai...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Charlie Wendland, chief claims officer at Branch Insurance. The world of claims management is undergoing a seismic shift, with AI at its heart. Insurers leveraging AI have reported a 75% reduction in claims handling time and 50% increase in fraud detection accuracy. Cutting claims processing times allows adjustors to focus on...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Barbara Schonhofer and Carmen Powell, two influential voices who have navigated and thrived in the ever-evolving insurance industry. In today’s conversation, we explore the sector’s evolution, the future of work, and best practices for continuous networking and development. KEY TAKEAWAYS When I started my career in 1972, men d...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Yandy Plasencia, founder and CEO of DataHaven Software. In today’s conversation, we talk about Yandy’s journey and vision as well as how mid-sized insurance companies can explore and empower their finance teams, especially their CFOs, by automating data reconciliation and unlocking real-time insights. KEY TAKEAWAYS          Fo...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Mike Gulla, CEO of Adaptive Insurance, whose team is redefining what it means to be resilient in an era of climate uncertainty and operational volatility. We’ll explore why now is the time for parametric and adaptive insurance, what inspired the creation of Adaptive, and how emerging technologies like AI, big data, and cloud c...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Sterling Parker, Senior Vice President of Global Solutions and Services at Ivanti. Sterling is a recognised leader in workplace technology and digital transformation, with deep expertise in helping organizations of all sizes – from global enterprises to fast-growing startups – navigate the evolving world of work. In this episo...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Sam White , CEO of Stella Insurance. Sam is not just a leader in the insurance industry; she’s a trailblazer, entrepreneur, and advocate for creating a fairer, more inclusive world. In today’s conversation, we’ll dive into Sam’s incredible journey as an entrepreneur, her vision for Stella Insurance, and how she’s challenging t...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Amélie Breitburd, the former CEO of Lloyd’s Europe, and a leading voice in the movement to rethink how we insure against tomorrow’s biggest shocks – from climate and cyber to the long-tail risks the industry still avoids. In today’s conversation, we’ll unpack her journey to Lloyd’s, explore the institution’s evolving role in a...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Geetha Sham, MD and President of CamCom in Europe, and Sathes Singam, innovation scout and programme manager at ERGO Group. In this episode, we will explore how ERGO’s Venture Client model turned a promising pilot into a production-grade capability, then we will investigate what it really takes to deploy AI in regulated multi-...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Joel Agard, Group Head of Innovation at Zurich Insurance, who has been driving bold, transformative startup collaborations across 40+ markets. His work has reshaped the way a global insurance giant works with startups, proving that innovation isn’t just about flashy tech – it’s about building real, meaningful partnerships that...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Gregor Gimmy, founder of 27pilots, a company dedicated to helping companies build and scale Venture Client units, and allows them to benefit from startup innovations faster at a large scale and significantly lower cost and risk than traditional corporate venturing methods. On this episode we will explore how this Venture Clien...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL discusses the launch of a new series exploring the Venture Client Model, which is turning corporate innovation on its head. Instead of merely investing in startups and crossing fingers, big companies buy from startups to drive innovation – today, not years from now. Imagine a world where a major Fortune 500, an automotive manufacturer,...

Sabine VdL talks to Lou Smith, a true trailblazer in financial services and insurance. In today’s episode, we’ll dive into Lou’s incredible journey, explore the vision behind Neuron, and discuss the key takeaways from the latest report that insurance providers need to consider.  KEY TAKEAWAYS We all have moments in life where the last thing we want to look at is our credit rating and history, but...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to James Birch, Director of Strategic Technology Solutions at Ki Insurance—the first fully algorithmic syndicate in the history of Lloyd’s of London. In today’s conversation, we’ll explore: James’s journey from VC to algorithmic-underwriting pioneer, what a “director of strategic technology solutions” actually does day-to-day ins...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Mark Stern, founder and CEO of Custom Box Agency, an award-winning boutique specializing in bringing digital offers to life through innovative offline ‘box experiences.’ Today, he’ll share how he made the leap from corporate to startup life, offer practical tips for integrating physical touchpoints into a digital world, and di...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Colin Hirdman, the antidote to automated mediocrity. As a lifelong entrepreneur and co-founder of Monkey Island Ventures, he has spent two decades scaling SaaS tools, digital agencies, and now Rainmaker – a ‘white-glove’ service that ethically automates LinkedIn outreach to turn connections into revenue. Colin discusses Rainma...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Georgiana ‘Gia’ Laudi, a strategic advisor, keynote speaker, and co-founder of Forget The Funnel, a consultancy focused on helping B2B SaaS companies drive predictable, recurring revenue through a truly customer-led approach. In this episode, Gia and I will explore why so many companies get stuck throwing “spaghetti at the wal...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Ron Rock, former Managing Director for the Financial Services Sector at JobsOhio, now guest editor at FF News. When you think "FinTech hub," your mind might automatically jump to Silicon Valley or New York. But there’s a powerhouse in the heartland that's giving these coastal giants a run for their money: Ohio. In our conversa...

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Alon Kaufman, CEO and Co-Founder of Duality Technologies, a company that is revolutionising the way organisations collaborate on data while preserving privacy and security. During today’s conversation, we’ll explore the vision behind Duality Technologies, the real-world problems it is solving, and how organisations can future-...