S4 EP31: From small kernels to being a breakout player - with Brad Weisberg, Founder & CEO, Snapsheet

“There's been hundreds, if not thousands, of people that have said that, ‘this will never work’. I probably called 50 body shops just doing research.  40 to 45 of them said, ‘Absolutely not’. But there were five shops that said, ‘Absolutely. This is a process that I’d use. Just from that small kernel, I went all in”, says Brad. Brad talks through his career journey from working on HBO shows Sex in the City and The Sopranos to founding claims insurtech, Snapsheet. In fact it was a highly frustrating insurance claims experience following a car wreck that gave him the idea of digitizing the claims process. “I originally built a business to consumer two-sided marketplace. I was walking the streets of Chicago putting flyers on cars that had dents and scratches. I was walking into body shops, convincing them of a new customer acquisition strategy of how they could get leads online through my platform. And I was able to raise some seed funding and I was off to the races.”Brad talks about building out the tech, the products Snapsheet offer as well as the benefits on offer to both policyholders and insurance businesses. “Our platform is highly configurable. It’s easy to launch, easy to scale. You can build out workflows in real time. It's a lower cost solution that's super lightweight that's built in the cloud that's built on the newest technology. The result of building something new with new technology is that we've been able to automate essentially everything from first notice of loss all the way through to paying out the claim. It allows insurance carriers to scale by having their people focus on really difficult claims that need more time and energy.”Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Chicago, the business now works with other 100 insurance carriers and has grown to a team of over 600. Brad discusses international expansion plans and building a remote team.  “When I started the business, I wanted everyone in the office. I'm going to build the best office culture. We had all the same stuff that other tech companies had. I thought it was impossible to replicate that in a virtual world.I had a lot of folks come to me and say, ‘Brad, we could do this from home. It would allow us to hire nationally and get the best talent across the country versus just in Chicago.I made a deal with them and said, ‘OK, I'll send you home and if you can prove to me that you're as efficient for two weeks straight, then I'm in.  Actually, they were more productive.”Brad emphasizes the impact a geographically diverse team has on building culture and how the business engages with the pockets of ‘Snapsters’ in major metropolitan cities around the United States. Giving his advice to senior leaders coming to interview at Snapsheet, Brad says, "Be yourself. We try to be overly transparent when we're hiring. No one wants to set the wrong expectation. You don't want to have somebody leave their job thinking something is going to be one thing and when they get there, it’s not. It's not good for the new employee and it's not good for the company. Be yourself, ask a lot of questions.”Brad concludes by explaining the benefiting of building a team with diversity of thought and personalities. “It takes a village to build a company.  Early on, I tried to hire people that thought like me and that's a recipe for failure. What I've learned over time is you want different personalities. It's OK to disagree.”"Even my management team, 90% of the time pushes back on what I think. It doesn't mean that they're right. The fact that they're comfortable and willing to challenge what I'm saying, helps us build better technology and get to the right answer. No one knows everything.”Connect with Brad Weisberg on LinkedIn or find out more