Beyond Boundaries | What Startups Get Wrong with Meredith Barnes-Cook

ITC Vegas week is here.

So what better way to warm up than with a conversation on one of the biggest questions facing startups, vendors and technology providers in insurance:

How do you actually sell into this market?
Because great technology is not enough.

Especially in insurance.

In this Beyond Boundaries episode, Matt Connolly speaks with Meredith Barnes-Cook from Datos Insights, recorded at InsurTech America Symposium. 

Meredith works across the insurance ecosystem, supporting carriers, MGAs, brokers, incumbent technology providers and startups through Datos Insights’ insurance practice.

And her perspective is clear.

Nobody is buying technology for technology’s sake. They are buying solutions to compelling problems.

And that means startups need more than a good product. They need to understand the industry, speak the buyer’s language, and show empathy for how insurance actually works.

And prove they can be a partner, not just another provider.

The conversation also covers Meredith’s own career journey, from starting in claims to building a broad business technology career at Liberty Mutual, before moving into consulting, AI startup life and now strategic research and advisory work at Datos Insights.

That background gives her a rare view of both sides of the table.

She understands the carrier environment from the inside. And she understands what startups and vendors often miss when they try to sell into it.

Eagle-eyed viewers will spot a CB Insights logo in the background and Meredith making the case for Datos, which in places sounds a lot like the case for Sønr. Three logos, one conversation. It’s all good. 

This is a practical conversation on what startups need to understand, what carriers are really looking for, and why the human side of transformation still matters.

A big thank you to Meredith Barnes-Cook for joining us and sharing such a practical, honest and human perspective on insurance, technology and change.

Follow the Beyond Boundaries Series by Sønr for more conversations with the people shaping what comes next in insurance.

Substack: https://lnkd.in/dVyCr2Yr
Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/dVAxcG6E
Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dr8wqjCC

📧 Want to get involved? Reach out at [email protected]