This document discusses the challenges faced by Hellas Direct, a new insurance company in Greece. Some of the key challenges included: [1] Securing funding was difficult, with a 99.56% rejection rate from investors; [2] Building a great insurance company required hiring the right people, continuous innovation, and obtaining the proper licenses; [3] Driving sales required appealing first to innovators and early adopters by identifying the right target market or "tribe". Despite challenges, insuring a customer's car in under 5 minutes showed the potential to improve customer experience.

1. HELLAS DIRECT:
SETTING UP A NEW
INSURANCE COMPANY
IN GREECE
(STOP CHASING UNICORNS!)
OPEN COFFEE
BENAKI MUSEUM
26 OCTOBER 2012

2. LIKE MOST ENTREPRENEURS, WE SET OFF
THINKING WE’D BE THE NEXT GOOGLE GUYS …
Larry Page + Sergey Brin
* until this
GOOGLE: Largest tech IPO in history*.
guy came
along.

3. … BUT WE SOON REALISED THAT REALITY CAN
BE HARSH (9/10 START-UPS FAIL)
ANGELS EARLY-STAGE LATE-STAGE GROWTH
PRE-SEED SEED ROUND I ROUND II ROUND III ROUND IV EXPANSION FOLLOW-ON
<EUR 100k EUR 100-500k EUR 500k-1m EUR 1-5m EUR 5-10m EUR 10-30m EUR 30-50m EUR 50m>
CUMULATIVE CASH FLOW
x x
‘VALLEY OF BREAK IPO
DEATH” EVEN
START-UP
SURVIVAL
RATE 1/3 1/2 2/3 4/5 8-10 YEARS

4. WE SPENT ENDLESS TIME SEARCHING FOR:
THAT
BIG
IDEA
(HAVE YOU EVER DONE SO? BE HONEST…)

5. WE LOOKED FOR AN IDEA WHICH WAS DIFFERENT
TO ANYTHING EVER DONE BEFORE …
(THE PURPLE COW!)

6. ... AN IDEA WHICH WAS SEXY, COOL AND TRENDY!
WOMENSLINGERIE

7. IT DID NOT TAKE US LONG TO GET THAT
THERE IS NO MAGIC TO AN IDEA …

8. … AND THAT SOMETIMES THE BEST BUSINESS
CONCEPTS ARE RIGHT UNDER YOUR NOSE
CARINSURANCE

9. IF THERE IS ONE MESSAGE WE WANT YOU
TO TAKE AWAY FROM TODAY’S TALK IS THIS:
STOP
CHASING
UNICORNS*
(BORING IDEAS OFTEN MAKE BETTER BUSINESSES!)
* those different, sexy, cool and trendy big ideas.

10. WHAT’S OUR STORY?
¡ A NEW, DIRECT INSURANCE COMPANY IN GREECE.
¡ “CHANGING THE GREEK INSURANCE MARKET, ONE POLICY AT A TIME”.
¡ WE ARE HIGHLY SPECIALISED.
¡ WE LIVE AND BREATHE TECHNOLOGY.
¡ WE LOVE NUMBERS.
¡ WE SERVICE THE CONSUMER, NOT THE BROKER!
¡ 23 PEOPLE IN 3 COUNTRIES.
¡ A LONG JOURNEY: 3 YEARS FROM START TO OUR FIRST SALE.
¡ WE HAVE FACED THREE KEY CHALLENGES ALONG THE WAY…

11. CHALLENGE I: SECURE FUNDING

12. FINDING INVESTORS WASN’T EASY …
2,500 APPROACHES
1 IN 8
300 MEETINGS
1 IN 27
11 INVESTORS
1.5 YEARS

13. … AND THE ODDS WERE NOT ON OUR SIDE
99.56%
REJECTION
RATE
THERE IS AHIGHER CHANCE OF
BETTING ALL YOUR MONEY ON BLACK IN A
LAS VEGAS ROULETTE AND WINNING…
… 7 CONSECUTIVE TIMES!

14. CHALLENGE II: BUILD A GREAT COMPANY

15. THERE ARE THREE BASIC INGREDIENTS TO
BUILD A GREAT INSURANCE COMPANY
Hire the right people Keep innovating Get licensed
Intelligence Invest in technology A year of paperwork
Passion Algorithmic pricing Detailed business planning
A drive to make things better Close ties with academia Latest EU regulations

16. CHALLENGE III: DRIVE SALES

17. LIKE ANY NEW IDEA, APPEAL TO THE
INNOVATORS AND EARLY ADOPTERS FIRST
(IDENTIFY YOUR TRIBE!)

18. SOME DAYS ARE TOUGHER THAN OTHERS …
London, UK Tel Aviv, Israel Athens, Greece
“Press 4 for help” “Happy Hanukkah” “Shaken not stirred”
South African investor Israeli investor Russian investor

19. … BUT IT IS THE LITTLE THINGS THAT
MAKE IT ALL WORTHWHILE
I have just insured my car with Hellas
Direct in under 5’. If all other
services (private or public) were as
friendly to the user as this one, our
productivity would be much higher
and we would all be much calmer…
- a client’s facebook post

20. THANK YOU