Before we had Heybrolly.com we had Heyguevara.com. Guevara pre-dated the term "insurtech" and so people (appropriately) focused on their P2P aspirations rather than thinking too much about the tech side (despite tech being vital for consumer P2P).
It'll be a few week's before we understand exactly what aspect of Paul Anderson and team's model wasn't working for them - not getting the customers? not getting enough P2P advantage to drive down the loss ratio? not getting the carrier support to move to the next stage of their growth? Likely some combination of the above.
I always like Guevara's energy. I'd never personally have placed something as important as my motor cover with a start-up but I don't believe I was the target audience. Trendy (but not profligate) offices near the river; confidence, but not arrogance. The type of start-up your mum would have been proud for you to join!
So, as we reminded ourselves yesterday at Market Mind's InsurTech Conference in Shoreditch, we're only a few years into this tech-enabled insurance revolution, and inevitably many of the early innovations will fall by the wayside. Let's hope that Paul and team take what they've learnt and come back with another bold idea soon.
Guevara launched in 2013 as a broker, allowing its customers to pool their premiums in order to get a lower price on their motor insurance premium.