What is ITC?
Dave: InsureTech Connect is where the insurtech community across the globe meets in Vegas each year. There is always a star-studded lineup of speakers, from insurtechs, legacy carriers, technology partners, and investors. With so many speakers, you have options as to what you want to hear and what you get out of the conference. It is also a great opportunity to meet other founders, CEOs, and insurtech investors.
Why should someone go?
Dave: It is a great way to get inspired and meet a targeted audience. It is the who’s who of insurtech, so it is really who you want to meet. I feel like I get a better sense of what other companies are working on in the insurtech space when I walked away from the conference by listening to the themes the VCs are putting money into. This year I’m particularly looking to learn more about the MGA space and the resources around building an MGA from scratch. Our InsurTech ATX community has expressed a ton of interest in the resources around this, so it is one theme I will be paying attention to.
Favorite thing about ITC?
Dave: I loved watching a bunch of nerdy insurance people rocking out to Salt-N-Pepa a few years ago. I also love the edgy and interesting speakers. So many of the speakers have no limitations on their vision, such as Guy Goldstein from Next. I get inspired by people who make others prove why you can’t do something as opposed to why you should do something. It’s like the train is leaving the station, and it would take a lot to tell him why the train should stop as opposed to a train at rest waiting for clearance to get moving. Insurance is full of people still hanging out at the train station, so I really enjoy hearing from the visionaries.
We asked our followers on LinkedIn what they were looking forward to the most at this year’s ITC conference, and 100% said they were looking forward to gaining clients.
We also asked some of our InsurTech ATX community members to share some of their tips for attending the ITC Vegas 2023 conference:
Jennifer Carroll, CEO, Veruna
1. Must pack: Comfy Shoes (PROMISE you will get 10x your steps in)
2. Hottest meeting spot: Mandalay Bay Beach
3. Must have apps: Uber or Lyft: Paris and The Cosmopolitan are not within walking distance.
4. Trust us – Tech is cool, but sometimes those pesky QR codes don’t work – have a backup.
5. Must prep: Registering for the after parties – reach out to your network to ask who is sponsoring what, and make sure you are on the list!
6. For some of the more fun/cooler parties, they run out of capacity. Get there early!
Stephen Goldstein, Founder, TETRA G
1. Figure out whom you want to meet – and reach out to them now (you should have been doing one month ago!).
2. Plan, plan, plan – unless you want to have a fully serendipitous schedule, which I have done before at an ITC (and was quite fun). However, a serendipitous schedule is not advisable for first time attendees.
3. Put meetings in a calendar and get contact info. of the person you are meeting with in case you or they are running late.
4. Figure out which sessions you want to listen to (because there is some good content!).
5. Block out 1-2 hours to tour the expo hall – that should/could be your serendipity time to run into people/companies you didn’t plan to meet.
6. Try to plan a small breakfast/lunch/dinner with 4-5 close contacts/friends. All the networking can be exhausting and we all have a few close friends that will be there. The time you spend with them over an hour meal will be worth it.
7. Wear comfortable shoes – you will be logging 15k+ steps per day.
8. Bring a refillable water bottle.
9. Find a couple of meeting spots outside of the main conference area that you can meet people at that are not as crowded/loud. I would share mine, but I want to keep them quiet!
David Perez, Founder, Lumen Insurance Technologies
Bonus Tip: Set up your meetings but also build in unscheduled time. There are so many last minute opportunities that will pop up so have some flexibility.
