By Dr. Moritz Finkelnburg
Corona is the dominating topic in these days. Hard to write about anything else. Even harder to puta spotlight on one of the most fascinating developments of the last 3-4 years. Writing to you as an observer of the German InsurTech landscape (and actually as manager of a traditional German insurance company) I can hardly hide my astonishment and enthusiasm about the Israel startup scene. It is fascinating to see the spirit of innovation, the entrepreneurial power and – yes! – also your risk-ignorance in a positive meaning.
If you add the favourable regulatory and legal structure – Moshe Bareket knows what I am talking about – it is no wonder why Israel is one of the dominating InsurTech-nations. Congrats!!
However, that does not yet mean a hell of business in Germany. Yes, Israel-based InsureTechs are present on each significant InsurTech-conference in Europe, from DIA to NOAH, GIR, MOI or Insurance Innovators. Moshe, Kobi Bendelak and so many other great representatives are doing their absolute best to push innovative Israel-InsurTechs forward. But what are the key-factors for success? At least in Germany? There are some simple factors to obey:
First: Know your customer! Sounds easy but is tricky! A great solution does not help if you did not check your customers IT-system, recent situation and sales-structure! Otherwise you won’t get far…
Second: You have to speak German. Sounds terribly old-fashioned, I know. But you will never get along with the IT-guys of your customer, if you don’t speak their language. They feel insecure and won’t really understand your solution. This is simply a „knock-out-criteria“.
Third: Find the „weak-point“: Check the value-chain of your customer – Which is the point where you can provide him a real benefit? Or solve one of his major problems? Can you also quantify his savings if he applies your solution? Than it gets interesting…
I had four international InsurTechs calling me in the last weeks to do business with my company. None had checked our structure. None knew our IT-system. None knew our problems. Only one spoke – a bit – German. No chance to make business…
If you want to make business in Germany (and we are counting over 500 insurance companies with a quite low degree of digitization) keep those few points in mind. It might be stressy to follow them – but I can promise you a lot of business opportunities. Use the help of experienced company builders and investors such as Kobi & InsurTechIsrael for example to get prepared. It will be worth it. Good luck!
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Dr. Moritz Finkelnburg
Boardmember at BGV Insurance Group / Germany
Founder of Global InsurTech Roadshow
Academic Director at Goethe Business School / Frankfurt
