Matt Randall (CEO) and Maria Goy (COO) are the co-founders of Life by Spot, the tech startup offering a subscription, on-demand injury insurance that protects everyone from athletes and adventurers to families at home.
Matt is a seasoned and experienced serial entrepreneur with over 15 years in the startup, ventured-back space, and started his first company at the age of 16. Maria brings a wealth of insurance knowledge and global market perspective to Spot, where she leads operations, strategic product and platform development, and carrier partnerships.
Together, these two entrepreneurs have skill sets that bring the perfect balance of risk-taking, organization, and heart to disrupt the world of insurance. They hope to make it a more affordable and honest business and industry, where people can begin to live their life to the fullest, without worrying about unexpected and hefty medical bills.
This Episode’s Heavy-hitter’s:
- “I have the fondest respect for people that never raised capital,” Matt explains raising funds as a double-edged sword. He further explains that “constraint breeds creativity” meaning that the double-edged sword could be having the funds to do whatever you want, but not really challenging yourself to be innovative as a result.
- When Matt and Maria each took a personality test, they found that there were actually zero overlaps in their traits. Lesson learned-- find someone who complements your strengths!
- Maria thought she would always be in corporate America prior to starting Spot-- especially because she had moved around a ton as her father served as a Green Beret growing up, and she was ready for more stability. It wasn’t until she realized the level of change that she could affect in starting her own company that she decided to leave and pursue entrepreneurship.
- Maria and Matt are all about efficiency-- they’re tired of the “meetings before the meeting” and try to optimize people’s time and take advantage of that quick pace to get ahead quicker.
- In the early stages of Spot, they branded a little too heavily to the extreme sports segment of their target consumer. Now, they’re branding as the first insurance company that encourages all of their customers to be active and live life.
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2:19 - Connection history
3:22 - Parents in the Special Forces
3:43 - Lessons learned from Dad
5:40 - Core Competencies / Common Thread
6:22 - Open to New Possibilities
7:39 - Key learning from large companies
9:08 - Where did the idea came from
11:18 - Investment in a startup
14:08 - What makes Spot different
17:15 - Customer/Audience base
18:26 - Segmentation criteria
19:20 - How to make your brand stand out
20:52 - Biggest Hurdle in building Spot
22:42 - Secret sauce to be successful
24:10 - Advantage of having a friendly connection
26:05 - Hiring and Building culture
29:20 - Go-to Interview Questions
31:25 - Questions for Potential Team Members
33:40 - Leadership Role
35:18 - Next Milestone
36:25 - Single Greatest Piece of Advice
37:47 - Matt and Maria's North Star