RiskCellar

Most of the market fights hard and soft cycles with the same four tools: raise rates, add exclusions, cut sublimits, or walk away. Cam Serigne, founder and CEO of Bluefields Specialty, took a different route. On this episode of RiskCellar, hosts Brandon Schuh and Nick Hartmann sit down with Cam to talk about bending the risk curve instead of just pricing it.Cam traces the path from Wake Forest football and a brief NFL run to private equity, and then to a stressed-out boat rental owner in South Florida who blamed all his problems on insurance. That conversation became vQuip and now Bluefields, a tech-enabled MGA writing sports, outdoor rec, powersports, micromobility and entertainment risks.What producers will take away:Why insuring the renter or rider, not just the business, takes the adversarial incentive out of a claimHow participant policies and instant incident reporting “shorten the tail of long-tail lines”Micromobility coverage, California’s AB 371, and where the space goes after dockless scootersWhy underwriting workbenches will be table stakes, and why the real edge is loss-control techHow a specialty MGA picks its spots in a softening casualty marketSpecialization, limited distribution, and why producers should stay close to their underwritersWhat a good submission looks like, and why underwriters want incident reports, not silencePlus the usual detours: bold Napa cabs, mustaches, and a breathalyzer pitch from Nick.Thanks to our sponsors FreeFlow (freeflow.ai), Imperial PFS (ipfs.com) and Coverflow (coverflow.com).Wine, insurance, and zero fluff. That’s RiskCellar. More episodes at riskcellar.com.

Brandon Schuh and Nick Hartman talk with Chris Moore, chief underwriting officer at ibott, and Ted Pike of Conscilium about how the London insurance market is approaching autonomous vehicle insurance and artificial intelligence risk.Chris explains why structured and ART (alternative risk transfer) deals tend to be all-or-nothing for both sides, and why Lloyd’s of London can afford to back autonomy when US carriers risk cannibalizing their own personal and commercial auto books. He also makes the case that the expected and intended injury exclusion creates a quiet gap in AI liability coverage.Ted covers the broker’s role as educator in emerging risk placements and how quickly he can spot an AI-written submission.The episode closes with the launch of iBot America, which will write primary autonomous auto coverage in the US.No wine today, but some strong coffee was had.Topics: autonomous vehicle insurance, AI liability insurance, AI risk, London market, Lloyd’s of London, specialty insurance, insurtech, structured insurance, alternative risk transfer (ART), underwriting, expected and intended injury exclusion, insurance coverage gaps, broker submissions, emerging risk, self-driving cars, robotaxis, primary auto liability, MGAGuests: Chris Moore (ibott), Ted Pike (Conscilium)Hosts: Brandon Schuh, Nick Hartman

A conversation with Akash Samant, Co-Founder and CEO of Coverflow — the AI startup using machine learning to eliminate the back-office grind at commercial insurance agencies. We get into policy checking, proposal automation, Applied Epic integration, and what it actually takes to sell AI to an industry that runs on trust.Plus our Max Revenue Monday news briefings: breaking down the voluntary dismissal in the Macy’s/Aon employee benefits class action, the Corgi/Golden consolidation play, what WithCoverage means for how consumers shop for coverage, and a Recall of the Week that every product liability underwriter should hear.RiskCellar. For the people who actually work in risk.

In this episode, Brandon and Nick dig into the latest survey from the Big I and why it's looking at the industry through rose-colored glasses without telling the whole story. Then they break down Meta's new Muse, an AI agent that can send your emails, chase down answers on your behalf, and shop your insurance for you. Is this the end for personal lines agents? Finally, we sit down with Ilia Pinchuk, founder and CEO of Diceus, to talk about where AI is taking insurance software. Ilia explains why Diceus charges based on outcomes instead of per seat, how brokers can cut down on the everyday friction of legacy systems, and why enterprise AI needs guardrails and a clear audit trail when one mistake could mean issuing the wrong coverage. Nick was drinking Clase Azul tequila. He said Michaela bought it for their 12th anniversary because its blue-and-white colors reminded her of where they got married in Santorini. Brandon was drinking Laphroaig Quarter Cask Scotch, his favorite Scotch.

In this episode, Brandon and Nick sit down with Taylor Chafin (Imperial PFS) and Chase Courtney (AndDone!) to break down how premium finance can become a real revenue stream for producers and agency owners, not just a convenience for insureds. They cover buy rate vs. sell rate, how agency fees can be built into the APR, state by state markup rules, and why building a relationship with your premium finance rep matters more in a softening market where everyone is shopping down payments. They also dig into how AnDunn is consolidating payments and premium financing into a single link and infrastructure so producers stop chasing down separate systems.