Age of the MGA Podcast

Epizódok

• S2E16 | Why Distribution Breaks Before MGA Products Scale feat. TJ Olonilua, Accelerant 16.06.2026 1ó 19p

  A good insurance product does not automatically become a good business. That is one of the hardest lessons in the MGA world, especially when you are building in a new category, with a new buyer, a new problem, and a market that still needs to be educated. In this episode of The Age of the MGA Podcast, we sit down with TJ Olonilua from Accelerant for a practical conversation about distribution, platform leverage, vendor ecosystems, and what actually helps MGAs scale with more support around ...
• S2E15 | Why Delegated Authority Is Becoming Managed Authority feat. Sam Reeder 09.06.2026 40p

  Sam Reeder, CEO of Hadron Insurance, joins Age of the MGA live from Scout InsurTech Conference to talk about how modern program business is being built from the carrier side. This conversation surfaces a major operating shift: delegated authority is becoming more actively managed, more data-visible, and more tied to carrier balance sheet discipline than many MGA founders realize. This is not a general conversation about fronting or insurance startups. Sam explains why “trust but verify” is b...
• S2E14 | The Insurance Industry Gets Captives Completely Wrong feat. Matthew Queen 26.05.2026 1ó 12p

  Matthew Queen joins the Age of the MGA crew for one of the deepest operator conversations we’ve had on captives, alternative risk, claims accountability, and why MGA formation is often much closer to captive insurance than most people realize. Matthew breaks down how captives actually work operationally, why they change organizational behavior, and how claims visibility creates better operators. The conversation also dives into insurance regulation, the IRS, McCarran-Ferguson, founder networ...
• S1E13 | Building Verde: ESG Data, Lloyd’s Capacity, and MGA Discipline feat. James Pallett 14.05.2026 1ó 5p

  ESG has become one of the most loaded terms in business. Some hear it and think politics. Some hear it and think corporate window dressing. James Pallett hears something else entirely: A better way to underwrite risk. In this episode of Age of the MGA, James Pallett, Co-Founder of Verde Underwriting, joins Doug, Dylan, and Peter to unpack how Verde is building a specialty financial lines MGA around ESG data, Lloyd’s capacity, emerging risk, and disciplined underwriting. The key distinctio...
• S2E12 | From Business Plan to Binder: What It Really Takes to Launch an MGA | feat. Sam Knee-Robinson 29.04.2026 1ó 8p

  Sam Knee-Robinson experience spans across connecting insurance businesses, syndicates, MGAs, and emerging risk platforms with the capital and capacity they need to grow. In this conversation, he explains what actually happens behind the scenes when MGAs try to secure capacity, raise capital, and move from an idea into a real operating business. This episode is a serious conversation about one of the hardest parts of building an MGA: getting the structure, partners, credibility, and timing ri...
• S2E11 | Why the Best MGAs Will Survive the Soft Market feat. Joe Zuk, Altamont Capital Partners 07.04.2026 1ó 14p

  Joe Zuk is one of the most respected operators and investors in the MGA ecosystem. As Operating Partner at Altamont Capital Partners, he sits at the intersection of capital, execution, talent, and platform building across insurance and insurance services. In this conversation, he shares what actually separates durable MGAs from businesses that only looked good when the market was doing the work for them. This episode is a serious conversation about what really matters when you ar...
• Why MGAs Build What Generalist Brokers Can’t | S2E10 | Andrew Bate, Co-Founder & CEO of Velaris 30.03.2026 1ó 6p

  Andrew Bate joins Age of the MGA for a conversation about claims, specialization, and what it actually takes to build insurance around real business needs. This is a practical discussion about customer pain, niche program design, distribution constraints, and why MGAs can often build solutions that generalist brokers cannot. It is also a conversation shaped by Andrew’s experience at Safely and his current work with Velaris Insurance, where the focus is purpose-built coverage for professiona...
• Why Europe Is Still Harder to Scale for MGAs Than the U.S. | feat. William Pitt | S2E9 23.03.2026 1ó 8p

  William Pitt returns to Age of the MGA for a second conversation focused on the European MGA market and what it actually takes to build across it. This is a practical discussion about fragmentation, distribution, capacity, and why scale in Europe does not work the same way it does in the U.S. It is also a conversation about FAST, network effects, and the longer-term goal of a more integrated European insurance market. What This Episode Covers ✅ Why Europe is still a much harder market to sc...
• S2E8 | How Scout Built Something More Valuable Than Every Other InsurTech Event feat. Chris Luiz 17.03.2026 45p

  * Thank you to our sponsor: Register for the Scout Insurtech Conference at https://www.scoutinsurtech.com/conference and Save 10% with our coupon code "Age of the MGA 2026" Chris Luiz is the CEO of Scout, an insurance ecosystem platform built to connect carriers, brokers, investors, and early-stage companies in a more intentional way. In this episode, the conversation centers on what makes Scout different, how the conference has evolved, and why the real value goes far beyond a two-day...
• S2E7 | Most MGA Founders Build in the Wrong Order | Vivere on Speed, Systems, and Scale 10.03.2026 1ó 10p

  Most MGA launches take longer than they should. In this episode of The Age of the MGA Podcast, we sit down with Chris McKechnie and Dani Lefland from Vivere, a new E&S MGA building around an underwriting-first, tech-enabled model. We kicked off the conversation with Vivere’s partnership announcement with Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance and quickly turns into a deeper operator discussion about launch timelines, carrier diligence, core systems, underwriting talent, and claims ...
• S2E6 | You’re Not an MGA Yet: Legal Reality, AI Risk & What Founders Get Wrong | Greg Hoffnagle 03.03.2026 1ó 10p

  * Thank you to our sponsor: Register for the Scout Insurtech Conference at https://www.scoutinsurtech.com/conference and Save 10% with our coupon code "Age of the MGA 2026" In this episode of Age of the MGA, we sit down with Greg Hoffnagle, Partner at Holland & Knight LLP. Greg has spent two decades inside insurance law — working across regulatory, corporate, private equity, and insurtech transactions. He has advised early-stage innovators, scaling MGAs, and capital partners navig...
• S2E5 | Why the Real MGA Moat Isn’t Just Tech (And What Actually Is) feat. Tomer Kashi, Co-Founder & CEO 24.02.2026 1ó 5p

  In this episode of Age of the MGA, we sit down with Tomer Kashi, Co-Founder and CEO of SkyWatch and VOOM. Tomer shares how they built a specialty mobility MGA from scratch — starting in commercial drones and expanding into light aircraft and pay-per-mile motorcycle coverage. This is a builder’s conversation about focus, sequencing, and execution. What This Episode Covers ✅ Why they pivoted from selling tech to becoming the MGA themselves ✅ The structural difficulty of writing the first do...
• S2E4 | $500M in Losses and the Capacity Gap It Exposed. feat. Patrick Girouard, District Cover 18.02.2026 1ó 8p

  In this episode of Age of the MGA, we sit down with Patrick Girouard, Founder and CEO of District Cover. District Cover is focused exclusively on bringing stable insurance capacity back to America’s major cities — particularly neighborhoods that traditional markets have stepped away from. This conversation explores what it actually takes to underwrite markets others consider uninsurable. What You'll Discover: ✅ Why MGAs must either unlock unique distribution or bring non-commodity product...
• S2E3 | Why Most MGAs Get Hiring Wrong (and How It Quietly Kills Scale) feat. Alex Bond, FinPro 10.02.2026 1ó 3p

  If You’re Building an MGA, This Episode Might Save You 12–24 Months of Pain In this episode of The Age of the MGA Podcast, we sit down with Alex Bond, Founder of FinPro, one of the most trusted search partners in the global InsurTech and MGA ecosystem. Most MGAs don’t fail because of product, capital, or ambition. They fail because of early hiring mistakes. Wrong sequencing. Mispriced roles. Big-brand resumes that collapse under startup reality. And founders who underestimate how fast one...
• S2E2 | Distribution, Specialization, and Why Most MGAs Stall Early. feat. Rob Jacomen, Founder, ACL & Coveritas 03.02.2026 1ó 18p

  In this episode of Age of the MGA, the hosts turn the tables and interview Rob Jacomen. Rob has spent years advising MGAs, brokers, and founders on distribution and specialization. This conversation documents why he finally decided to build an MGA himself and what most people misunderstand about why MGAs actually struggle. This is not a product story. It is a distribution and systems story. What This Episode Covers: ✅ Why the broker channel was not prepared for the MGA explosion ✅ How ge...
• S2E1 | AI, Distribution, and the Real MGA Bottleneck No One Talks About feat. Kyle Geoghan, Indemn 26.01.2026 1ó 8p

  In this episode of Age of the MGA, we sit down with Kyle Geoghan, Founder & CEO of Indemn, to explore a different way of thinking about MGAs—one that prioritizes learning, distribution, and clarity before scale. Kyle shares how he built an MGA as a laboratory, not just a business, and what that unlocked along the way. What This Episode Covers: ✅ Using an MGA as a testing ground for distribution and workflows ✅ How AI lowers startup friction without replacing insurance expertise ✅ Why a...
• S1E19 | Target Markets Inside the Deal Room: Where MGAs Are Actually Built, Funded, and Scaled 15.01.2026 16p

  Most people think MGAs are built in boardrooms, pitch decks, or Slack channels. They’re not. They’re built in rooms like Target Markets. In this on-location mini-episode of The Age of the MGA, we go inside one of the most important deal-making events in specialty insurance to unpack what actually happens when programs get launched, capacity gets secured, and founders make real moves. This is not theory. This is not hype. This is the market, live. You’ll hear: ✅ Why Target Markets is fun...
• S1E18 | The MGA Reality Check: Blowing-Up a Product & Rebuilding When the Math Breaks (feat. Anansi) 19.12.2025 1ó 6p

  Most MGAs don’t fail because of underwriting. They fail because they misunderstand where risk actually lives, how hard insurance products are to rebuild, and what it really takes to make the economics work. In this episode of The Age of the MGA, we sit down with Megan Bingham-Walker, Founder of Anansi, to unpack one of the most honest MGA build stories we’ve featured. No pitch decks. No hype. Just the real work behind building — and rebuilding — an MGA. Megan breaks down why last-mile del...
• S1E17 | Why Most Aviation MGAs Fail...And How This Leader Rebuilt One Into a Market Force - feat. John Songin, President & CUO, Worldlink Specialty 19.11.2025 1ó 5p

  If You Run an MGA, This Might Be the Most Important Interview You Watch This Year In this episode of The Age of the MGA Podcast, we sit down with John Songin, President & CUO of Worldlink Specialty, the operator behind one of the most interesting and misunderstood niches in the specialty program world: Aviation MGAs. Most people see aviation underwriting as “too small,” “too technical,” or “too risky.” But they’re wrong. Behind the scenes, this MGA is quietly rebuilding a distre...
• S1E16 | The Hidden Value of Crisis Coverage: Selling Outcomes, Not Policies — feat. Charlie Hanbury 23.10.2025 1ó 9p

  Most MGAs sell policies. The great ones sell outcomes. In this episode of The Age of the MGA Podcast, Charlie Hanbury, Founder & CEO of Samphire Risk, reveals how he built one of the most innovative crisis-response MGAs in the market—by focusing on what truly matters when everything goes wrong: speed, expertise, and trust. From Somali piracy to active-assailant incidents, Charlie and the Samphire team have turned chaos into a repeatable system of clarity—proving that in specialty insura...