Melissa Collett, CEO @ Insurtech UK

Hello everyone, welcome back to The Graduate Guide. Today I'm joined by Melissa. Melissa is the CEO of InsurTech UK. Welcome to the show, Melissa.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you so much for coming on. I think the perfect place to start would be just for all of the listeners out there, who are curious about this, what does a day-to-day look like for a CEO?

So, the CEO, the buck stops with you.

Yeah.

So, you are really running the show. You've got to make thing, everything, make sure everything's going to plan and deal with things as they arise. So, there's just constant challenges. Every single day there's something new. I mean, yesterday I was at an all-day event I was networking, everything's going well. On my way home from that event, on the train, I get an email which is like, "Oops, big change." So that was something I had to address today. So you've got to be resilient and be prepared to sort of take the rough with the smooth, cope with challenges, don't get flustered under pressure. These are all clichés, right? But I think it really holds true if you're in a leadership role.

I love that. And throughout your journey, is there any tips, any tactics that you've learned that have allowed you to be more resilient, deal with stress better, not be flustered under pressure? Because I think for students listening, it's also relevant, right?

I think students, you know, everybody's got different pressures at different times in their life. And so when I was a student, you know, being, you know, an essay deadline looming was just as stressful as sort of some of the things I tackle now, but it's just in a different way. So how do you cope with those stresses? I think Everything for me, it's like an experience. So everything that you— that you're faced with, you can sort of put into perspective. But even as a student, you have experience because you are going to be 18, 19, 20, 21 years old. So you can, you know, think back on your school career and say, "Well, yes, you know, I had deadlines, I had really big exams, but I coped with it. I got over that challenge." So trying to sort of think back to times where you coped well, I think really helps you you cope under pressure.

No, I love that. So it's kind of, I guess, having those almost experiences that you can reflect on of proving to yourself that you can actually get through these tough times and then also keeping a positive mindset throughout.

Yeah, and I can— I've got some recent experiences because my son and daughter have just been through the whole university period. So, you know, I'm constantly sort of coaching them when they come up against challenges. And that's exactly what they do is, you know, they sort of— my daughter, for example, has just done her finals and she's, you know, she just remembered, you know, there were A-levels.

Yeah.

And she got through those with flying colors. So all those sort of dips and difficulties you have, I know it's easy to say, you know, some people find it really, really challenging to cope with what life throws at you, but Again, you've got this far, remember that, and just look ahead.

I think that's actually a really, really interesting and good point because I think often as you're progressing throughout your career, you fail to be grateful for how far you've come. And yeah, you never really reflect on how stressed you were during A-levels or during your university exams. So no, I think that's a really great point. And so with regards to your journey so far, becoming CEO of InsurTech Insight— InsurTech UK, sorry— What was the process? What was the journey like? What kind of moments and stage of your career really stand out as to forming you into the person you are today and kind of allowing you to be in this position?

Let's see. I would say, so going through my career, I think that the key points of my career progression really rest on networking.

Yeah.

So I wouldn't have got into this role had I not been networking with the right people. So when the opportunity came up, I was in the right place at the right time, but that's not about luck. That is about actually building your network all throughout your career, always thinking, you know, what do I want to do next? Um, and, and it's not an idle thought. It's something you should sort of act upon and think about, well, if I want to do something So let's say, going back to my very early career, I started out in law. I was a solicitor and I was with a firm and I was thinking about what am I doing, you know, where am I going? Am I going to continue in this firm, maybe go, you know, on to become a partner one day, or do I want to look at something different? And I had a— luckily in my sort of network of friends, I had somebody who was doing something different, had a law degree, had a legal background, but they were— were actually working for the Financial Ombudsman Service, and they were talking about their role, which was actually not acting as a lawyer for one side, but deciding decisions about cases that came to them. And I thought, you know what, that sounds so interesting, I'd love to do that. So I was networking with my friend, if you like, and so it wasn't very conscious, but the fact of the matter was that when a job came up at that organization, my friend was able to tell me because they knew my interests and they said there's a job coming up. And actually there was something in it for them as well, because a lot of organizations run incentive schemes for existing staff if they can bring in someone good from outside. So I think, so that's how I ended up getting that job.

It's essentially creating your own opportunity, but through networking.

And so I would, I'm going to keep going back to this point during this interview about building your network from day one. It starts at university. And, well, I mean, it can even start at school, right? But if the people listening to this are at uni already, it starts at uni and it just continues all throughout your career. And it's thinking about, you know, who is in your network and, you know, are they interesting? Maybe you should spend more time with them, find out more about what they're doing, and then let them know that you're interested and then see where that goes. Who can they introduce you to, or can they alert you to opportunities that arise? And I can give a few more examples of this in my career.

Now, I love that. The one thing I want to touch on there is you mentioned about kind of spending more time with certain people that you find interesting. So I think that often a misconception with networking amongst students— I definitely made the same mistake— is just to network, you just need to reach out to more people on LinkedIn and have a bigger set of connections. In reality, it's more than that, right? It's also about kind of building those relationships with them. How would you recommend students go about that?

Yeah, again, I would, you know, start small, you know, just think about your own friendship group that you already have. Who is in that network that is actually someone who's sort of doing things in their career that are interesting, or not in their career, but like, say they've applied for an interesting master's program, or let's say they've got an internship that looks good. You know, can you use that immediate group that you have to help you find a role that interests you, whether it's a summer job or a placement or a piece of work experience? You know, what about their parents? Is there anyone, you know, in that sort of one-step-further group that you know who has an opportunity? So that's the kind of starting point, and then look further afield. Look at your tutors. Are any of your tutors have their own internship opportunities or experiences, or are they working on a project that you can somehow get involved in? So you've got that, you have an existing network. Everybody has a network. So it's just about looking at it in a slightly different way around your own interests and then thinking about what's the next stage out of that network. So if that network, you've exhausted those opportunities, which I doubt everybody has actually, but once you you have, and you think, well, no one in my network is, you know, making documentary films. I wanna learn about that. Then it's about asking your network, do you guys, does anyone know anyone who's doing film? And someone might say, oh yeah, my friend in another college or in another part of the unis is doing that. And then you say, oh, well, can you introduce me? Maybe we can meet up and just have a chat about that. And so that's how you use your network to grow your network and find other opportunities elsewhere.

It's so true, actually, the point that you made there about everyone having a bigger network than they realize, because especially for all the students listening now, a lot of which you will be at university, you don't only have all the people that currently study at your university who are within your network you can easily connect with on LinkedIn, and I'm sure they'd be willing to chat to you, but also all of the alumni. You can reach out to them, right? And they're such—

we haven't even scratched that surface, right? You've got that amazing alumni network. And again, I don't think— I mean, look, all of these things I'm saying I've learned through a long time experience. When I was at uni, I had no clue. I didn't even think about alumni. But you can go along to your career centre, right? And just say, well, I'm interested in going into, I don't know, investment banking. Who, which alumni are in investment banking? And they should have a list and they should connect you.

Yeah, no, I love that. I think everyone listening should do that. I'm definitely going to do this as well when I go away. It's not actually leveraging the network I have already more. Just coming back back to your journey as a whole throughout your career, are there any major mistakes that stand out as really pivotal moments in your career that you learned a lot from?

Yeah, my major mistake was staying at one job for too long.

And how long was, was you at that job?

11 years.

Okay. And what was the, the mistake, would you say, in staying for so long?

Well, I mean, look, you know, um, in the past, you know, people stayed at often people stayed in one organization, you know, for their entire career. And it wasn't uncommon back in the day. But I think career progression comes from moving around, getting different experiences, and being in different places. And so I think for me, my time horizon is now like 5 years. I wouldn't stay longer than 5 years. That's the kind of mentally, that's the kind of time limit I put on an experience. I think younger people now, are like looking at 2-year experiences. I suppose there's a balance to strike because how much can you achieve in less than 2 years that's meaningful that you can then take to your next employer? And I think some employers question people who move around too much. So there's a balance to be struck. But going back to my own experience, I think that— I think that when you're looking at your organization and you think, oh, I really want to get to this point, I want to progress and become this manager or this head of, and you just stay there. If you don't get that promotion, I think it's time to move on. Don't wait and wait and wait and wait and wait for the promotion that doesn't come. If you want challenge, go outside the organization. That's what I would say.

So I guess there's two elements to unpick there. Firstly, it's the side of not leaving before you've achieved stuff and making sure you've achieved enough to then be able to take that to your next employer. But also, once you stop growing as an individual and once you can't progress any further or learn anymore, then it's time to just kind of call it quits and go to a new challenge.

But, you know, it's difficult to do that, right? I mean, you know, if you have like, like, like at that time I had two young children under five, there was family pressure, you know, it was much easier to just stay put, not job search. Job searching is very time-consuming.

Yeah.

It's very, you know, it can be stressful when you have to attend interviews and, you know, it's just one more thing on your to-do list. So I can understand why people who are just, you know, they're doing okay, just stay on.

It becomes easy to just kind of stay in that comfort zone.

It's inertia factor, right? But I'm just like kicking myself because I think I could have progressed and gotten to my, you know, a leadership role much more quickly if I'd moved sooner. That's what I'm trying to say.

Yeah, no, I love that. I think, like you said, for students, it's not necessarily that, It's always going to be easy, but it's good to have that thought in the back of the mind to plant that seed that when they are in those positions, they can hopefully reflect on that and think more about that. So when it comes to InsurTech UK then, just first for the listeners, would you be able to explain a bit more about what the company does, what you guys do on, I guess, a day-to-day basis?

Absolutely, sure. So InsurTech UK is a trade association that's dedicated to InsurTechs. So that begs the question, what are InsurTechs? So insurtechs are companies that provide tech solutions to insurance problems. So insurance is an industry with a long and strong heritage in the UK. It's been in existence since, you know, over 300 years, since Lloyd's Coffeehouse, you may have heard of, which is now today Lloyd's of London, is where the first sort of marine insurance contracts were placed just between guys having a coffee together. And it grew from there. So there's a— the UK insurance sector, you know, it's worth trillions to the UK economy. It's a massive, massive part of the economy. Possibly students aren't that much aware of it. Maybe they think of financial services, they think of banking, but insurance is, you know, pretty much on par with banking in terms of its in terms of the size of its economic contribution, in terms of the number of people working in the field. It's estimated around 400,000 people work in insurance. But then again, as I said, insurance, it has a long heritage and it has a lot of traditions. But we're living in a world which is totally digital. And a lot of insurance companies haven't yet adapted fully to the potential of AI, of data analytics, and all the new technology that's coming out today. So the insurtech companies are companies that are disrupting this sector. They're creating new types of insurance. Insurance, for example, for drivers of— Uber drivers, you know, who previously couldn't get traditional insurance because they were driving in a different way. Also, you know, talking about the gig economy, we have InsurTechs that cater for Airbnb hosts. Again, it's not your traditional insurance of, you know, somebody insuring their house because these people, they don't necessarily, you know, they're not living there. So How does that work with traditional insurance? So it's about new markets, untapped, you know, underrepresented areas of COVID using technology like AI to just totally automate the experience. Another thing that I will mention that's interesting is parametrics. So this is a fabulous word. What does it mean? It means using data to automatically trigger a result, an outcome. So to give an example, there's flooding is obviously a big problem all around the world. So one of our InsurTechs developed a device, a sensor that goes into the ground and when floodwaters are rising and hit a certain part of the sensor, it triggers an actual claim payment.

Wow.

So if you're a business and you want to protect, for example, your basement from flooding, this is a way of getting an instant lump sum cash payment payout in the event that the worst happens.

I guess without that, it would have took a long time to get that payout.

Of course, in the past you could get insurance for that, but between the event happening, which is the flood water rising, and getting that money in the bank, there's a long, tedious, painful process to go through. This just eliminates all of that and makes it much simpler, easier, and quicker. So I like to use that example as well of showing how technology can really innovate you know, important products like insurance that protects all of us against the unforeseen, but just makes it that much easier.

No, I love that. As a startup person myself, it all sounds very exciting. For all of the students out there listening who are maybe intrigued about the space of insurtech, who, like you said, maybe have never previously come across the space, why would you recommend that to them that they should consider a graduate career in the space at one of maybe the trade association companies?

So I neglected to mention that as a trade association, we have over 100 insurtech companies in the association, which represents a good chunk of the insurtech sector in the UK, which is estimated at about 280 companies in total. So that is, you know, it's a lot of companies. A lot of them are small, some of them are scaling up, and they're And some of them are quite successful and they're now unicorns and they're worth over a billion. So that's, you know, that's a massive company, right? So there's a big range of these kinds of companies. But why would this interest a graduate? Well, because it's a really entrepreneurial area of financial services to get into. It's using tech in new ways. It can be very well remunerated if you get in there early in this company when it's small and you have share options and, you know, the company grows and then you grow with that company, you know, financially. And some people are making a fortune. You know, we all know about tech startups. I mean, some of our biggest companies in the world today started as, you know, very small tech companies and look where they are now. You know, I'm talking about the Amazons, the Googles, the Microsofts, and all of that of the world. So it's a really exciting, innovative space to be in. And if you're smart and entrepreneurial, you know, you can go really far. Forget the word insurance. You don't need to know about insurance necessarily.

Yeah.

So if you're a graduate in another area, or a student in another area, but you're really interested in business and in tech, you know, this could be an area to get involved in. I know a lot of people like that who are not— they don't have an insurance background, but they have a tech background, or they have some other background. Maybe they're, you know, they know something about marketing, or they know something about, um, you know, just setting up a business, or they just have a great idea. They're really enthusiastic. If you find people who can bring all the skills to the table, you know, you join forces with them, you can make something great out of it.

Yeah, no, I love that. I think often actually for students that may be listening or students I interact with, there's often a bit of a feeling that there's a distinction between either working at a startup or working at a larger corporate, when in reality what you've just discussed there is exactly the case that actually there's a cross-section where not only can you explore your interest in finance or insurance, but you can also work alongside tech and work in a very fast-moving, fast-growing company. So actually, it sounds like a great intersection for those that are listening that maybe are really interested in a career in finance, but also somewhat entrepreneurial who want to explore the space a bit further. I guess just for the students listening, just for those that may be now considering a career in this space, what skills, what attributes, what kind of, I guess, mentality would you say is needed to excel in these type of companies?

I talked about entrepreneurship.

Yeah.

I talked about resilience earlier in the interview. I talked about having huge enthusiasm and appetite for hard work. I talked about having some knowledge that you can bring to the table about some aspect of business. So I mentioned marketing. I mean, there are a lot of students studying marketing right now. I've never studied marketing. I don't know one iota about marketing. So I, you know, if I was in a startup, I'd love to have someone who's, you know, studied this marketing and maybe had some work experience in marketing who could come along and just help me along. So, you know, any kind of business skill that you can bring to the table is valuable. Now, if you combine that with some understanding of financial services, you know, understanding of banking, how banking works, how insurance works, how payments work, how investments work. If you can bring to the table some knowledge and some experience in those areas through, again, through some work experience that you've gained, you know, absolutely brilliant. You'd be, you know, that would be a great asset. But actually thinking about this again, you know, taking a step back, I honestly think in all my years of, you know, hiring people. Having knowledge is probably secondary to just being a really go-getting person. Like, if you have the right mentality, you're really motivated to learn as much as possible and work super hard and really, really, you know, and just use your street smarts and common sense to kind of graft and build something, then I think you'll get a job anywhere, really, if you can demonstrate that.

I think that's a great point. So in terms of that, in terms of that go-getter attitude, how would you recommend students actually get that across in their initial application? Because of course, when they start working at the company, they can really kind of showcase that. When it comes to applications, how would you recommend they actually kind of demonstrate that or make the person hiring have the impression that they're a go-getter?

Yeah, good point. I'm just thinking back to my own CV back in the day. Again, I think as students you sort of think you're only at the start of the journey, but actually you're not. You have life experience up to the point that you are, you know, let's say you're turning 20, 21, you're looking at leaving university. So I do think that if you are a natural go-getter, you would have demonstrated this from an early age, right? You would have been, you know, setting up a small business, you know, a lemonade stand, I don't know. You would have been, you know, going to festivals and working at various festivals, or you would have been, you know, doing work experience in a hospital, or Whatever, you've gone out and done something. It doesn't really matter what, but the fact that you've got some experience somewhere, somehow demonstrates a go-getting attitude. The more you have of that, the more I would look at that and say, "Oh yeah, this person's put themselves out and done something interesting." That demonstrates the go-getting. Whereas, in contrast, if you're just like, "I did my A-levels, I've got my degree, I studied really hard," but no work experience, no internships, no like paid work, employment, nothing, just the studying. Nah, I don't think that cuts the mustard.

So, so that would be a kind of key, key tip, I guess, for students to really stand out in the application is really making sure you have a wide range of different experiences, unique experiences, and then leveraging that within the CV and the application itself.

Yeah, yeah. And I think most students have this. Yeah. But it's how you describe it, right? So if you worked in a summer camp, how is that relevant to InsurTech? Well, make it relevant. Maybe you were actually running the website for the summer camp. Maybe you came up with a bright idea and managed to increase the number of campers that came to the camp. Or maybe you were working with kids who are somehow disadvantaged, but you managed to help them have a great summer. I don't know what it is, but show me how you made a difference.

Yeah, no, it's so true that you say that actually, because I think often, yeah, students feel like they need to have this wealth of really professional experience when in reality, especially in the startup space, my experience has been like you said earlier, as long as you have a skill that that person, that company needs right now and you can showcase you have that and you can showcase the right attitude, they're going to give you an opportunity. And then from there you can create far more opportunities internally anyway. Um, so yeah, I completely agree. I think it's a case of just looking through and thinking back to your experience and thinking, okay, how can I spin this to make it somewhat interesting for the person reading the CV? And not, I guess, just creating a set CV and using that to apply for every single role, because then it won't be relevant.

That's totally out the door. Yeah, I would say, um, again, I think I did that.

I think we all did at some stage, because it's the easy way, right?

You just do one CV and you just, you know, mailshot it out. To as many employers as possible. Well, if they're all the same type of employer, which is, you know, in my case it was like law firms I was applying, I didn't tweak it that much, but obviously I would tweak it if the law firm was more interested in corporate law versus, you know, personal injury or whatever, you know, different types of law there was. I tried to tweak it, but if you're trying for different— a whole different sectors, you've really got to do more work. You've got to have probably different CVs for each sector you're applying to. And the covering letter is also key. Yeah, you, you've got to spend time on that and tailor it. Um, and again, uh, name dropping helps.

Yeah, I was gonna actually come to this. How important do you think networking is in terms of kind of getting those graduate roles and getting a job in general?

It's absolutely critical. I think, you know, the perfect CV, the perfect cover letter is not going to be as valuable as saying, "Oh, and I was chatting to your colleague, um, John the other day, um, and, and he thought I should speak to you." I mean, the minute I see John's name, I'm like, "Oh, you know John? How on earth does he know John?" And, you know, I'm hooked from that point onwards, and I want to meet this person. Now, I actually have to because John said I have to meet him, essentially, you know. It creates that obligation.

How senior would you say the person has to be that you, you network with to be able to kind create that reaction? Does it have to be someone that's very senior that's maybe working as part of the management team or the leadership team, or could it just be another graduate that you connect with and kind of speak to them about, and then maybe name-drop them in, in your cover letter saying how you spoke to this person who works as a graduate at the company and you learned so much about the culture and all this, and that kind of made you want to apply? Would that still have the same effect, would you say?

Yeah, I think it depends on the job. Um, if that person is a real go-getter and is doing well in that, in that role, Then if you say, "Oh yeah, I'm great mates with so-and-so," then, you know, they think, "Oh, more of the same then, great." But then again, if your friend is not so, you know, I don't know how you would know this, but, you know, it depends where— how your friend is perceived, their reputation. Obviously, the more senior you can get, I would say, you know, that's helpful because if somebody's peer, if you're— if you're— if you're— if you're applying for a job and you reference the person's peer, then that holds a lot of credibility rather than someone below them.

Yeah, of course.

Okay, but— but if there's someone below them with— with— with who's doing well and is respected, then I think it still is really, really helpful.

Yeah, no, I love that. In terms of— in terms of connecting with those more senior professionals, one thing that is often shared in terms of advice about networking is to always kind of get across the benefit that you can give this person, the kind of value you can give through connecting with this person. I think an issue that as a younger person you come across is, how do I offer value to this person, especially if they're more senior, they're really experienced? How would you recommend to students how they go about actually networking with more senior individuals who are much more experienced, much more successful already?

Yeah, I'm just trying to think of sort of examples like I mean, just this week, um, I was chatting to somebody who is a student. So they're working for another company within our association. And, um, and, and that, that, that I was meeting with the, this company and they said, yeah, we've got this really good student working for us. Doing an internship. And I said, "Really? I need an intern. When do they finish?" So, it's kind of like, for me, if that student reached out to me, it's just the fact that they're willing and able to help me out for a couple of weeks, that could be enough.

Yeah.

Because companies always need someone kind of hands-on doing stuff. There's always something to be done. Right? So, if you're just this bright person, you can come along and do practically anything.

Yeah.

So, I think that's what students need to remember. Sometimes it's just— you just need another hand on deck.

Yeah.

I suppose a good analogy is like the election. Imagine you, you know, a month ago you went along to the Labour Party and said, "Hey, I'm happy to volunteer." They'd be like, "Great," you know, and they'll just point you at something and say, "Go off and do that." If you think of companies like an election campaign, companies often go through these periods where they're really busy, and you wouldn't be applying to a company that's really slow.

Yeah.

And had nothing to do, right? I mean, in a way you wouldn't. So if you think of a company just constantly just needs all hands on deck, if someone comes along and say, "I am happy to help. I'm happy to be a, you know, a crewmate, they're gonna bite your hand off.

Yeah, I think it's all about just, just taking the shot and just reaching out and then seeing where you can go from there. Unfortunately, we are kind of running out of time, so I want to move on to the final question that I love to ask.

And I hope I'm getting through on the microphone here.

Yeah, no, it should be all good. Um, but yeah, I want to move on to the final question, which is, what is your number one piece of advice to all students listening today that you want them to take away from this interview?

Number one piece of advice is back to networking. Don't wait to start networking now. Network before you even think you need to network. Don't be afraid to network. Don't be scared of the word. The word just means using your contacts to help you progress, and it runs both ways. Can you help your contacts, um, with their careers?

Yeah.

And it's about having that mentality that everyone you meet is somehow, you know, can help you in your journey in life. It might not even be your career journey. It might be a different journey you're on, you know, to become a marathon runner eventually in your free time. You might meet someone who's excellent at running, but they need a running partner. Can you be that person? So it's just thinking about going through life and people who are doing interesting things. How can I connect with them? How can I help them? And then how can they help me eventually.

I love that. I think that's a great way to wrap up. Thanks so much again for coming on the show, Melissa.

Pleasure.

Thank you.