Hiro is insurance for smart people. It lives on your mobile and speaks your language. It’s personalised, transparent and rewards you for taking care of your home and everything around you. It’s not an annual contract – it’s a monthly subscription that you can cancel at any time, with no cancellation fees, no admin fees, no nonsense. Hiro helps you prevent bad things from happening, by making it simpler to kit out your home with smart technology to detect problems and deter intruders, and providing useful hints and tips on how to look after your home.
And we reward you with discounts for using smart tech to make your home more safe and secure.
How did you come up with the idea for the company?
In short: because insurance is fundamentally broken! It feels like it’s stuck in the 90s. We live in a world where we can summon food or transport from the internet with a couple of swipes on a smartphone. We can order everything online and get it delivered the same day. We get instant mobile notifications when we spend money. We get instant recommendations for films or music that we like. Instant everything – it’s what we’re used to.
And yet dealing with insurers feels like pulling teeth. I co-founded an insurtech startup called Neos, back in 2015. At the time, I believed that the industry was about to change, and I had no time to waste. Everyone was talking about how technology such as smart devices, machine learning, chatbots, big data, mobile apps were going to transform the industry.
When, in 2018, I sold my equity in Neos to one of the largest European insurers, I felt the industry had finally woken up and all these massive technological changes were just around the corner. And then a year went by. And then another. And nothing changed!
So, a few months ago, I decided that it’s time to roll up my sleeves again and start another business in this space.
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What advice would you give to other aspiring entrepreneurs?
There are plenty of ideas but very few people execute them. Firstly, I would say focus on making things happen, and don’t just daydream about them.
There is a famous line that captures this: “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
Once you’ve decided what you want to do, laser focus on it. Don’t get tempted to work on multiple business ideas at the same time and, most importantly, learn how to say ‘No!’ to other tempting projects or requests.
What can we hope to see from Hiro in the future?
We have just completed a hugely successful crowdfunding round that raised over £2 million for Hiro. It’s amazing to have received so much support for our mission to transform the insurance industry.
I can’t currently talk about specific plans for the future as some of it is confidential. Suffice to say that the Hiro in my vision will become ‘self-driving insurance’. That’s when everything important to you is protected without you having to think about it. Watch this space.
