“It’s a real roller coaster,” says Peter as he describes his role as an entrepreneur heading the digital networking platform Insurercore. “It’s exciting but there’s more stress than I’d wish on my enemy.”
As founder and managing director of Insurercore, Peter’s seen his initial idea for a site that would help insurance professionals network and do business more effectively grow from lines of computer code to a fully-fledged digital platform used by firms and professionals across the insurance market. But it’s not always been a smooth ride.
“When I left my job to work on Insurercore full time, my partner had to leave the country a week later. The platform was half-built and, it turned out, had some very unusual coding. I then went with a company in India, who delivered a skeleton of the platform but reviewers said they’d never seen code like it. We decided we couldn’t use it and had to build it again, this time using a UK company. It wasn’t until we joined the Lloyd’s Lab – an incubator for tech start-ups – that we were able to fund-raise and bring in a team.”
Peter initially went into the insurance sector as an assistant underwriter but ultimately decided it wasn’t for him. He was more interested in the way in which insurance companies conducted their business and how their ability as networkers influenced how much business they won.
Today, he starts his morning by reviewing sales and checking on activity on the Insurercore platform. Next, he takes some time to work on the team’s latest outreach campaign to attract users. The team then hold a marketing meeting and then it’s time to work through a batch of emails that have come in. Next, Peter holds meetings, runs some demonstrations and may also speak to journalists. By mid-afternoon, he’s working on the development pipeline and reflects on the issues his team members are facing. Finally, it’s a 6pm wrap-up meeting and a plan for tomorrow.
“I attend a lot of conferences,” Peter says. “Lots of small talk and networking. Those are my favourite days. But equally you’ve got to deal with the bad news and put out the fires.”