We’re back with our second edition of the monthly round-up where we highlight the best of what’s going on in the world (and our office). Here is (almost) everything you need to know about what happened in July.
INSURANCE
⅕ of all business get sued by a current or former employee. Read up and be prepared.
Thinking about getting into the rideshare space? Hired/non-owned auto insurance is an important coverage you need to know about.
We’re happy to announce that our very own Kyle Jeziorski has been promoted to manager of our broking team! If you need quotes, Kyle and our broking team have your back.
We’ve just become a coverholder of Lloyd’s of London, which means we can now underwrite policies in-house. This means upgraded policies and faster turnaround for all of our clients. More to come on that shortly.
Eric was competing in the Lacrosse World Games this past month making some big saves in goal for the Israeli National Team. We’re proud of you Eric!
We run a monthly “Lunch & Learn” program where we order in some tasty local grub while one of the team feeds our minds with knowledge. We have quite a diverse skill set amongst the team so the topics vary from Salesforce tips, blogging, AMA’s to how to conduct interviews. Last month we did something a little different by doing a Q3 goals update from each department.
The premise of this was to make sure everyone is aware of the priorities and targets of each department. As new hires and teams are rapidly on-boarded, they might not understand exactly how the business functions, which I think many high growth companies can relate to.
We feel this level of transparency across teams can only increase our productivity and speed and get ourselves out of our own way.
Early signs point to the Q2 Review format being a success. We tested a new system in which each employee gets a 1-4 star rating based on our 5 principles. Feedback has been positive in that people were better able to understand their manager’s feedback. We’ll continue to tweak, but I think we’re on to something here.
PROGRESSIVE DINNER
We did a team event progressive dinner that was a blast! 5 groups, 5 different restaurants, 1 meetup bar afterward. Hell of a Wednesday.
Stay cool out there Startupland.
Carl Co-Founder & COO
Client Spotlight
Every month we like to feature some of our awesome, innovative clients in our monthly roundup and newsletter (you can sign up here if haven’t already).
Mish Guru is a full-service storytelling suite for Snapchat and Instagram Stories that scales content teams, quickly.
Over one billion Stories are created on Snapchat and Instagram every single day. For the past four years, Mish Guru has been helping brands like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Spotify tap into their real Stories, on the channels where their audiences are paying attention.
Ephemeral storytelling channels are content hungry and chaotic, and the people who work as marketers in the space deserve a freakin’ medal. So, Mish Guru created incredible software instead. If you’re looking for help telling your brand’s story, contact Mack Delany at mack@mish.guru.
MK Decision (MK) provides cloud-based, Credit Card Origination Systems (CCOS) to Banks and Credit Unions. Hosted on the AWS Cloud, their software provides customizable risk scoring based on the Bank or Credit Union’s internal underwriting guidelines and internal risk assessment. Banks and Credit Unions leverage MK’s software automation solutions to extend credit instantly to customers, prevent fraud, and strengthen compliance.
Creative Market empowers creators to make their ideas a reality with more than 2.4 million handcrafted fonts, graphics, photos, and tools to inspire their projects. Every year, millions of customers use Creative Market to bring their creative vision to life with ready-to-use design content from independent creators around the world. Assets available on Creative Market are used thousands of times per day to create everything from small business flyers to Fortune 500 mega campaigns.
Top Blog Posts of the Month
What is Hired and Non-Owned Auto Insurance?
Does your business rent or hire vehicles? You should know about Hired and Non-Owned Auto Insurance. We break down who needs it and why. Read the full post…
My Employee Is Suing Me. What Should I do?
1 in 5 businesses gets hit with a lawsuit from a former or current employee. We discuss the various types of employee lawsuits and actions businesses should take to reduce the risk of being sued. Read the full post…
News
Uber Scooters? – The ride-hailing giant announced its investment in Lime, one of the two leading dockless scooter and bike rental companies as part of a $335M round led by Google’s venture-capital arm. As part of the deal, Uber will let users rent Lime scooters directly in the Uber app and co-brand all of Lime’s vehicles with the Uber logo.
Prime Day – Got off to a shaky start…customers couldn’t reach the prime page and errors appeared on checkout, but this didn’t stop Amazon blowing analysts $3.4bn sales forecast out of the water. According to Wedbush Securities, global sales for Prime Day reached an astonishing $4.2bn in the 36 hour period. Oh, and Jeff Bezos is now the richest man in “modern history”. What would you do with $150bn?
Facebook’s Rocky Q2– Facebook’s stock fell off a cliff last week after releasing their Q2 earnings report. It was the largest one-day loss in market value (almost $120 billion) by any company in U.S. stock market history, despite that fact that earnings per share were up 32% YoY. Why such a drop? The real issue is user growth and revenue forecasts. Facebook warned revenue growth could slow “meaningfully” (I wonder how long they brainstormed what word to describe the forecast).
U.S. Economy– GDP grew at a 4.1% annual rate in Q2. Trump said whenever GDP has a “4” in front of it, there’s plenty of reason to cheer. However, it’s important to understand what makes up the number. One-time factors like a surge in exports ahead of upcoming tariffs and tax cuts mean that the 4.1% is unlikely to be repeated. Taking this into account, we could see GDP growth land at around 3% by the end of the year.
Fun Stuff
Freakonomics – We’re big fans of the Freakonomics Podcast at Founder Shield. Their recent episode titled “Why We Choke Under Pressure (and How Not To)” explores the psychology of choking in high-pressure situations. It’s a great insight into how to deal with situations that life throws at you both professionally and personally.
Picolo – OK so this drinking game app has been around for a while now, but it’s still a whole load of fun. Give it a try with friends, but be prepared to show your true colors!
Spectacle– Mac power users or developers will likely be aware of this nifty open source window resizing app that’s been around for a few years. No need to waste your time awkwardly resizing Word, PDFs and Chrome to fit nicely on your desktop.
Chart of the Month – This chart shows that the five largest S&P 500 stocks have a market capitalization equal to the bottom 282 S&P 500 stocks.
FTX filed for bankruptcy. SBF is in hot water. Investors and stakeholders are seeing red. Ponzi is now a four-letter word. What’s next? Let’s review this crypto crash through our risk management lens.
The crypto market used to be hot news for its new innovations — but now the scams and lawsuits tend to make headlines. Let review some recent cases and talk about lessons we can learn from them.
The “leaked” Sequoia memo, Adapting to Endure, highlights several concepts for startups and businesses backed by venture capital. Here’s our key takeaways.
Here’s a familiar question: If a tree falls in the woods, and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a noise? Of course, we know that it does! Scientific discovery works wonders when answering questions about the universe — but these questions still make us ponder. And we like that. As
A cloud outage disrupts business processes across the US while the new Omicron variant threatens our collective health. Plus, a favorite coffee joint faces some steep allegations, and BlackRock plays financial advisor. This week’s clip provides a healthy dose of risk management happenings and juicy insights you won’t want to miss. Major Cloud Outage Devastated
As we officially enter the holiday season, the rest of the world is moving forward differently. This week in risk management brings us a new phase of COVID-19-related trials, mammoth Astroworld lawsuits, data protection issues for local governments, and a glimmer of hope in tech innovation. Let’s dive in. Astroworld Organizers Faces Massive Lawsuits Ten
It is that time of year again, when we gather with our loved ones for Thanksgiving and reflect on what we are thankful for. Here at Founder Shield, we have so much to be thankful for; we have had a year full of growth and opportunity and we are lucky enough to work with some
“Dodging” is the theme of this post, whether it’s dodging catastrophes or live rounds from a prop gun. While these topics might seem incredibly grim, let’s take a respectful step back to ponder how these tragic events could potentially shape our future — and why they should. Will Underwriters Put Coal Plants on the Chopping
If you look toward the stars in roughly a week, a unique sight will be floating through the sky — The Shat. Yes, in this roundup, we’re talking about William Shatner visiting space, a win for diversity, vaccine mandates, and how Amazon continues to expand. In a recent RIMS podcast, host Justin Smulison touched on
One part of the world is on fire, the other part is underwater, and we’re all trying to figure out how these disasters will impact us in the future. So, let’s talk about all things risk management — at least, for this week. Hurricane Ida Could Cost Insurers $18B The Caribbean and US experienced substantial
The water cooler is buzzing with new and alarming risk management stories headlining this week. From sexual misconduct allegations to COVID-19 lawsuits to SEC-approved requirements regarding diversity, we’re hearing a lot of chatter reminding us how vital the right coverage is. And these hot topics are only the beginning. Here’s what’s happening in the risk
This week in risk management, we talk about the “Wild West” market, companies leaving each other at the altar, and robot-driven taxis. If you’re ready for some twists and turns, you’re in the right place. Let’s go. Amazon Can’t Dodge Product Liability in Wild West Market Amazon is the largest online marketplace, but it’s routinely
Welcome to the first edition of “This Week In Risk Management,” a new series bringing you risk management insights directly from the Founder Shield team. In each edition, we’ll take a look at some recent stories that caught our eye, from regulator enforcements, cyber attacks, lawsuits to insurance market trends. Our goal with this series
If you’ve kept up on the current global news, we could swap opinions about Putin’s threats to invade Ukraine or our veep’s plummeting approval rating. Risk management is a tough draw, after all. But let’s not dwell on Eastern Europe or Kamala Harris today. Instead, let’s discuss risk management insights about innovative technology, brokers joining
Although unnerving, it’s natural to experience the ups and downs of the market. Here’s a look at how social inflation impacts your business insurance premiums.
Each year we pick out a few of our outstanding clients who are working to make the world a better place. These 6 startups give us a lot to be thankful in 2020.
