An experienced software executive, Cory Isaacson has run over seven companies in his career with 5 successful acquisitions. As the co-founder and CEO of reThought Insurance, a technology-focused startup, Cory has helped reThought enable new levels of capabilities driving high-risk and high-potential markets for its insurance partners. reThought provides innovative solutions for challenging markets, using precision underwriting to meet end-customer needs at competitive prices. The company operates on 3 founding principles: Technology, Transparency, Trust. By building the trust of its partners through advanced technology and data solutions, reThought can deliver insurance capacity to fulfill market needs, becoming a source of continuous innovation and growth for the carriers and reinsurers we team with. Cory also has the distinction of being named inventor on 5 patents. He has authored numerous technology articles for a variety of publications. He has also presented talks at many technology conferences, addressing 1000s of software professionals. In addition, he has authored the following books: Software Pipelines (Addison-Wesley, 2008), and Understanding Big Data Scalability (Prentice-Hall, 2014). His expertise lies in building startups, technology management, software architecture, big data, software product design, high-performance computing, software product marketing strategy, distributed computing, Java, and database scalability. In an interview, he speaks on an array of topics. Excerpts:

Conception of reThought Insurance

“We are here to inform and empower capacity to close the climate protection gap” observes Cory. He adds that the hurricane Sandy further opened their eyes to a known big problem. “Over 90% of people across the country are lacking flood insurance. This is troubling considering flood is the most common, expensive, and destructive of all-weather disasters. Thus, reThought was born.”

Insurance technology industry – challenges galore

“We were founded as an all-remote company in 2017 so we did not experience large changes in the post-pandemic world. Today we’re really focused on speed to market and accuracy. We can’t close the protection gap if we are slow or inconsistent on price.” reThought is known for its reliable, stable customer focus, which can be seen by their outstanding NPS score of 62.

reThought’s services for insurers, reinsurers

Flood is ripe for innovation and the potential is huge, feels Cory. “The way we offer insurance needs to change in a changing climate. The risks are evolving, as should our underwriting. Our “model convergence” engine is a first-of-its-kind breakthrough in the flood insurance market and we’ve proven it works; we have withstood recent tests such as Ida and Ian. Because of that we’re backed and trusted by A rated carriers, brokers, and wholesalers across the US.”

Leadership traits

Entrepreneurial and innovative, Cory believes that their customers’ level of excitement for what they do will never surpass our own, “so we start with a good solid team. We’ve built an organization with the brightest and most passionate talent out there. And we believe communication is key, internally and externally. We strive every day to make sure people understand what we are doing and why we do it. First ask yourself if there is a real need in the market for what you have to offer. What are you changing to make the world a better or safer place? Once you have that, go for it. The risk of failure is always there, so you better love what you are doing. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

A word of advice of technology start-ups

“Growing too fast. Like a growing child you need to crawl before you walk and walk before you run. If you go too fast before you’re ready, it just increases the likelihood that you’ll fall.”

The Success Mantras

“You have to make it work.” Going back to my adolescence working for my father, I was on an installation, and nothing was going as it should. I called him saying what I needed to do wasn’t working and my father’s response was, “Of course it doesn’t, you have to make it work.” I never forgot that.

reThought Insurance – Plans ahead

“We have great programs for residential, commercial, and specialty flood. You can get residential quotes online in 60 seconds. We have an online TV series and podcast called reTV (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft4N0Vwm5_w) where we inform our customers and partners about flood in the news. And we’re just getting started. We have great plans for 2023.”