Bruce Lucas is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Slide, a full-stack insurtech that leverages cutting-edge technology to deliver a digital-first, hyper-personalized insurance experience. Although it is a start-up year, Slide has already become one of the largest P&C insurtechs in the nation by revenue, and it is the first to be profitable.

Bruce is regarded as one of the top P&C insurance executives in the US, and is internationally recognized as a top insurtech influencer for his leverage of Big Data and cutting-edge technology. His vision is to create the insurer of tomorrow by transforming all aspects of the insurance process, including operations, claims, underwriting, customer and agent experiences.

Prior to Slide, Bruce founded super-regional insurer Heritage Insurance, where he served as CEO and Chairman of the Board. He grew the company from a single-state startup to over $1 billion in annual revenue in 15 states, maintaining profitability and stability every year of his 9-year tenure.

An alumnus of Indiana University, Bruce holds a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, where he graduated with honors. Excerpts from our interview:

Conception of Slide

Slide’s is next generation insurtech. Their proprietary Big Data and AI-driven strategy delivers optimized policy selection, better pricing, and lower SG&A than any insurtech competitor in the market.

“I brought world-renowned AI and machine learning technologists and a senior leadership team with over 250 years of cumulative insurance experience to the table.  I’ve also forged data partnerships for a dataset in excess of $5 trillion of total insured value.”

With this bench strength and deep well of data, the company is discovering new ways to apply cutting edge technology and data science across every part of the insurance process.

“Our advantage is insurmountable and this is just the tip of the iceberg in a start-up year.”

Insurtech industry- challenges galore

Modernizing the insurance industry is not easy.  While the industry has not changed much over the past 50 years, the demand of a tech-forward user experience has increased exponentially.  The key is to develop new technologies that improve the underwriting model and user experience.  Slide is the only insurtech that has delivered higher profit margins and a unique user experience that is intuitive.

Home insurance process – leveraging technology

“Our user experience is designed to get a customer from quote to bind in five minutes, vs. 50+ minutes at most insurance companies.  Our Big Data and Artificial Intelligence leverages billions of data points with coverage options that allows the end user to design a bespoke policy.

Curated by deep data science and a $5 trillion TIV data set, Slide’s cutting-edge technology streamlines and optimizes everything from underwriting decisions, to the customer experience, to the way we partner with independent agents.”

Leadership traits

Bruce is self-made and takes a creative, opportunistic approach. He believes in hard work and empowering the management team to be leaders.

When asked for the top advice he would provide fellow entrepreneurs, he responded:

“The best way to tackle new challenges is through collaboration with the management team. Tap their diversity of expertise to calculate risks and weigh the risk factors vs. opportunity. You are not always going to get it right, but you will most of the time if you think through the issues collectively with the entire management team.”

The success mantra

“There’s no room for egos, the best idea always wins. Play to your strengths and staff to your weakness.  Be decisive and keep your eye on the opportunity.”