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(Brendan Corr and Michael Balarezo. Photo by author.)
Brendan Corr, Director of Sales at Faura (Napa, Calif.), and Michael Balarezo, Founder and CEO of Adjusto (San Francisco Bay Area, Calif.), sat down with Tom Benton at the InsurTech Hartford Symposium on April 29 to discuss how their companies are addressing the human side of property insurance: by prioritizing transparency, trust, and the mental health of both policyholders and adjusters.
Valkyrie Holmes, CEO, Faura.
Backgrounds Rooted in Experience and Empathy
Brendan Corr, who recently joined Faura, brings a background in agency-side insurance and go-to-market strategy. He was drawn to Faura by its founders, Valkyrie Holmes and Amanda Southworth, whom he describes as “two powerhouse young female entrepreneurs who are just wicked smart.” He noted that Faura’s founders met on a Reddit forum, united by their passion for climate change and disaster resilience, and began their journey by trying to help HOAs secure government grants for mitigation. After an encounter with an insurance agent, they pivoted to focus on bridging the gap between homeowners, HOAs, and insurers, ultimately building a database that predicts the survivability of structures in disaster-prone areas.
Amanda Southworth, CTO, Faura.
Michael Balarezo started his career as an all-lines insurance adjuster in Oklahoma before transitioning to software engineering in Silicon Valley. A personal experience during the Marshall Fire in Colorado, where his own home was damaged, gave him new perspective. “I relived my claims experience as an adjuster in my own claim, and I started to realize how painful it was for the adjusters working my claim. But speaking to someone and telling them that you understand is very different than living it,” Balarezo said. This realization prompted him to return to insurance, founding Adjusto to offer “fast, fair, and transparent personal property valuations” that help adjusters and policyholders resolve claims collaboratively.
Building Trust Through Transparency and Engagement
Both Corr and Balarezo emphasized that trust and transparency are fundamental to restoring the insurance industry’s reputation and improving customer retention. Corr explained, “Everywhere you look, it’s just negative PR (about insurance). How do we change that? How do we involve the homeowner? We need to talk about building back the trust between insurance agents, carriers, and the homeowner.”
Faura’s approach uses data to rate the survivability of individual homes, giving homeowners actionable steps to improve resilience. “By gamifying it, by giving you a number, it’s easier to bridge the gap,” Corr said. “It allows for homeowners see something like: Tom’s property is rated a 65 and he kept his insurance; Michael’s is a 72, and his insurance premiums went down; and Brendan, his is a 42, so Brendan’s got a lot of work to do. So gamified rating can lead to leveling the playing field.”
Balarezo highlighted that policyholders want to be engaged and proactive: “Policyholders want to be proactive to make sure they’re protecting their biggest, most expensive asset. And that experience is actually something they want, and they’re just looking for more transparency in the overall process.”
Addressing Mental Health in Insurance Solutions
Corr and Balarezo both stressed the importance of considering mental health for policyholders and adjusters, especially after catastrophic events. Corr noted, “When you have a loss on any scale, it’s a drain. And then it affects the homeowner personally: where do they stay? When do they go back to work? All those things are a trickle-down effect that both Faura and Adjusto can help mitigate to make it a little easier.”
Balarezo added, “There’s a grieving process that they go through. They lose a part of their life. What I experienced was like losing a part of my identity. We want to do what we can to make sure that policyholders don’t feel like they have to fight for their insurance or the things they own. That’s a win-win on at least one aspect of the mental health portion. It helps them process some of the grieving and helps them move forward with their lives.”
He also pointed out the mental strain on adjusters, noting, “Claims volume, which is extremely high, is only going to continue to increase. The answer can’t only be providing automation to solve some of these problems, because it’s about understanding how to resolve a claim with a policyholder. It’s a people-to-people problem that we’re solving for. Tech is just a small component of it.”
Looking Forward
Both Faura and Adjusto are focused on scaling their solutions, engaging with carriers, and continuing to build products that prioritize empathy, transparency, and trust. As Balarezo put it, “We really want to bring meaningful change into the industry. And after living it, it just feels different, so now I’m happy to be a part of the change.”
Corr summed up the broader vision: “If we can help the insurance companies be a better partner to the consumer, it changes the overall sentiment and starts bridging that trust gap.”
Startup Faura Tackles Climate Risk in Insurance with Data-Driven Approach
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