In InsurTech, differentiation doesn’t come from building more technology. It comes from building the right thing—and owning what truly matters. In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VanderLinden is joined by Steve Abel, Partner at Oliver Wyman, to challenge one of the most expensive myths in the InsurTech ecosystem: that competitive advantage is created by building an entire proprietary tech stack from scratch. It isn’t. Steve brings a sharp, experience-led perspective from working with insurers, MGAs, and InsurTechs at scale. He explains why many startups burn through capital and time by over-investing in undifferentiated technology—platform components that already exist, already scale, and rarely form the basis of defensible value. The real mistake? Poorly thought-through architecture. Too many founders hire teams to “build everything” without first deciding what should be owned, what should be rented, and what should simply be assembled. In a world of mature cloud tooling, APIs, and commoditised infrastructure, most of the tech stack is no longer a source of differentiation—it’s a distraction. Steve makes the case for a more disciplined approach: Rent commodity tech early to move faster and preserve capital Own the algorithms, logic, and insights that define your secret sauce Assemble intelligently, rather than engineer endlessly Test the market fast, before scaling complexity In today’s InsurTech landscape, investors aren’t paying for beautiful platforms. They’re backing teams that can prove who will pay, why they’ll pay, and how value is created. That often means monetising algorithms, analytics, and decisioning capability—without carrying the cost of a full-stack build. A powerful moment in the conversation is the reframing of differentiation itself. Distribution, underwriting, pricing, claims—much of the innovation insurers benefit from today is driven by InsurTech founders. But speed matters. If you spend too long perfecting “boring platform tech,” you risk missing the window where your insight actually matters. Steve also highlights a subtle but costly trap: confusing product usage with product sales. How something is consumed and how it’s sold are rarely the same—and failing to design for both can derail even the smartest technology. For founders, this episode delivers: A practical blueprint for tech strategy under capital constraints Clarity on what must be proprietary—and what absolutely doesn’t Guidance on shortening time-to-market without sacrificing quality A reality check on how investors evaluate technical differentiation For insurers and corporate partners, it offers insight into: Why many startups struggle to scale despite strong ideas How to spot teams focused on value, not vanity architecture 🎧 If you’re building, investing in, or partnering with InsurTechs—and want to compete smarter, not heavier—this episode is essential listening. Because in modern InsurTech, advantage isn’t built line by line of code. It’s built by focus, architecture, and speed.