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InsTech - insurance & innovation with Matthew Grant & Robin Merttens

Partners’ Chat uncut – straight from the horse’s mouth (400)

InsTech - insurance & innovation with Matthew Grant & Robin Merttens

InsTech

Entrepreneurship, Business, Investing

4.951 Ratings

🗓️ 29 March 2026

⏱️ 23 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, Matthew Grant and Robin Merttens hit the 400-episode mark and ask a slightly uncomfortable question: after all these conversations, are we still human or just very convincing AI?  What follows is a sharp, unscripted reflection on how the industry has evolved from early insurtech scepticism to today’s surge of enthusiasm around generative AI. But beneath the milestone moment is a more interesting story, how insurance has shifted from resisting technology to almost over-embracing it, and what happens next when the tools are no longer the problem.  Drawing on years at the centre of the market’s innovation community, Matthew and Robin explore the move from experimentation to execution, why “grown-up AI” is now the real challenge and where genuine commercial value is starting to emerge.     In this conversation, Matthew and Robin share:  Why the industry has gone from fighting technology to actively chasing it  What “grown-up AI” really means and why governance and orchestration now matter more than new tools  How underwriters and brokers are finally seeing immediate value from AI in their day-to-day work  The risk of being overwhelmed by point solutions and what happens without a coherent strategy  The two very different playbooks for building AI businesses and which one is gaining traction  Why revenue is arriving faster for startups and how that is reshaping investment dynamics  What is fuelling the current boom in MGAs and why now feels like a defining moment  The contrasting rise of younger founders and experienced operators launching their own ventures  Why much of the market is still writing familiar risks and what that says about true innovation  Whether insurers are losing their appetite for harder, more unusual risks  How community, curiosity and shared learning continue to underpin real progress in insurance  And why, despite everything, face-to-face conversations still matter more than ever  If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant or Robin Merttens on LinkedIn.

Transcript

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0:00.0

400 episodes in, and there's still one big question.

0:14.2

Is insurance actually getting better, understanding risk, or just better at talking about it?

0:20.3

Hello, welcome or welcome back to the Insect podcast. understanding risk, or just better at talking about it.

0:26.3

Hello, welcome or welcome back to the InSTech podcast, Zoya here as always.

0:31.8

And this week, Matthew Grant is joined by Robin Merton's for their famous partner's chats,

0:34.2

which we haven't actually had for quite a while.

0:39.5

This episode is part reflection, part reality check, from the rise of generative AI to the explosion of new tools, there's real momentum, but there's also growing sense of chaos.

0:45.8

Robin shares why, for the first time, underwriters are genuinely excited about technology,

0:51.5

and why that might be exactly the problem. So what happens when enthusiasm

0:55.7

outpaced the structure and how do you move from endless experimentation to something that

1:00.4

actually delivers value? They also dig into where money is really being made, why some

1:06.0

startups are winning faster than ever, and where has quitely lost this appetite for the hardest

1:11.7

risks. And after 400 episodes, what have we actually learnt? Stay with us to find out.

1:25.6

400 podcasts. Who'd have thought that would be possible? And in this day of generative AI,

1:31.8

people might be wondering, are we the real thing or not? And so, well, I guess what we should do

1:36.6

is let people judge and we get to the end. I do hope bots are some way off creating another

1:40.7

version of me. Maybe they've been teaching them to swear in a podcast and get

1:44.8

away with it. But 400 takes me back to the time you first came up to me and he said, do you think

1:50.5

Instect should be doing podcasts? And I said, no, I can't be bothered. And you went on for did it on your

1:57.4

own and in no time at all, everyone's listening to our podcast and then everyone comes up

2:01.3

and I was told this so many times people come up to us and say yeah yeah well I know instead yeah I

2:06.0

listen to your podcast it's been our front door as it were for a long long time and we would

...

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