BECOME A MENTOR

Contribute to the success of our startups and founders

Become a mentor

WHY BECOME A MENTOR?

Our mentors are the key to our success. They offer their experiences, networks, knowledge, and enthusiasm to the startups without expectation of compensation or reward. 

Bryan Falchuk, Managing Partner - Insurance Evolution Partners

“Being a mentor for a few years now, I find myself so excited by what new ideas people are working on to make our industry better.

The GIA has been a way to challenge my own thoughts about what's possible while also giving back and supporting those pushing the industry ahead in some really new and innovative ways.

Being a part of this program is a non-negotiable for me, and I'm just really lucky to get to do it every year.”

Travis Grassel, Property & Casualty Actuary - Iowa Insurance Division

“The Global Insurance Accelerator is an important innovation in and of itself, which has evolved over the years into an extremely efficient and valuable conduit for the transfer of insurance focused knowledge. A perfect example of you get what you give!”

Heidi C. Mannetter, Associate Professor of Practice - Drake University

“I look forward to working with GIA participants every Spring. Coaching and mentoring insurance industry innovators and disruptors is energizing, and I take-away new ways of thinking about insurtech that support my teaching and consulting practices, so it's a mutually beneficial experience!”

GIA MENTORS

  • Mentors have a profound impact on the entrepreneurs, and it is common for mentors to be introduced to new ways of thinking, doing and growing business.

  • Our mentors represent a wide range of industries, with the majority coming from the insurance ecosystem. Insurance is a complex industry with a lot of roles, with that in mind, we are sure to gather a well-rounded group of mentors.

  • We make sure to cover a broad range such as underwriting, actuarial, finance, operations, claims, marketing, legal and IT. 

  • We’ve rounded out the rest of the mentor pool with individuals from other industries who focus on HR, technology, sales, team building, and capital raising.

  • There are about 100 insurance-focused mentors, of which approximately 50 percent come from our Insurance Company investors. 

OUR MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

What you can expect

We ask mentors to only formally participate as mentors for the annual 100-day accelerator program. Outside of that, mentors are kept in the loop on upcoming programming and training.

  • Training and Expectations

    The GIA provides mentor training to set expectations, answer questions, and explain what it takes to be a great mentor. The most important thing as a mentor is to have a "pay it forward" mentality - we stress that this is very much a volunteer position and these startups have very little to give at this point.

  • Mentor-led Workshops and Pitch Practices

    When we say we are a mentor-driven program, we mean it. Mentors are involved in almost every activity and session we provide to our founders. Mentors raise their hands to help lead or co-lead workshops and panels for our founders in either small groups or for the entire cohort. Mentors also step in to help shape pitch presentations for the founders, taking place in Phase 3 of our program.

  • The Matching Process

    The insurance-focused mentors will meet the startup companies during the first three full weeks of the program. The mentor will self-schedule their meetings to be done in person at the GIA office or over Zoom. This fosters an intense influx of new connections, ideas and sometimes adjustments on the fly. Mentors and startups select who they want to work with and we formally pair them together for the remainder of the program

 FAQs

  • The mentors at the GIA are primarily insurance professionals who range from all lines of insurance and from all levels of the business - entry-level to CEO and all in between. Some mentors have been helping founders understand insurance since we began in 2015 and some are brand new in 2021. Some mentors have never spoken to an insurtech founder and some may have built their own insurtech solution in the past.

    Half of our mentors come from the GIA insurance company investors, there is no requirement that you must be working for one of those organizations to be a mentor.

  • Formal mentoring takes place during the annual 100-day accelerator program, with training before each year’s program, and debrief interviews with each mentor following each program. The 100-day program is typically mid-January through the end of April each year, so if you take into account the training in the winter and the debrief session in the spring, the schedule looks like this:

    • December and January - mentor training session options (required to be a mentor.)

    • January, February, March, April - 100-day program is in session and mentors engage as they indicate and want with the founders in the program

    • May and June - debrief time options for follow-up interview with Program Manager

    • May, June, July, August, September, October, November - receive monthly updates about the alumni companies, what is coming next, news and events, and more!

    When the 100-day program ends, the formal mentoring can end. We want mentors to be refreshed and ready to go for the next year’s 100-day program.

    Mentors and mentees typically stay in touch. Historically, mentors stay on startup founder update lists, joined advisory boards, invested in the startup company, joined the company as a co-founder, stayed in touch and introduced the founders to potential funding opportunities, and much more!

  • To become a mentor, you will need to engage in a conversation with the Program Manager (~30 minutes), go through a training session in the winter (~90 minutes), and schedule time to meet with the founders in the beginning of the program and do prep work. That is the point in time when you can get a clear picture of the needs of the founders in the current 100-day program and who you may want to help.

    The time commitment varies depending on the mentor preferences. See more in the next section.

  • The 3 main types of mentorship that takes place during the 100 days are:

    1. Mentor-led workshop and panel sessions

    2. Mentor-led pitch practices

    3. Mentors working 1:1 with a founder for the 100-day program on a need

    Of course, mentorship can look different and be received differently person to person, so we don’t try to over-structure the program as to not let relationships form organically. New needs pop up all of the time and we rely on mentors to help fill those needs.

  • Mentors serve as educators, sounding boards, connectors, critics, advisors, friends and much more!

    Mentors should not be doing extensive labor for the startup founders. This isn’t to say that mentors can’t do any sort of work for the founders if that is what they want to do, but mentors are not on the payroll.

  • We conduct a small window of mentor speed dating for all interested mentors to meet with the founders they wish to learn more about the possibility of mentorship.

    Mentors get to self schedule their own 30-minute meetings with the startup founders who they would like to meet with. We encourage mentors to meet with as many of the founders as they can, because many find unexpected ways of working together. These meetings will be done via Zoom.

    Mentors will receive a brief description of the startup companies, their mentor goals, and some questions to help get the conversation started.

  • We prompt the startup company founder to think ahead about the gaps in their company where a mentor could help fill and keep those in mind when meeting the potential mentors. During conversations with potential mentors during mentor speed dating, new gaps come to light and they are taking great notes on which mentors seem to be the best fit to help move their company forward.

    Mentors will fill out an evaluation form expressing their interest in types of mentorship they would like to do, the startup companies who they think they’d be able to help, ranking in order of preference for who they’d most want to work with. We review this list with the startup company founders and help match the right mentors with the right startup company founders based on mutual preferences.

  • We try to assign a mentor to work with just one startup founder. We don’t want mentors to be overwhelmed, and we want mentors to enjoy the process of working with a founder.

    Each startup founder will receive a range of mentors depending on their mentor goals for the GIA. This number has ranged from 4 to 12 mentors.

  • No, we cannot guarantee that each mentor will be chosen to lead a workshop or panel, help with pitch practices, or mentor a startup founder.

  • You can contact us here to set up a meeting to discuss joining the GIA’s board.

  • A thousand times, yes. Please fill out the same Become a Mentor form and we’ll be in touch.

  • At the Global Insurance Accelerator, we take the “Global” in our name, seriously! Our mentors can be from anyone in the world. However, we do require our mentors to have knowledge that is relevant to the US Market as that is where our founders are looking to expand.

Become a mentor

If you’d like to have a conversation with the Program Director about whether you’d like to be a mentor in the GIA’s accelerator program, please fill out the form