Sumarie Greybe and Ernest North, who founded Naked Insurance in 2016 with partner Alex Thomson, present a candid, behind-the-scenes look at the journey of building a startup with ambitions to change the way an entire industry does business.

They’ll discuss their inspirations for building a new generation, artificial intelligence-driven insurance platform, touching on:

How they saw from the inside, as consulting actuaries to many of SA’s leading insurers, why insurance had become such a grudge purchase

Why changing the insurance industry could only be achieved through a startup unencumbered by legacy processes, systems and traditional profit agendas

The challenges of building a team and a technology platform from scratch

How they secured funding and found partners to take the business to the next level

Marketing: taking on an industry that spends more on advertising than almost any other, and reaching the right audience in a more efficient way

The name “Naked”: the surprising answer to what it really means

Thoughts about whether the startup route is really viable in South Africa for people without established business networks or access to funding

The personal side of building a startup: how critical it is to have the right combination of founders with unwavering trust in each other.

Having spent years inside the belly of the corporate beast, the Naked co-founders can offer interesting insights for other would-be entrepreneurs who dream of doing something new. Their candid account of their journey will be interesting for other entrepreneurs already on a startup journey and to those who are thinking of striking out on their own.