Dave Roush, founder and CEO of
Insurance.com, has a simple goal in
mind.
“We want to nail it,” he says.
While the strategy around “nailing it” is
complex, the goal is simple — save people
time and money on auto insurance.
Roush originally developed the concept
behind Insurance.com on a napkin. The
idea came about in response to frustration
over the lack of options for purchasing
insurance online in the late 1990s.
The opportunity was there, but it did not
guarantee success for the start-up business.
Roush’s idea was to use the technology for
comparative auto insurance quotes used by
his former employer, Progressive, but take it
one step further. Once that quote was
shown on the Progressive Web site, there
was no way to easily purchase a policy.
Roush followed his entrepreneurial
instinct by making several important decisions along the road to success. First, he
required the insurance companies to provide executives to sit on the Insurance.com
board of directors. Getting insurance partners was necessary to give the whole operation legitimacy — without it, the company’s value proposition of saving people
time and money would fail.
Another key decision Roush made was
keeping communication between management and employees open and honest.
From the earliest days, Roush communicated the company’s cash position to
employees on a regular basis — even if that
meant employees would worry about how
the company would meet the next payroll
cycle. The openness has built a sense of
trust throughout the company, which has
increased employee satisfaction and minimized turnover.
The 250-employee, Solon-based company
has plenty of room for growth in the enormous auto insurance market. Roush has
several initiatives in place to grow both the
company and the company’s brand. His
short-term plan calls for building Web 2.0 technology into the company’s online auto
insurance marketplace. Roush also wants
to make Insurance.com a household name
and is planning a consolidated marketing
effort to make it happen.
HOW TO REACH: Insurance.com, (440) 498-0758 or
www.insurance.com