
#114 - Karn Saroya
Samrawit Shemsu
Description
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/karnsaroya/">Karn Saroya</a> is the CEO and cofounder of <a href="https://cover.com/">Cover</a>, which was in the YC Winter 2016 batch.<br><br>Cover is a nationally licensed insurance brokerage. You can use their app to take a picture of property you want to insure and they’ll connect you with their insurance partners so that you can get the best price and coverage.<br><br>You can find Karn on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/karnsaroya/">@karnsaroya</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:36 - Karn’s intro<br><br>01:01 - Using computer vision to identify and catalogue property<br><br>2:28 - How Karn ended up starting Cover<br><br>3:48 - Being a maker vs. an advisor<br><br>5:58 - Stylekick, Karn’s previous startup<br><br>9:28 - Joining Shopify<br><br>10:08 - How the idea for Cover happened<br><br>11:58 - The capital-light way to start an insurance business<br><br>16:28 - Underwriting<br><br>17:58 - Lead generation<br><br>20:18 - Product development<br><br>21:28 - Buying Cover.com for $750k<br><br>24:53 - Being engaged to a cofounder<br><br>28:43 - Managing two offices and cultures<br><br>30:58 - Being an international founder in YC<br><br>31:58 - Advice to people in the current batch of YC<br></p>