Is Lemonade or Tesla the biggest insurance disruptor

I really enjoyed Mark Breading's article, "Is Lemondae or Tesla the biggest insurance Disruptor", on determining which company, #Tesla or #Lemonade, will have the more disruptive impact on the industry. I have to agree with Mark, Tesla is definitely more disruptive.  

Why? Lemonade is a standard insurance company with a standard direct sales model. From an industry perspective, there is nothing really new here. Yes, they have embraced a completely digital experience and have done a great job with their user experience. Lemonade has one of the best, if not the best, user experiences in the industry. Yes, they have changed the game with their marketing and use of profit to support charity. I'd argue that the real groundbreaking element of Lemonade is the donation of profits to charity (after collecting their management fee). That was really, truly brilliant. It completely changed the insurance conversation, it made insurance interesting to talk about over the dinner table and appeals to millennials and others who believe in giving back. But honestly, Lemonade is not doing anything every other insurer out there should be and could be doing. From a digital user experience perspective, most insurers are racing to catch up to where Lemonade started out of the gate. Lemonade had the advantage of no legacy system debt and was working from a fresh slate. Hats off to them, they did a phenomenal job but Lemonade is well within industry norms. 

Tesla is a different animal though. They are verticalizing their industry in a way that hasn't been seen in decades, from when manufacturers owned the mines and foundries to supply steel their factories. You must also keep in mind that personal lines auto insurance is the largest line of business in the US and large disruptions to auto can have an outsize impact on the industry overall. This isn't the first time an auto manufacturer has jumped into insurance though (think GMAC), but the Tesla move has a different feel to it. Under Tesla, buying insurance is going to be a full part of the auto ownership experience, not just another business unit.  

It looks like Tesla is going to fund an insurance company. In the long run, I don't know that they are going to enjoy that process. At least at the outset, they should probably focus on being a distributor and playing a claims TPA role, but just participating is just not something Elon Musk feels comfortable with, he wants to control the entire value chain. As the founder of SpaceX, he's probably thinking "well, insurance isn't rocket science", but I'd submit that with 50 regulatory environments in the US alone insurance can be more painful..... 

Tesla is a completely different entrant into the market with a different take on the industry. With that and the role that autonomous cars will have on changing the core auto insurance product itself, Tesla is definitely the organization that can be more disruptive to the industry in the long run.