Superfans

To whom it may concern,

Please find below a heartfelt thank you letter, from a very happy start-up founder.

I address it to everyone who follows and supports the Supercede team in its mission to make reinsurance radically better for everyone.?

I hope you don’t find it odd, that I call you “fans” (or even “Superfans”) – it's intended as a VIP term of endearment, reserved just for you.

Perhaps explaining why I use those words would be a good place to start.

So, opening ceremony concluded... here goes!

Kick-off

So... what (and who) are fans??

When you begin the bumpy rollercoaster ride of entrepreneurship, they are few and far between.

And in the early stages, they certainly aren’t “fanatics”; just people with whom you feel it's safe to share your story.

Your family, should you need somewhere to hide, in case it all goes wrong.

Your friends, perhaps, if you’re not too fearful to confide in them.

Your immediate ex-colleagues, who demand an explanation as to where you are going next.

Really, that’s where the fanbase begins.

Seeds

Our early fans remind me of committed parents watching their kids play football in the rain.

You – just one of many squirts squabbling over a ball in a remote and squelchy field – have done little to earn the love and support of those cheering and jeering on the sidelines.?

Still untested and unproven, there isn’t much you can capitulate to the carpool of caffeine-infused onlookers attempting enthusiasm beneath the brims of their umbrellas.

The coach is too busy barking orders to pay you much attention; the referee, meanwhile, is preoccupied with angry parents who think neither they, nor their child, should have been sent off.

Until that magic moment.

The ball – here a metaphor for "opportunity", in case you wondered – comes to you.

And in some fast, physics-defying feat of footwork, you stun the entire crowd – all six of them – into a short, but sizzling, silence.?

At first they fear a fluke: but once they see it a second time, a third, and then a fourth; words begin to whisper among the wet, watching well-wishers.?

Have they discovered a new talent?

And how far could they go?

Roots

They say "if you never try, you’ll never know" – but trying is only step one.

Step two's confession is that, without fans, you'll never grow.

It's a long old slog from seed to sequoia, and though we're prone to forget it, the sapling stage makes up most of the journey.

That's probably why we get a glimpse of grassroots sports ahead of televised events.

During the Euros, footage of five-a-side football lights up our living rooms and pubs, as academies parade their potential credentials as co-creators of the next Christiano.

Then, during the Olympics, a still more majestic menagerie of junior gymnastics, tiny-tots tennis and miniature martial arts – in musical montage – persuades us that through early investment, the next generation of greats will emerge.

How else do we earn medal-wielding stars in their twenties – or even, their teens?

Shoots

When Supercede raised its earliest round of funding, our investors cited – as a core part of their investment thesis – the “grassroots movement” we had sparked in the reinsurance community.

A vast assembly of volunteers, willing not only to speak to the potential value of our mission; but moreover, impassioned enough to join our beta user community and persuade their firms to participate in proofs of concept and market testing events.

The Supercede love across the market was – and we hope still is! – palpable.

And as our investors wisely understood, perhaps from personal experience, it is love that motivates those who ferry up-and-coming athletes to and from practice each week; love that ensurers they never walk alone; love that sees to safe passage of their dreams, come what may.

Encouraging their young talents to don their shin pads, get back on the horse, and keep on pedaling – though presumably not all simultaneously – to victory.

The vital and sustained source of encouragement, engagement, and advice provided by fans should never be underestimated.

Just watch how well host nations perform at the Olympics when they know their home fans are rooting for them and have their backs.

Scores

Our home fans will already know that Supercede just scored its Series A funding round.

For us this was a massive achievement, given most start-up conversations with investors end in a goalless draw nowadays.

Yet the journey is far from over.?

It’s probably more accurate to say that it’s just beginning: much more a marathon than a sprint.

As the well-known saying goes, the reinsurance industry’s modern digital infrastructure wasn’t built in a day.

And the pressure on us to perform will only increase from here.

We’ve all seen young talent peter out, or lose its way: we’ve also seen it bounce back – quite literally – during the gymnastics sessions of Paris 2024.

That’s why support cannot stop when an athlete or a start-up gets, grows, or loses traction; it must intensify.

Fans must become superfans to keep their stars on the right track.

Roars

So what are superfans doing for us, nowadays?

One way to give us a vote of confidence is to listen to – and help echo around the vast stadium of the global reinsurance ecosystem – our perspectives on how our industry can be better.

Our main medium for this ever-evolving discourse is The Reinsurance Podcast.?

It’s now so popular we have to wear dark glasses when we pass through airports.

Our goal is for the whole industry to be engaged in the debate about how we can bring out the best in reinsurance, and collectively, to defeat the elements holding us back.

And whilst we at Supercede can't be the panacea to all the industry's needs, we can certainly have a fair crack at its data and technology headaches.

But if you want to do more than listen and share, how can you help us?

Coaches

Please don’t assume that we (think we) are too old and wise to benefit from your advice.

We have an incredible team of reinsurance and software experts; but they’re not living renewals every day like you are.?

We fortunate few at Supercede don't do daily battle with spreadsheets anymore; instead we're striving to carve a path out for those still trapped in a row, column, or cell.

We always want to hear your dreams, and ideas for what your reinsurance day really could and should look like, and the pain points holding you back.

We owe many of our greatest innovations to our phenomenal community of reinsurance people – shout-out here to the heroes of the U35s and U40s reinsurance groups – and more importantly, so too the vital critical feedback they provide throughout.

And we’d love to keep it that way: especially now that we have even more resource to spend on making Supercede brilliant for our stakeholders (i.e. you!).

We're hugely inspired by people who ask not what their favourite start-up can do for them; but rather, what they can do for their favourite start-up.

Sounds like a superfan to me.

Finals

And right now we – actually, all of us in the reinsurance industry – need your support more than ever.

Frankly, our sector needs much more sophisticated tools – and needs them yesterday – if anyone is going to take us seriously in the digital age.

We have a profession and a value proposition to defend in the era of AI.

That’s why I was all the more delighted to receive the call-up to join the Board of the Chartered Insurance Institute earlier this month.?

A bit like getting selected for your national side, whilst continuing to play for your club.

Both Supercede and the CII are working to make the (re)insurance profession more resilient, come what may, and that's a mission I'm really proud of.

But: in both cases, we’d be pretty useless without your love, support and engagement.

So thank you, once again.

Extra Time

And hey, if you made it all the way to the end of this article, you’re already a superfan.

We’re super grateful to have you with us for the long old road to come.

You inspire our dedication to making reinsurance work radically better for its people.

So please: get tickets to our games, cheer us on, buy our merch – or at least, the epic reinsurance technology equivalent – and with your enthusiastic consent, let's take this all the way, together.

After all, we find we can have the biggest industry impact when firms open up their doors, bring us in, and point us at the problem.?

As the old saying goes: be not inhospitable to start-ups, lest they be reinsurance technology angels in disguise.

Victory

Though a closing ceremony approaches, bright sparks light up the potential to come.

Our Olympic torch is called Supercede, and if you've yet to see the new exhibit-first version of Packs, you’d better get in touch – you are in for a treat.

If it’s reinsurance-related, fixing it for you – and with you – is our raison d’etre.

Whether you were on the muddy pitch way back when.

Or even if you’ve been living under a rock, and only just found out we exist.

All that remains to say, is...

Thank you.