Goodcover YC Application

Summer 2017Active

Goodcover went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2017 batch as a Fintech company. Below: what the company does, who founded it, and its application to YC, reconstructed question by question in the real YC form.

YC batch: Summer 2017
Industry: FintechInsurance
Team size: 1
Status: Active
Launched: 2019

Founders

Christopher LotzFounder/CEO
Daniel Di SpaltroFounder

What Goodcover does

Goodcover provides its Members with Good Renters Insurance for 50% less than legacy companies and an Annual Dividend of the money left over after claims obligations are met. Goodcover is a Managing General Agent (MGA) that administers personal insurance on behalf of our Membership, a bit like how USAA does it. Member's premiums are pooled and used to pay claims. We take a fixed fee, and the remainder is returned in our Annual Member Dividend. We work with multi-billion dollar capital partners to ensure regulations are followed, adequate claims capital is always available, and we have emergency capacity for catastrophes. Technology allows us to eliminate waste, saving roughly 25% of the cost. We are 100% digital, but not bots - we invest in tech that enables our experts to help Members. As an Invitation Only Membership served by an MGA, **we can give Members Free Insurance** when they invite others, turning our "Marketing Budget" into savings for Members. This eliminates Lizards and Sales Agents, saving the other 25%. We do not use the standard industry models, instead using a multiperil model to more granularly price risk. This means that for a few of you we are more expensive... but everyone else pays much less than they would otherwise pay. Our granular, multiperil model allows us to offer a superior policy over the standard market including: - coverage for if your place is flooded by a neighbor - Replacement Cost Coverage (meaning new stuff for your old) - All Risk coverage for high value items you tell us about - including computers (almost no one does that amazingly) - added coverage for mold removal Our MGA business model allows us to be capital efficient, "renting" capacity as we need it. All this adds up to our government approved pricing being 40-60% cheaper on average than that of our competitors.

Goodcover's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Goodcover, Summer 2017 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Goodcover

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Digital co-op renters insurance half the price.

What is your company going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.

We make Good Renters Insurance, an invitation-only membership that pools premiums, pays claims, returns leftover funds as dividends, and offers better coverage at about half the price of legacy insurers. We run as a Managing General Agent using technology for granular multiperil risk pricing and to eliminate sales agents, turning marketing into member savings.

Where do you live now, and where would the company be based after YC?

We live in San Francisco, CA, and the company is based there after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco is the insurance tech hub where our capital partners and regulatory networks are. We want to stay close to partners and talent.

21 more answers in the full application

Founders, Progress, Idea, Equity, Curious, Batch Preference are in the full version. Create a free account to open it in YC Insights, next to every other YC batch.

See full application

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the real Goodcover YC application?

No. Y Combinator keeps submitted applications private. This is a reconstruction: the real YC form questions, answered from Goodcover's public data (launch notes, founder backgrounds, product description). It shows how a company like Goodcover would present itself to YC, not the text they submitted.