“I don’t think Uber would have ever started from within the taxi drivers association, or Airbnb from hotel management.” – Assaf Wand,

From Outsider to $5B SPAC in 6 Years

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2021-05-20 20:00:08

“I don’t think Uber would have ever started from within the taxi drivers association, or Airbnb from hotel management.” – Assaf Wand, Co-Founder & CEO at Hippo

But how can an industry outsider, starting at zero, compete against 100-year-old incumbents with thousands of employees, millions of customers, and billions in revenue?

I faced this question when I was first building Trulia in 2004 (acquired by Zillow in 2014 for $3.5B). At the time, the real-estate market was dominated by powerful incumbents, most notably the National Association of Realtors, which had 1M+ members and a chokehold on the MLS data.

Today, Assaf Wand, Co-Founder and CEO of Hippo, analyzes his own startup vs. incumbent battle for dominance as he took the insurtech startup from idea to a $5B SPAC in less than 6 years.

We cover the newcomer advantage as compared to the severe channel conflicts and innovator’s dilemma of a massively entrenched industry. Founders looking to compete in any existing industry would be wise to rethink what they believe to be barriers, in order to realize their opportunity.

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