Assaf Wand - Innovation in Static Industries – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP. 36]

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (0:00)
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Hello and welcome everyone. I'm Patrick O'Shaughnessy and this is Founder's Field Guide. Founder's Field Guide is a series of conversations with founders, CEOs and operators building great businesses. I believe we are all builders in our own way and this series is dedicated to stories and lessons from builders of all types. Founder's Field Guide is part of the Colossus family of podcasts and you can access all of our podcasts including edited transcripts, show notes and resources to keep learning at joincolossus.com.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:41)
Patrick O'Shaughnessy is the CEO of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management. All opinions expressed by Patrick and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management.
This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. Clients of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (2:06)
My guest today is Assaf Wand, CEO and co-founder of Hippo, a homeowner insurance startup founded in 2015 In March, 2021, Hippo announced a SPAC merger valuing the business at over $5 billion.
In our discussion, we cover how Hippo approached innovation in the highly regulated insurance industry, unique strategies for building brand and trust, and how direct relationships with homeowners has opened up Hippo's business model to a wide range of opportunities.
I was excited to speak to Assaf, given his experience as a serial entrepreneur, and he did not disappoint. Please enjoy this great conversation with Assaf Wand.
So maybe we could begin with what I'll call your philosophy of business. I know you love building things, you built a lot of things. Just talk us through your high-level view on entrepreneurship and business.

**Assaf Wand** (2:52)
Wow, that's a heavy start. Not that I have ever had my philosophy for business, but I'll give you what I usually tell entrepreneurs. Excuse my French, I might curse a bit in this discussion.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (3:03)
Go nuts.

**Assaf Wand** (3:04)
I think that entrepreneurship is hard. It's shit, it's crap, it's trench warfare. But the good thing about entrepreneurship are basically three things.
You choose what you're going to work on, so it's your choice. You didn't join someone else to do whatever they wanted. You can wake up every morning and choose what you're working on. You can choose who you work with, because you have a choice if you're hiring a person, you're not hiring a person. It's up to you. Not that you always have all of the options, but it's up to you, and you can build the culture that you want. It's like the epic thing of independence to carve something for what you want to do. You pursue what you want with the people that you want, and then build the culture that you want.
That's the biggest benefit of entrepreneurship in my mind, because you need to find a good reason why you wake up in the morning every day. As I told you, it's trench warfare. I always tell the team, this week is going to be a week that we're just going to put the helmet and put the vest on and we're going to start being bombarded.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (4:04)
What was your first taste of entrepreneurship, and how did that contrast with what you had done up until that point in your life?

**Assaf Wand** (4:11)
I was born to be an entrepreneur, and the reason I was born to be an entrepreneur is because I'm the worst employee you can find.