Pet Insurance

Embrace Pet Insurance: A Lesson in Persistence

1. Look at Figure 1.2 in the chapter, which focuses on the four primary characteristics of successful entrepreneurs. To what extent do Laura Bennett and Alex Krooglik’s founding and development of Embrace Pet Insurance reflect each of these characteristics?

* Passion for the business: Both founders were clearly passionate about building a high quality pet insurance company. Their passion was repeatedly tested by the hurdles they had to overcome to make Embrace Pet Insurance a reality.

* Product/customer focus. The founders built a high quality pet insurance company with a focus on providing value to customers. They remain outspoken advocates for fair and reasonably priced pet insurance.

* Tenacity despite failure. Bennett and Kooglik faced many obstacles in making Embrace Pet Insurance a reality, and could have thrown in the towel on several occasions.

* Execution Intelligence. It’s clear that the founders went through great pains to price their product right and to create a fair and reasonable product for their customers. They also have a philosophy that winning a customer is the easy part (of the customer equation). Servicing a policy fairly when a claim is made (i.e., execution) is the hard part and the true test of a good company.

2. To what extend do you believe that Embrace Pet Insurance’s basic business idea “adds value” to the lives of its customers? Who is likely to buy Embrace Pet Insurance?

* The idea adds value by providing pet owners the option to buy fairly priced pet insurance that can be relied on to cover claims (within the terms of the policy) when they are made.

* It would be difficult to assess the target market without surveying pet owners. However, one target population are those who have had an expensive vet bill in the past.

3. List the occasions in the development of Embrace Pet Insurance in which Bennett and Krooglik’s tenacity...