About this episode
Karn Saroya is the CEO and cofounder of Cover , which was in the YC Winter 2016 batch. Cover is a nationally licensed insurance brokerage. You can use their app to take a picture of property you want to insure and they’ll connect you with their insurance partners so that you can get the best price and coverage. You can find Karn on Twitter at @karnsaroya . The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon . *** Topics 00:36 - Karn’s intro 01:01 - Using computer vision to identify and catalogue property 2:28 - How Karn ended up starting Cover 3:48 - Being a maker vs. an advisor 5:58 - Stylekick, Karn’s previous startup 9:28 - Joining Shopify 10:08 - How the idea for Cover happened 11:58 - The capital-light way to start an insurance business 16:28 - Underwriting 17:58 - Lead generation 20:18 - Product development 21:28 - Buying Cover.com for $750k 24:53 - Being engaged to a cofounder 28:43 - Managing two offices and cultures 30:58 - Being an international founder in YC 31:58 - Advice to people in the current batch of YC