In Difficult Times, Says David Carasso of Assurup, Stay Even More Focused on Your Vision

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times?

David Carasso: Fortunately, my family and I are doing well during this difficult time. I have to admit that I already got the coronavirus in March! But today I’m doing fine, thanks.

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded Assurup.

David Carasso: I started by studying at ENASS, the famous French school for Insurance. Then, after a short experience in a broker company where I worked with clients in the digital and tech sectors, I decided to set up my own project. Entrepreneurship has always been one of my desires. We all are entrepreneurs in my family!

As an entrepreneur, I quickly realized that insurance companies were not able to cover the new risks of innovative companies. As the Fintech sector was booming in Europe and revolutionizing the banking sector, I identified a real opportunity: insuring these new innovative companies. With my first associate Jérémy Dahan, we founded Assurup in 2015 to propose tailor-made contracts to allow startups. That is why today, among our 3,000 clients, we have the biggest French startups: Aircall, Chefclub, Feed, Meero, Qonto, Swile…

How does Assurup innovate? 

David Carasso: We are the first in Europe to have digitized professional insurance brokerage. We allow all professionals to easily subscribe online to their contracts in 3 minutes and immediately download their certificate.

Today, Assurup operates on an ultra-complementary hybrid model:

• on the one hand, a 100% online solution that allows you to take out and manage all your professional insurance contracts in the same place, to declare a claim and follow its reimbursement in just a few clicks ;
• on the other hand, a team of experts who can carry out a free audit of a company’s insurance policies and recommend better contracts – often at a lower rate – and who are able to meet the most specific needs, particularly of companies in the tech, digital and digital sectors, in which we are specialized.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

David Carasso: We followed the government’s instructions and switched to home office very quickly. The activity continues, but 100 % remote. We saw a tiny decrease in insurance consumption at the beginning, but it did not last, and there are always insurance needs for companies. Especially, the risk of robbery is higher since a lot of offices are closed!

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?

David Carasso: We decided to keep going just as we did before the crisis, but 100 % remote. Clearly, this is not the moment to change anything just by fear. In difficult times, it is even more important to stay focused on your company’s vision.

How do you deal with stress and anxiety?

David Carasso: As an entrepreneur, it is not comfortable not to know when this period ends. About management, we decided not to schedule time-consuming daily meetings. Some managers can use these kinds of meetings to keep control of their team, but it is not what we want. We have a lot of small calls every time it is necessary, and it is always the occasion to see if everyone is okay in the team.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

David Carasso: We are often compared to EMbroker in the US, maybe because we both started in 2015. Since then, we have kept our vision, and we decided to stay 100 % independent from 

Your final thoughts?

David Carasso: Insurance is a complicated sector, not only for the general public but also for companies. There is a lot of jargon, different types of Insurance, guarantees, exclusions… With Assurup, we wanted to offer something really innovative, which simplifies the life of companies thanks to digital technology. In this difficult time, we are convinced that this is exactly what companies need to be reassured!

Your website?

https://www.assurup.com