Disruption. The most popular business buzzword of today focuses on shaking up an industry and totally changing the game. But disrupting isn’t always the main focus of a business. Simply building a useful product for the consumer is the target for Peter Goodman.
As co-founder and CEO of Homelyfe, Peter started his journey with a law degree and the world at his feet. Over-trading in his first business lead to debt but, not to be deterred, Peter went on to help set up several other companies, including Brighter Option, a social advertising platform. The sale of Brighter Option to Buddy Media in 2012 and then subsequently Salesforce for around $730m gave Peter a depth of knowledge in growing a company to success.
A passionate golfer, Peter is looking for a hole-in-one with Homelyfe, providing a more convenient option to manage insurance for the consumer.
“Homelyfe is an insurance business, focusing on delivering convenience and confidence into general and protection insurance. The insurance industry is notoriously complex and archaic in its approach. The unfortunate result is that a lot of British consumers spend a long time answering outdated questions and are not getting the adequate protection or cover they need and want. Some providers are still posting quotes rather than emailing them and each time you get insurance, you need to provide the same information fresh again, regardless of whether you are with the same provider.
“It shouldn’t be as difficult as it is – life is easier than that now – and it is time the insurance industry caught up with today’s consumer expectations. We’ve created Homelyfe to make insurance simple, intuitive and cost effective. By taking a common-sense approach, without the jargon or the unnecessary hoops, we’re looking to make it easy for people to get the protection they need, when they need it.”
Having sat on both sides of the investor/business owner coin, Peter prefers to sit in the drivers seat.
“There’s a public assumption that being an investor would be great because you can help businesses build their ideas, but having experienced it, I now know that it’s a profession for a reason. I take great pride in working alongside investors on deals that I wish to invest in. I think the UK is looking healthy at the moment and the stigma of startups “failing” is slowly being eroded, one entrepreneur at a time.”
“I’m not a huge fan of the word ‘disrupt’ – too many startups use the word as a point of existence. At Homelyfe we concentrate on how the consumer would like to manage insurance and have built our product around them. Customer centricity is at the heart of what we are building, and we believe this sets us apart because we have a very focused mission: to make obtaining, changing and managing insurance policies easier for consumers.
“We’re not trying to disrupt the insurance industry, we’re just trying to make it better, and based on what’s being delivered in the market at the moment, we’re confident that we’ve built a better insurance company that what is currently available from a customer experience and centricity standpoint. That said, we do have the luxury of starting from scratch and do not have the legacy / hangover of old platforms that do not talk to each other. With insurance, we believe that there is a chance to deliver the next gen business in collaboration with the large incumbents.
“The business is all about convenience and allowing consumers to buy multiple general lines of insurance in one place. Our aim for ourselves is for Homelyfe to become one of the most recognised names in insurance, with the potential to replicate our approach in international territories as well.”
