Mulberri + AgentSync Autopilot

Mulberri began in 2021 as the first business insurance solution of its type. The insurtech was built specifically to enable payroll and HR providers to reduce inefficiencies, delays, and costs in the business insurance buying process caused by low-tech practices. Thanks to its niche in the field of cyberinsurance, Mulberri soon developed its own unique cyber products tailor-made for its clientele and started functioning as an MGA in addition to its role as an agency and brokerage for other carriers’ products. 

Mulberri’s quick success is even more impressive given the firm has only four licensed producers, who each wear multiple hats, like CTO and head of customer success, for example. Meanwhile, Daniel Hinman, Mulberri’s VP of Insurance, handles “everything insurance related,” aside from actually selling policies. 

Since implementing AgentSync’s Autopilot solution, Mulberri has:

• Reduced its compliance management spend by more than $10,000 annually 
• Easily kept its four licensed producers – each working with a dozen carrier partners – in compliance across 50 states 
• Enjoyed instant access to transparent data about each producer’s status in each state

And they’ve done all of this, and more, without additional time, money, or headaches thanks to the full-service Autopilot team, which acts as a seamless extension of Mulberri’s staff. 

“We chose to go with AgentSync’s Autopilot service because I just didn’t want to have to think about licenses and compliance. With limited hours in the day, I have to pick and choose what I’m going to focus on, and insurance compliance isn’t my area of expertise. With Autopilot, we have a whole team dedicated to making sure I never have to worry about it.”

Daniel Hinman, VP of Insurance at Mulberri

Taming the Wild West 

Like many tech startups, Mulberri was doing the best it could while moving at breakneck speeds to innovate with its technology and products. The team was seeking to extend its internal insurance expertise, which is why, in mid-2022, Mulberri brought on Daniel Hinman as its VP of Insurance. This new role put Hinman in charge of everything from producer licensing, carrier appointments, and state compliance to developing Mulberri’s suite of insurance products, running the newly-formed MGA, and more. 

When Hinman joined, it was clear he was going to need help. 

“In typical tech startup fashion,” Hinman said, “it was kind of the Wild West, with a constant firedrill environment.” 

Tasked with whipping things into shape, one of Hinman’s first goals was to improve the agent licensing process. This included finding ways to reduce the cost without adding extra work, or risk, to Mulberri’s plate. 

‘Meh’ for the money

“There weren’t any real issues with our compliance vendor when I joined Mulberri; we never found out we had a lapsed license or anything like that. But it definitely cost more than we wanted, and the communication wasn’t proactive or transparent. Those were the biggest reasons we were looking for a new partner.”

Daniel Hinman, VP of Insurance at Mulberri

When Hinman stepped into his new role at Mulberri, he was tasked with taking over agent licensing and with finding a better – and lower-cost – solution. 

“The vendor we had when I joined was fine, but they didn’t communicate well with us,” Hinman said. “It was very much a black hole for information, and we would just hope they were on top of things, hope we were compliant with our licenses.” 

Plus, Hinman said, the cost was too high for the level of service they were getting. With only two actively licensed agents at the time and a third in the process of getting licensed, the vendor’s price was still $10,000 to $20,000 higher than what he’d soon learn he could get with AgentSync. 

“I’m pretty sure it was a pen-and-paper operation,” Hinman said. “That’s why their billing was so high, because they were charging by the hour for an actual person’s time to manage licenses.”

The need for a more transparent and tech-forward solution, with a pricing model that would allow for Mulberri’s future growth without a one-to-one increase in costs, were the biggest reasons Hinman was on the hunt for a new compliance partner. And, Hinman said, they were the biggest reasons AgentSync stood out from the crowd when he began his search. 

The importance of transparent data

“With our previous vendor, we knew they were taking care of our producer licenses but we had no insight into how they were doing it, and no ability to see it for ourselves. We’d get billed monthly and you could piece together what was going on by looking through the bills, but it was a lengthy process to get any real data from them.”

Daniel Hinman, VP of Insurance at Mulberri

The desire for transparent data and exceptional communication with their compliance partner were some of the top reasons Mulberri wanted to make a move. Thanks to recommendations from former colleagues in the industry, AgentSync was one of the first names to come up when Hinman started his search. And what he found upon further investigation didn’t disappoint. 

“It was the tech-forward and flexible aspects of AgentSync that appealed to me right away,” Hinman said. “We only have four licensed agents today but when we started talking to AgentSync we saw that we could have up to 10 at the same price, so we have room to grow.” 

Just as important to Hinman as transparent pricing was transparent data. Most notably, with AgentSync he could for the first time pull reports instantly to get a clear view into the status of all his agents’ licenses in each state. Between its regular business interactions with more than a dozen insurance carriers and forming business partnerships between its newly formed MGA and other companies, Mulberri regularly needed to be able to answer questions about exactly which producers are licensed in what, where, and for how long before needing to renew. 

“Before AgentSync, I would reach out to our vendor to ask a question about our agents’ licenses and it would take a couple of days for them to get back to me,” Hinman said. “If there was a discrepancy in what they sent back, or if the question changed, I’d email back and I’d have to wait for a response again.” 

With AgentSync, Hinman has instant access to this information and can pull a report of all of Mulberri’s licenses and get answers within 10 minutes. 

This capability makes everything faster and easier, Hinman reports. From day-to-day operations like checking in on a license as needed, to large projects like due diligence with investors or partners, Hinman has accurate and up-to-date information on every one of his agents’ license status and carrier appointments across all states. 

Putting compliance on autopilot 

“We chose to go with AgentSync’s Autopilot offering because I just didn’t want to have to think about licenses and compliance. I wanted self-service access to answer questions and run reports, but I also wanted to know that if I needed anything I’d have an extremely responsive and knowledgeable resource I could get in touch with quickly.”

Daniel Hinman, VP of Insurance at Mulberri

Companies of Mulberri’s size (around 22 employees, and only five of them focused on insurance) might think their only option is to manage compliance in-house and by hand. Mulberri’s experience shows, not only can a partnership with an insurance compliance management solution be more cost-effective than doing it in-house, but the “done for you” white-glove level of service they receive with the Autopilot team is well worth the investment. 

“I love the self-service aspects of AgentSync,” Hinman said, “and even more than that, I love knowing the expert team at AgentSync has my back and will be ready, available, and responsive to any questions or needs we have.” 

Mulberri’s investment in AgentSync Autopilot means Hinman and others don’t have to think about compliance unless they want to. Case in point: When the Autopilot team tried to renew Mulberri’s designated responsible licensed producer (DRLP) license in a particular state, it wasn’t going through and needed to be further investigated. 

Behind the scenes, without Hinman needing to do anything, the Autopilot team contacted the state and NIPR, problem solved the issue, uncovered the solution, and continued working with the state to get the license renewed. The number of hours Hinman didn’t have to spend solving this licensing hiccup, and the peace of mind that his Autopilot team is proactively solving problems, makes the investment truly worth it. 

More perks, lower price

“You might think you can do something cheaper by keeping it in-house, but you don’t bill for your own time. If you look at what the company pays me per hour, it would be a lot more than AgentSync if I had to spend my time on licensing. And AgentSync is already significantly less than the vendor we had before.”

Daniel Hinman, VP of Insurance at Mulberri

One of the biggest perks Hinman enjoys with AgentSync’s Autopilot taking on all of the responsibility for license compliance is that he can spend his time on Mulberri’s new MGA. The MGA is an exciting new development, and also a massive time commitment. 

“It’s a zero-sum game,” Hinman said. “If I’m spending time on licensing, I’m not spending that time on our MGA, which is where the revenue opportunities are.” 

And, as Hinman described, compliance is one of those areas that people only notice when something goes wrong.

“You don’t get kudos for it,” Hinman said, “so, I want to spend my time moving the business forward and hitting our metrics, not making sure there’s no compliance issues.” 

With AgentSync and Autopilot, he gets to do just that, knowing while license compliance may be on the back burner of his mind, it’s top of mind for his Autopilot team. 

How AgentSync helps Mulberri:

• Provides assurance that producer licenses are in compliance across all states at all times, and that someone is ready and available to step in if there are any unforeseen issues
• Gives the team a modern and tech-forward experience that was easy and intuitive to pick up
• Saves the agency money, not just now, but even as it grows and increases its number of licensed agents in the future
• Allows Hinman to instantly access information about his producers to answer internal or partner questions without waiting on anyone or cobbling together different pieces of information from different sources