#startup

POSTED ON:

September 30, 2021

From our latest post, you’ve learned how we had met each other and came up with the idea to surf the telematics insurance waves. The time has come to continue the story, as told by Alex and Zahar.


The starting point
Alex: from my previous experience as a co-founder of two businesses I have a kinda framework. It is a basic roadmap guiding you through all the steps from day one to incorporation – idea statement, market research, MVP building, etc. We divide all these milestones into one-week sprints, and it takes six months on average to set everything up, depending on the industry. The framework is more or less similar to what incubators and accelerators use in their programs. Shoot us a line, and we’ll share the template.

When choosing the starting point of the framework, we were guided by the best-selling book of all times, saying, “In the beginning was the Name.” And the name was Draivn. Yes, we started with naming. And if you are one of 90% of people thinking Draivn is a bit off-the-wall, check out other alternatives, like Quarc, Groosha, Datamoto, Ubitronic, Gaap, Celeorito, and a few dozens of options you can see below.

TAGS:

Zahar: The beginning is always exciting.Whenever a person starts something new, he is always inspired. And we were not an exception. Alex was covering the business part of the venture, while I was in charge of telematics, the network was full of talented enthusiasts and friends with expertise in IT and telematics. We are ready to wrap it all up and kick off something great and disruptive and the enthusiasm was definitely there. Sometimes, too much enthusiasm is dangerous.

The first concept of Draivn
Zahar: Inspired, we dived deep into what people call usage-based insurance and understood that we are not the only ones here at all. There was a huge number of exciting solutions on the market, and some were a success, like CMT. But all of them were similar. Companies used a smartphone or GPS tracker as a part of their solution. To compete with them, we needed an even better mobile tracking app or device!

Inspired, we spent much time on the idea. Probably too much, considering what Draivn has become now.
We thought, “if we can’t revolutionize the industry, we can humanize it,” and we invented “Draivn Buddy.”

It was a very human-like driver assistant that warned drivers about risky maneuvers, bad weather, vehicle health issues, and increased stress level via blood pressure monitors embedded in the device. Pure rocket science, and lucky us nobody invented it! Pretty fast we found out why. After some calculations, we understood that Draivn Buddy is more likely to become Driver Bender, which will burn all our budget and stamina.

Alex: Yes, we broke up with Draivn Buddy, but the idea of being better in everything lingered in our minds. And we started working on our proposition, which was centered around better customer experience, driver engagement and loyalty, multi-factor and AI-based analytics, innovative devices, and an app. Even reading this is too much. We tried offering everything for anything. And it resulted in nothing.

With our concept and presentation, we started approaching insurers, investors, and competitors. But instead of drawing cheques, they showed us how raw and broad our concept was. And what is more important, we assumed that we did not differ much from all the existing market players, that are more mature, experienced, powerful, and funded. Time has come to rethink our concept and make allowance for the cold reality.

Zahar: We needed to hack the system, knowing little about it. And who knows how to do it best? Definitely, the ones who created it. That’s when the idea to find advisors with connections to the industry appeared. And Draivn team started seeking advice from seasoned industry executives standing at the origins of modern insurance.

We’ll unlock these secret characters in our next post. Meanwhile, follow us for more news and industry insights on LinkedIn.


Findings:
- Be bold but don’t start with a too complicated product. Most likely you will not create an Amazon from day one.
- Constantly validate your ideas and iterate based on learnings. If people do not get your idea, I am afraid the problem is not with them.
- All “good” ideas someday could transform into Bender without critical thinking.
- Focus on the niches where you have an unfair advantage or expertise. Or at least be prepared to find a way to close the gaps and secure the services of the niche professionals.
- Don’t drink and drive.
- Find real buddies, or you’ll find yourself inventing Draivn Buddy.
- Naming is hard. Praise your parents for they didn’t name you Draivn.
- We are all unique – selling propositions are not. Think about your unique selling proposition at the start.
- UBISOFT has nothing to do with UBI.
- Vaccinate!

Request a demo