Building the On-Ramp
How carriers can actually partner with innovators to build business value
Every benefits and insurance startup has heard it:
“We love what you’re building. We should work together.”
And yet, for every conversation that starts with enthusiasm, only a fraction ever make it to a signed pilot—let alone a scaled rollout.
It’s not because carriers don’t care about innovation. It’s because the on-ramp between “let’s talk” and “let’s launch” doesn’t exist in a formal, repeatable way. Instead, each startup faces a maze of siloed divisions, unclear budgets, opaque decision-making processes, and shifting priorities.
Carriers that solve this problem—by building a structured, repeatable path for innovation—will capture more value from their partnerships, faster. And we’re already seeing it happen.
Why Partnerships Stall
Even the most promising collaborations break down for a few predictable reasons:
Silos and Orphan Projects – The corporate innovation team loves the pilot, but the key business units aren’t clear on what (or why) we’re launching, and the project starts to fizzle.
No Clear Owner – Multiple stakeholders say yes, but it’s not clear where the budget should come from and who has final sign-off authority. Without fitting neatly into a corporate structure, we start going in circles.
Integration Paralysis – A good idea gets trapped behind security review, compliance sign-off, or IT backlogs that are designed to operate at the slower and more methodical pace of an incumbent.
Misaligned Incentives – Stakeholders who are needed to execute the program aren’t engaged with the upside, creating friction, low engagement and a lack of commitment.
Cart Before the Horse – Both parties spend months of effort, software development and compliance reviews before they’ve adequately tested the product in market, so by the time it’s launched the program is already out of date or lacks a path to growth.
While there are ways to prevent and reduce these challenges, the successful partnership becomes an outlier. Without an on-ramp, every new partnership starts from scratch—creating internal confusion while rediscovering what works.
The On-Ramp Model: A Repeatable Partnership Path
The good news is that carriers can fix this by creating a formal on-ramp—a standard process that moves innovators from first meeting to scaled launch in predictable steps.
Core components of an effective on-ramp:
Defined Strategy from the Start
Create a simple intake process that clearly identifies and articulates the strategic value of each proposed partnership.
Capture the problem statement, target customer, integration needs, and success metrics in a way that can readily adapt and follow the partnership throughout its lifecycle.
Rapid Assessment Team
Carefully select the right people across functions to assess and shepherd innovative partnerships; including those with a proven track record of thinking beyond business as usual. This cross-functional group should have representation from product, legal, compliance, IT, and distribution.
Once the core strategic value is understood, mandate this team to give a “go / no-go” decision within 30 days.
Fast-Track Pilot Program
Identify effective short-cuts for lengthy governance processes, such as pre-approved legal templates, low-risk security reviews, and integration frameworks.
Establish a decision-making process that can rapidly deploy resources within 90–120 days with defined budgets and 3–5 measurable outcomes tied to strategic goals.
Commercial Transition Plan
From the start, engage the key business units needed to foster the long-term success of the pilot. Map the handoff from the innovation team to the business and how you’ll work together to identify what “success” looks like.
If the early pilot is successful, who will sell, service, and fund its expansion?
Marketplace Integration
Benefit distribution systems are complex and multi-faceted. While the pilot likely begins in a single vertical with low lift, a longer term vision for full market integration should be built.
For products that succeed, a path to listing on the carrier’s internal or public marketplace, key distribution verticals and strategic partners will be essential to reach scale.
The Role of Corporate Venture Arms
Insurtech and benefits innovation is in a ripe phase for corporate venture. The markets have shown the commercial value of deep industry expertise and long-term conviction to build scalable solutions, and both Private Equity and Corporate Venture are responding to the call.
As carriers expand their direct venture investments, they must carefully consider how they can foster strategic partnerships:
Align CVC portfolio investments with 3-5 year business unit priorities.
Make CVC an early on-ramp entry point, where funded startups automatically get access to structured pilot programs.
Use investment milestones to trigger commercial opportunities.
How Carriers Benefit From a Strong On-Ramp
Faster Innovation Cycles – Moving from concept to pilot in months instead of years allows faster learnings and first-to-market differentiation.
Reduced Partnership Waste – Fewer promising ideas lost to process fatigue while making a better use of internal resources.
Better ROI on CVC Investments – More portfolio companies becoming value-add partners means ROI for company business units and a stronger investment return over time.
Market Differentiation – A reputation as the carrier innovators, startups and forward-thinking distribution channels actually can (and want to) work with.
Long-Term Viability - While insurance may be one of the best capitalized industries, the market continues to evolve and change. Worker benefits and insurance in the future will not look, sound or act as it does today. Carriers that demonstrate a practical way to evolve will win in the end.
How Startups Benefit
Scale Potential – A marketplace listing or bundled product with a benefits or insurance carrier can unlock employer networks and distribution exponentially. But without the right onramp, a carrier partnership can cost a start-up millions of dollars with little to show for it.
Clarity – A clear carrier onramp creates a shared vision for success, realistic expectations and the ability to predict timelines and budgets for founders and investors.
Speed – Startup timelines are short and runway is precious. Shorter time-to-pilot means shorter time-to-revenue; and the confidence that comes with being able to deliver between funding rounds.
Market Validation – Access to carrier expertise and feedback during pilot design can be crucial for unlocking a product’s true potential. A successful launch with one carrier creates the proof-points to work with many.
The Bottom Line
An on-ramp is the difference between innovation theater and innovation results.
With four generations in the workforce, AI tools changing the nature of work, and insurance and benefits startups seeing record investment from private equity and corporate venture arms alike, carriers need to stop treating each startup like a one-off experiment. Instead, they should build and execute a partnership process that is as deliberate and repeatable as their underwriting workflows.
Do that, and “I love what you’re building, we should work together” becomes not just a meeting end-note —but the beginning of a real, revenue-generating relationship.
