CEO of A.I.-Driven Insurance Start-Up Lemonade Says Mockery Is the Highest Form of Flattery
*By Conor White*
Lemonade, the insurance startup that uses A.I. and chatbots to pay claims within seconds, saw exponential growth in the U.S. in 2018, but the company is setting its sights on Europe for its next phase of expansion.
"We've decided that if people in Berlin, and Tokyo, and New York are using Spotify ($SPOT), and Netflix ($NFLX), and Uber, why not Lemonade?" CEO and co-founder Daniel Schreiber asked in an interview on Cheddar.
The burgeoning company's tech-driven approach has caught the attention of some of its more traditional competitors. That includes State Farm, which [released an ad in October](https://youtu.be/KIWfc9aI1YI) poking fun at artificial intelligence and robots, a not-so-thinly veiled dig at the startup. But Schreiber said he didn't mind the mockery.
"We found it remarkable that ... the largest insurance company in the nation, that \[is\] a thousand times bigger than Lemonade, would spend millions of dollars taking us on," Schreiber said. "I really found that interesting and deeply flattering honestly."
The company even took the unusual step of paying to promote the ad online.
"They're mocking us," Schreiber explained, "but I really think it's a bit of a boomerang that comes back and hurts them much more than it hurts us."
The CEO highlighted some of Lemonade's 2018 accomplishments, including $57 million in sales and increasing the number of homes it insures by more than 300,000.
But Schreiber said he is proudest of his company's reputation with customers.
"You go now to any of the consumer ratings sites, and you'll find that USAA and Lemonade compete for the number one spot in terms of customer satisfaction," he said.
"Growing fast is fabulous," he said, "but if you do it at the expense of customer satisfaction, that's a price not worth paying."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/lemonade-insurance-plans-european-expansion).
In the wake of Robinhood announcing it will be letting go of 9 percent of its staff, Caleb Silver, Investopedia editor-in-chief, joined Cheddar News to talk about the growing pains that the trading platform is going through, how it is affecting its user experience, and where it goes from here. “I think you're gonna see a little bit more automation, but that's how Robinhood was built," he said. "I think what you'll see is less marketing." Silver also noted that the steep drop in the stock price leaves it potentially open to being acquired. "I'm not saying that I know anything about this, but they're looking awful cheap. And when you think about what's going on with Twitter and some of these other platforms, you can see a buyer coming for Robinhood any minute now."
Stocks closed slightly higher Wednesday as the Nasdaq closed flat after a failed attempt to close higher. Investors are keeping an eye on earnings, which so far have been shaky for big tech giants and companies that typically drive the market. Garrett Phillips, Managing Partner at 3Summit Investment Management, joins Closing Bell to discuss today's close, our current volatile environment, where to invest in the current environment, and more.
Ron Carson, CEO and Founder of Carson Wealth, sits down with Cheddar's Hena Doba to share how he achieved 'work-life harmony' by investing time and money into businesses he's passionate about.
Jan Lee, co-founder of Neighbors United Below Canal, joins Cheddar News to discuss how the new mega jail in NYC's Chinatown will negatively impact the community.
Melissa Eamer, founder and CEO of aging wellness brand Modern Age, joins Cheddar News to discuss the recent launch of its digital experience and flagship in New York City.
Danny Trejo is teaming up with Tostitos the once again for Cinco de Mayo. The actor and restaurateur is starring in the tortilla chip brand's commercial with Sofia Reyes to inspire others on how to celebrate the holiday. The "Machete" star joined Cheddar News to talk about the campaign. "I only do things I like, and I like Tostitos," he said. "You know, I love their Scoops. They don't break in the guacamole."
With National Infertility Awareness Week underway, the fertility and family-building benefits provider for employers, Kindbody, is looking to make a full suite of treatments and care accessible — including for LGBTQ+ patients. Founder and chairwoman Gina Bartasi joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to talk about the importance of infertility awareness, what role employers play in offering benefits, and how to remove the stigma around the fertility conversation. "We have to talk about the patient holistically, not just fertility services, but what can we do from a mental health standpoint to support patients," she said. "Most patients talk about fertility being more stressful than divorce, infertility being more prevalent than cancer or diabetes. So it is our mission, remains our mission, to elevate awareness around infertility, not just [during] National Infertility Awareness Week."
With a constrained supply of housing in the most desirable markets, home prices have risen nearly 20 percent year-over-year in February. David O’Reilly, CEO of Howard Hughes Corporation, joined Cheddar News to talk about where people are migrating to, and away from, leading to red hot real estate. "We see clearly the most demand is going into those states that I would define as warmer and less expensive, those secondary cities like Houston, Phoenix, and Las Vegas, where individuals are trading in higher traffic and lower quality of life for more affordability," he said. O'Reilly pointed to urban centers in the Northeast and West Coast as seeing the most losses in residents.
Social media giants including Twitter, Meta, Alphabet, and Pinterest all report earnings this week, and there's plenty to keep an eye on. One big earnings report to watch will be Twitter's, after the company today accepted Tesla CEO Elon Musk's $44 billion bid to take the company private. Investors will also be keeping an eye on ad revenue, user numbers, and more when it comes to Meta's social media networks like Facebook and Instagram. Ted Mortonson, technology strategist at Baird, joins Closing Bell to discuss Musk's Twitter takeover, how Apple's iOS privacy change could continue to impact ad revenue, and more.
Brian Moody, Executive Editor at Autotrader, joined Closing Bell's Ken Buffa to look ahead at what to expect from legacy automakers GM and Ford, as the auto industry attempts to navigate a combination of issues, including supply chain constraints and rising interest rates.
