Travis Hedge is the co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Vouch, an insurance platform purpose-built for high-growth technology companies. After growing up around a family-owned insurance agency in Columbus, Ohio, Travis spent his early career at Nationwide Insurance and SVB Capital, where he saw firsthand the gaps in insurance for startups. He co-founded Vouch in 2018, and in just a few years, the company has scaled to nearly 6,000 customers. In our conversation, we dive into:How Travis’s third-grade dream of becoming an insurance agent turned into a mission-driven startupThe critical moment that pushed him to found VouchThe importance of founder-led sales and getting your first 20 customersWhy partnerships alone won't get you early tractionHow Vouch built a full-stack insurance platform versus being a digital brokerThe go-to-market lessons learned from Utah to nationwide expansionHow early hiring mistakes shaped Vouch’s sales strategyHow Travis thinks about demand generation and balancing inbound and outboundWhy domain expertise is essential in evaluating AI vendorsThe inflection points that changed how Vouch scaledHow AI will reshape insurance but not eliminate the human elementMuch moreBrought to you by:Fondo — All-in-one accounting for startups: https://tryfondo.comWhere to Find Travis HedgeWebsite: https://vouch.usX: https://x.com/The_HedgeFundLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/travishedge/Where to Find David Phillips (Host)X: https://x.com/davjLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davjphillips/In This Episode, We Cover(00:00) Introduction to Travis and Vouch(01:20) Travis’s early inspiration from his family's insurance business(05:00) Lessons from Nationwide and SVB Capital(10:30) The painful moment that sparked Vouch’s creation(14:00) Building a startup insurance platform from scratch(19:00) Getting the first 20 customers without relying on partners(23:00) Lessons in early hiring and go-to-market team building(27:00) How demand gen strategy evolved(33:00) AI’s real role in insurance and go-to-market(38:00) Big revenue and customer milestones(43:00) How Vouch now serves both seed-stage startups and late-stage scale-ups(47:00) How insurance mistakes can cost startups millions(51:00) The best time for founders to get insurance(56:00) Closing thoughts and Travis’s advice to foundersReferencedY Combinator (YC): https://www.ycombinator.comRibbit Capital: https://www.ribbitcap.com/SVB Capital: https://www.svb.com/svb-capitalOpendoor: https://www.opendoor.com/Root Insurance: https://www.joinroot.com/Nationwide Ventures: https://nationwideventures.com/Amplemarket (AI Sales tool): https://amplemarket.com/Goodhart's Law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law

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