José Fernández and Robi Calvesbert are the co-founders of Aseguratec, a growing company in Puerto Rico that aims to transform the insurance market. Founded in 2015, they’ve raised more than $70,000 in capital to develop a platform that helps people save time and money when buying coverage plans online.
While working as insurance agents for Banco Popular, Fernández, left, and Calvesbert, right, realized that big banks weren’t interested in smaller clients and saw an opportunity to provide insurance services to the niche market. The entrepreneurs now have 20 employees to support a growing client base, with plans to expand into the U.S. and Latin American markets. According to Fernández and Calvesbert, the key to consistent growth lies in betting big, taking risks and working hard to make the most of new opportunities
In early 2020, BĀSED. met with the pioneering founders. In the interview, they discussed their journey to create a successful insurance business from scratch on the island. The partners shared the story of Aseguratec’s rapid growth, as well as advice for early-stage entrepreneurs.
Gustavo Díaz-Skoff (GDS)
Today, we’re interviewing the founders of Aseguratec, an insurance platform based here in Puerto Rico. Thank you for being here. So, what are your names and what do you guys do?
Robert Calvesbert (RC)
I’m Robert Calvesbert, right, I’m managing director (mostly operations).
José Fernández (JF)
And my name is José Fernández, left. So, we’re both directors, I work more in marketing.
Gustavo Díaz-Skoff (GDS)
So, Robi, how did you guys meet each other and why did you decide to build this company?
Robert Calvesbert (RC) | Operations
We met working for Banco Popular, one of the biggest banks in Puerto Rico, and that’s how everything started out.
José Fernández (JF) | Marketing
Long story short, we were insurance agents at Banco Popular, traditional brokers that had financial wealth management clients. But the first clients we got were very small clients that big banks didn’t necessarily serve at [that time]. So that’s where the need came in to do Aseguratec as a specialized insurance firm for selling microinsurance to everyone in Puerto Rico.
Gustavo Díaz-Skoff (GDS)
So, using microinsurance, you’re not going after the large players, you’re going for the smaller ones.
José Fernández (JF) | Marketing
Exactly. Small clients, people outside of the metro area, the underinsured market, people who don’t necessarily have access to a traditional agent.
Gustavo Díaz-Skoff (GDS)
Are these individuals or small businesses or do you actually serve both?
José Fernández (JF) | Marketing
Individuals, mostly. We started with car insurance. There are three main areas of insurance – property and casualty, health and life insurance. So, we were mostly focused on property and casualty [at] the bank. So [for example] auto insurance, the small policies of property and casualty.
A building is [an example of] a bigger policy. A big firm is a big policy. If you have a big firm, you wouldn’t [just] give us your insurance, you would give us your small auto insurance to test us out. So that was what we started doing in [Banco] Popular. And when our bosses told us that, you know, you guys are bringing in too much small business, we said there’s gotta be a way to sell to those clients because that’s what everybody’s asking for.
Gustavo Díaz-Skoff (GDS)
And how did you guys find the solution?
José Fernández (JF) | Marketing
Gustavo Díaz-Skoff (GDS)
I’m guessing you guys didn’t start this yesterday. When was Aseguratec founded?
Robert Calvesbert (RC) | Operations
Since it was technically a competing business with our current jobs we had to quit immediately when we told our bosses. They’ve supported us every step of the way. But that was September 2015. It took us about nine months to create the initial software to be able to launch. So we launched in June 2016. And then I would say after Hurricane María, after September 2017, we would say it was our “relaunch,” where we started selling critical illness insurance and life insurance to supplement the auto offering that we had.
Gustavo Díaz-Skoff (GDS)
And between that time period of 2015, leaving your jobs, taking nine months of just testing and trying to build it up, did you guys seek any help to actually test your idea, build it up and have the product marketed?
Robert Calvesbert (RC) | Operations
Yes. We had a local firm called V2A Capital provide us the seed investment. Then we did the local programs… [Grupo] Guayacán. We did two other programs. One was called Enterprise. Enterprise was kind of building the business model. And then we did Springboard, which is some of the companies that graduated from Enterprise. That was a good program. We actually came first in that program and received a grant from Guayacán. We were part of the second generation for Parallel18, which was a great experience that helped us during that initial year-and-a-half of growth.
Gustavo Díaz-Skoff (GDS)
Awesome. So, you received the seed funding and then you went on to Enterprise [to Springboard]. And then you ended up at Parallel18. For those of you who don’t know what P18 is, it’s an accelerator/incubator in Puerto Rico that’s funded by the Puerto Rico Science Technology & Research Trust and they’ve helped over 200 companies go through their program. And they give $40,000 in equity free funding, if you have an idea that’s hitting the numbers and has a prospective future.
Robert Calvesbert (RC) | Operations
Yeah, I would definitely agree with that. So [Parallel 18] definitely helps companies from Puerto Rico to understand where we are in terms of the global players in the startup world and that has helped us develop relationships and continue to grow our company locally with the focus on expanding outside the United States.
Gustavo Díaz-Skoff (GDS)
So, speaking of expanding and going global, do you guys only serve the Puerto Rican market?
Robert Calvesbert (RC) | Operations
Currently, we’ve already started providing sales outside of Puerto Rico, mostly focusing on Latino markets in the United States. Latin America is a market that we’re going to be focusing on.
Gustavo Díaz-Skoff (GDS)
When did you decide, OK, it’s time to actually venture out of the car insurance and also venture out of Puerto Rico?
José Fernández (JF) | Marketing
I think right from the get-go. Yeah, because when we were at Popular, half of the story was the auto insurance story that I told you about. But the other half of it was that we also went ahead and tried to sell health policies. But these policies are only 20, 30 bucks a piece a month. So it’s not profitable for an agent to go door to door selling critical illness or a hospitalization policy. So, since the beginning, we had the idea, it was just a matter of [time]. Tech is always on the front line. For example, we finished auto and then it became a [digital] marketing play for a moment. So [the] tech [team] immediately started working on the health part. So, it’s sort of a pivot, but it’s really, it’s something that was always in the plan.
Robert Calvesbert (RC) | Operations
We focus on our three areas. We separate our business into three main pillars, which are technology, marketing and insurance. So, at the end of the day, we’re insurance agents, but we’re a tech company and we’re also a digital marketing agency.
Gustavo Díaz-Skoff (GDS)
And obviously, when it comes to marketing, you guys already drive most of your leads via marketing and online business. How does that compare to competitors? Does that give you an edge or are your competitors also really good at marketing?
Robert Calvesbert (RC) | Operations
I would say that we’re really good. We try to stay up to date with other businesses and other types of industries that use similar channels, social media, Google, any digital marketing strategies that are available, we use them all. I think that we’ve seen a trend of traditional agents starting to catch up and starting to move into more digital strategies. So that’s why we have to keep ahead of the curve and continue to move into new lines of business, new markets, investing in our technology and increasing our customer base.
Gustavo Díaz-Skoff (GDS)
Can you tell us more about your revenue? How have you guys done year by year?
Robert Calvesbert (RC) | Operations
We’ve had tremendous growth in the last three years, growing exponentially year after year
Gustavo Díaz-Skoff (GDS)
What were your revenues in 2016 for example?
Robert Calvesbert (RC) | Operations
We grew around 700% in the last year. I would say that this year that just ended right now, 2019, was a year for us to really understand what our long-term goals are, because we were focused on the Puerto Rico market and we were very successful in 2018. Kind of entering the market and being able to grow exponentially. So last year was a year to prepare for 2020, which is the year that we’re going to expand outside of Puerto Rico.
Gustavo Díaz-Skoff (GDS)
So, you expect [that] in 2020 you’re going to be hitting what, 5 million, 10 million, 20 million in revenue? What’sa good guess?
Robert Calvesbert (RC) | Operations
I would say between $3 and 5 million is what we’re trying to target and become a global player, because as José mentioned [when you] asked him aboutwhat we thought at the beginning, we’ve always focused on growing outside of Puerto Rico. That’s always been our strategy. We knew that Puerto Rico was going to be kind of our sandbox to really test everything out. And now it is where we’re actually starting to play at a bigger market, which is the United States
Gustavo Diaz Skoff
Gustavo A. Diaz Skoff is an entrepreneur born and raised in Puerto Rico's startup ecosystem. Gustavo has over a decade of experience leading non-profit organizations, administering real estate ventures, and consulting small family-owned businesses on the island. Gustavo completed his Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration at Babson College. He serves as the president and founder of BASED.
