2015 - 2017
Creating a smart home venture with MORE TH>N
In 2015 I was lead designer for MORE TH>N. I worked on every aspect of their B2C insurance experiences from purchasing to renewals and making claims.
Whilst working on MORE TH>N's home insurance product I spotted an opportunity to create a new (subscription based) business model, which used the rising interest in IoT and smart home devices.
My research showed that the vast majority of home insurance claims came from water leaks and burglaries. 9 times out of 10 these occurred when the home owners were out.
I found that moisture sensors and motion sensor hardware were becoming cheaper and the widespread adoption of wifi and smartphones could combine to solve this issue.
After experimenting with the various early-stage hardware products, I was able to build a proof of concept that connected a series of sensors together in to one home protection system.
Along with my prototype I created a storyboard and video to introduce the concept to the executive team. Once the idea had traction I ran a series of stakeholder workshops to develop the new product structure.
Through the ideation phase I was keen to ensure our tech gained product market fit by being easily accessible and approachable.
By humanising the product I was able to keep the proposition light and the go-to-market strategy as broad as possible.
I called it SAM.
As an early trial I ran a series of 'fake door' tests within the traditional home insurance sales funnel.
Once the leadership team were able to see the size of interest we moved quickly with a beta group.
Over time the project gathered more and more momentum. MORE TH>N signed new partnerships with suppliers. Eventually a new team was stood up as a joint venture with a VC. By 2016 SAM included x8 hardware products, available across x3 subscription plans, serving just short of 1m customers in the UK.
From 2017-2021 The venture scaled out into a full service insurance startup, MORE TH>N sold its stake in the startup to Aviva for aprox £200m.
