Cam Serigne, like many in the insurance industry, has had an unconventional career path, serving as a football player in the NFL before launching his own InsurTech. But he said joining an unfamiliar industry like insurance was one of the secrets to his success — namely, because it taught him to problem solve.

“That kind of problem-solving mentality has been instilled in me, where I was lucky enough to be the least experienced guy in the room for a while and learn so much,” he said.

Serigne is the CEO and founder of vQuip, an InsurTech platform providing liability coverage for renters of individual boats and other beach equipment. Before vQuip, however, he had a different career entirely, serving in the NFL as a tight end with the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers.

“My background is unique, but I think it’s taught me so much,” he said. “I got to watch my head coach in college — Dave Clawson at Wake Forest University. He was probably one of the best CEOs. Now that I’m on the other side of it, looking back, I got to spend five years watching a masterclass on how to build culture and build an organization.”

When his NFL career came to an end, Serigne had an opportunity to branch out into the private equity space with Ridgemont Equity Partners in Charlotte, North Carolina. While there, he worked across the technology, business industrial services, energy, and healthcare sectors. He said it was working in both of these seemingly different fields that allowed him to start piecing together the idea to strike out on his own.

“I was working at Ridgemont and went on a beach trip to Pensacola, Florida, where I looked around the beach and saw a ton of equipment being rented,” he said. “I was like, ‘Wow, this is lots of money being transacted on the beach.'”

His initial idea to build an Airbnb model for water or vacation equipment rentals didn’t pan out the way he expected, however.

“I started talking to businesses, and to make a long story short, quickly found out that was a horrible idea,” he laughed.

But if his time playing football taught him anything, it was dedication and perseverance.

“You know, a lot of [football] was work ethic and organization,” he said, adding that he continued talking to businesses to learn how he could make his idea a success. He eventually found a different route in insurance.

“They all kept saying the same thing: ‘My biggest pain point is insurance,'” he said. “For every single one of them, that was their largest issue. I got obsessed with talking to agencies and carriers and ended up making a partnership with 180 Intermediaries where, for the first two years after I started the business, it was like getting an MBA in insurance just being around bright people like that.”

vQuip, which began as an idea on a beach in Florida, became a full-fledged InsurTech operation in 2019.

“At vQuip, we are all about problem solving,” the website says, seemingly pointing to the skills Serigne built throughout his career that have permeated the business.

“We’re a lot like an MGA, but we partner with existing ones as well,” he said, pointing to the company’s partnerships with 180 Intermediaries and other carriers, such as Nationwide.

He said that since the business has launched, and particularly after COVID-19 restrictions have eased during the past couple of years, the company has seen demand surge for boat rentals and beach rental equipment.

“I think you’ve seen across so many different verticals people wanting to get out and do more activities, and a very cost-effective way to do that is to rent,” he said. “We’ve seen a lot of demand spike for these types of activities.”

Serigne said one of the challenges he’s observed with insurance in the specialty rental space is the proliferation of legacy technology and systems. By partnering with insurance carriers, vQuip is seeking to innovate not by wiping out existing technology, but instead by working alongside these systems to introduce new efficiencies.

“For us, it’s about how we can take new age technology and match it up with what already exists, because thinking about coming in and completely wiping out all the existing technologies and players is just unrealistic and it’s not good for anyone,” he said. “I think what we really are trying to do is work with what’s already there, so whether it’s carrier systems or other booking platforms in our industry, we view ourselves as a collaborative player trying to enable new opportunities for everyone involved.”

vQuip works within the specialty rental market in three ways. It uses risk management to facilitate policies and procedures required by insurers for rental companies. This includes customer training, vetting, rental agreement/waivers, and GPS tracking tied to specific reservations. Through its relationships with insurance carriers, the platform also allows renters to purchase insurance in their own name for the duration of their rental. Additionally, vQuip works to connect specialty rental companies with businesses to provide new partnership opportunities. The platform has focused primarily on the watercraft industry, but Serigne has plans to expand into new verticals in the near future, he said.

“We are really excited about our renters’ insurance program in watercraft, so we’re continuing to get word out about that,” he said. “We are looking to move into our next vertical – one we’re eyeing right now is power sports – and really show that we can help companies build up programs every single year across specialty markets.”