The Real Job of a Strategic Advisor Across Three Markets

I often get asked a similar question when I sit with a founder or sponsor who is looking for some help. It always comes out as a version of: “Do I need someone who builds doors, opens doors, or helps me determine which doors are worth taking?”

The answer is that all of those are worthy and important roles for an advisor, but the last function is worth far more than the others, and there is now an increasing amount of market data to back that up.

The Simplest Answer

The “growth at all costs” era is by and large over, and in insurtech and fintech it was always very risky. What replaced it is the era of focused, selective growth combined with commercial traction, capital efficiency, and focused execution. A strategic advisor working across the globe in insurtech, insurance, and fintech earns their place by converting strategy and technology into regulated, scalable, and investable businesses. Strategic and valuable introductions matter, but they are increasingly the beginning of the work, not the purpose of the work. The highest value return is helping management teams make better choices about where to compete, how to scale, and which efforts must be addressed accelerating growth.

The Capital Market Changed

The funding flows in these sectors have recovered, but unevenly. That unevenness tells a hidden story that most founders and early stage start-ups miss. Global insurtech funding reached $2.44bn in Q2, the highest single quarter since Q2 2022. This was driven by big rounds and was focused largely on AI-centered companies. European insurtechs raised $985.9M across just 27 deals in H1, and mega-deals of $100m or more2/3rds of the total.

Capital is concentrating in fewer, larger transactions…meaning the topline numbers hide underlying conditions that are more selective.

In the UK (where I am based) the market is not uniformly benefiting from this rebound. UK insurtech investment fell to around £58m ($72m) across 18 deals in H1…roughly half the prior-year. France and Switzerland pulled in more capital, and North America remains the deepest pool, totaling about 3/4ths of overall capital flows. This means that US market access, distribution, and investor networks remain central to any serious growth or capital plan. Meanwhile, EMEA fintech investment softened from $18.0B in H2 2025 to $11.3B in H1 2026. The common thread across carriers, MGAs, brokers, Insurtechs, Fintechs, and other regulated entities is clear…investors are prioritising quality over velocity. Profitability, sustainable unit economics, fraud prevention, resilience, and regulatory durability are replacing growth multiples as the core test of what is investible.

What Founders Actually Need…Credibility and Experience

The founders that I support the most want a customer…moreso than a plan or a check.

I get asked, “Can you get me in front of a carrier who will actually run a lighthouse pilot and then convert it into a commercial agreement?”

That is either the explicit question or the “question behind the question” underlying most founder conversations. Recent research confirms this…founders report that carriers and insurers are their most sought-after relationships (before capital) because they bring pilots, credibility, and market access. But given the nature of traditional carrier business models, procurement processes, and technological challenges, these might not be the best areas of opportunity for a new start-up.

That means the work for a strategic advisor is less about the introduction and more about everything around it.

Shortening the procurement cycle. Insurer procurement is slow, risk-averse, and layered with legal, security, and compliance tasks. An advisor who has sat on the buying side of these transactions can help structure a pilot that proves ROI, defines the lighthouse customer, and sets the terms that convert a proof of concept into a recurring contract. Even more importantly, they can help make the hard decision between what is worth an entrepreneur’s or staff’s time, or when it is time to cut losses and move on.

Getting regulatory clarity early (and often). The UK, EU, and US demand a different approach to licensing, distribution, data, AI governance, consumer protection, and outsourcing for each market. Working those efforts post-launch is how you end up re-engineering a product you have already sold. Which market are you actually built for first and are those initial markets the right/scalable ones?

Sharpening the positioning. Investors reward focused solutions far more than a broad platform story. I spend a lot of time helping founders trim the story down to the thing for which a buyer will actually pay. If you cannot name the single loss-ratio or expense line your product attacks, you will come off as unfocused and undisciplined.

Being genuinely fundraise-ready. Investor emphasis has moved to validating the quality of the business…grading revenue, gross margins, burn multiples, concentration risk, and regulatory readiness…all seeking a credible path to profitability. Would your data room survive a diligence process run by someone who has done a hundred of them within this very sector? Don’t assume that because you “get it”, they will too, or be able to see it. Make sure you have professional eyes on the package before it goes out.

What Boards Actually Need…Governance and Accountability

Running strategy teams at large corporations taught me that most board failures are not failures of data, intelligence, or even insight. They are failures of focus and prioritisation. A good non-executive or advisory presence gives a board an independent view on the decisions that are easy to defer and expensive to get wrong.

Strategic prioritisation and capital allocation. Deciding which products, geographies, and customer segments deserve capital is the most important board decision of all. Spreading too thin is the quietest (and most painful) way regulated businesses run out of money. Could your board defend its top three investments to a sceptical investor tomorrow if it comes to that? Having an independent and experienced professional on board who can speak intelligently to these questions is critical to a firm’s success (especially early).

AI governance is now a board discipline. Model explainability, human oversight, data rights, monitoring, cybersecurity, repeatability, regenerative training…and (most importantly) clear accountability now belong in the boardroom, not buried in an engineering team. Who in your organisation has one hand to shake or one neck to wring when a model produces an unfair outcome?

Risk-adjusted growth. Expanding distribution while protecting underwriting quality, conduct standards, and operational controls is a balancing act most growth-stage firms underweight. Are you scaling distribution faster than your controls can keep up? If so, you are sitting on a ticking time bomb that will blow up when the pressure becomes too much.

Execution visibility and the equity stack. Boards need clean dashboards covering pipeline conversion, retention, claims performance, unit economics, and cash runway…and they need those translated into a concise story that is believable to investors. Can you explain your regulatory position in two sentences an investor will trust? Will that be the actual regulatory framework put in place and how will the regulators respond? These are critical questions that boards cannot address themselves and need experienced professionals guiding their planning.

What PE and VC Sponsors Need…Strong Capital Guidance

Sponsors are not buying technology. They are buying technology paired with durable demand, defensible economics, and a clean path to exit. If they get all four, they will pay a premium for this investment provided that the evidence syncs up with the narrative.

Durable, repeated demand. Renewals, retention, reference customers, and low dependence on any single channel are the signals that differentiate a real business from a well-funded hypothesis. Strip out your largest customer and your biggest channel then look at what is left. If your business becomes brittle when you isolate the largest customer or channels, you have an indefensible proposition that needs shoring up.

Regulatory and data moats. Licences, approvals, embedded compliance capabilities, proprietary data, and integration depth are the defences competitors cannot easily copy. These are the bones of the business. The branding and the funding headlines are the skin; they make a company look alive. What makes a company survive is the two or three defensible assets underneath the skin that carry weight and keep the business standing when the market turns.

AI that delivers results. Not generic AI executions, but measurable effects on loss costs, claims expense, fraud, conversion, or servicing. If the AI does not change a number on the P&L, it will never deliver an investible ROI.

Scalable, cross-border management. Sponsors want leaders who can operate across jurisdictions and manage regulated growth (alongside realistic valuations, disciplined cash management, concentration analysis) and clear exit pathways.

Buy-and-build potential. Fragmented broker, MGA, payments, and specialist financial-services markets remain attractive where technology can lift margins and standardise operations across acquired entities.

These are the things I watch for in every diligence sprint in which I’m engaged: a poison pill that surfaces mid-integration; a licensing gap or a data-rights problem that nobody priced; both of which turn a clean thesis into a very expensive clean-up. Good diligence is simply the discipline of finding that pill before you swallow the company.

Where the Winners Will Come From

The next generation of winners will not always be the companies with the most sophisticated technology. They will be the real, operating businesses that combine specialist market insight, trusted distribution, clean data, regulatory credibility, and demonstrable economic value…and that is a very different checklist from the checklist the last capital cycle rewarded. The strongest demand sits where AI delivers measurable operating value…in specialist distribution models, in data and risk infrastructure, and in embedded or usage-based propositions built into a customer journey rather than sold as standalone products. The advisor who helps across all three connected markets is doing one job, which is reducing the number of avoidable mistakes between a good idea and an investable company.

Key Takeaways

Capital is back but concentrated. Funding is flowing to fewer, larger, AI-led rounds, which makes early-stage conditions more selective than headline totals suggest, especially in a UK market running at roughly half its prior-year level.

Customers beat capital for most founders. The scarce asset is a carrier willing to pilot and convert, so the advisory work is shortening enterprise sales cycles and proving ROI, not just making introductions.

Regulation is a moat, not a chore. Licences, approvals, and embedded compliance across the UK, US, and EU are increasingly what makes a business defensible and investable.

AI only counts when it moves a number. Sponsors and boards want measurable effects on loss costs, fraud, conversion, or servicing, not AI branding.

The advisor’s job has evolved. The value has shifted from introducing capital and contacts to helping teams choose where to compete, how to scale, and which risks to solve first.