Conversations with Deepak Bhuvneshwari Uniyal, Co-Founder & CEO, Insurance Samadhan

Tell us about your best and worst days at work

Deepak: I don’t believe in the philosophy of worst days. Every day is either great or makes me learn something. We are solving a real problem for our customers, and sometimes these problems don’t have well-defined solutions. Setting up clear paths to solving insurance-related issues makes my day. 

What do you do when you are not at work? 

Deepak: I am an avid motorcyclist. When I am not at work, I like to take my bikes out for a spin. I am part of Raid-de-Himalaya. I love riding around the NCR roads. It helps me clear my mind and in fact, I have had some of my best ideas when I ride my bike. 

What is unique about your business? 

Deepak: Insurance resolution did not exist as a business model in India. The very fact that we are the only ones providing this service to our customers, who have no one to turn to in case they have been mis-sold policies, makes our value proposition unique.

If you had one piece of advice for someone just starting out, what would it be? 

Deepak: 1. Be fearless. Starting up is scary and you need to be able to look at problems, and there will be many, in the eye and solve them day in and day out

2. Given the choice between doing something fast or doing it right, always choose the latter. It will help you set up processes for when you scale

3. Passion and self-discipline yield 80% of the results

How do you define success?

Deepak: It is easy to get lost in vanity metrics when looking at your own business. We often hear about capital raises at sky-high valuations. Unfortunately, this cannot be considered the most important KPI for a business. The end goal of the business is to keep stakeholders happy, from customers to colleagues and investors. I feel we will truly succeed when we can satisfy each stakeholder through our business.

What is your favourite aspect of being an entrepreneur?

Deepak: The passion and inculcated self-discipline which has helped me solve real problems for our customers.

If you had the chance to start your career all over again, what would you do differently? 

Deepak: I would keep everything the same. My team and I have spent a considerable amount of time in the insurance industry, which has helped us understand the true pain points of the sector. We have started Insurance Samadhan at the right time and our collective experience has given us the tools to succeed in this new category. 

Where do you see yourself and your business in the next 5-10 years? 

Deepak: At present, we are solving event-based problems. Going forward, we aim to be a part of all phases of a customer’s insurance journey. In the next 5-10 years, we aspire to be the leading brand for all insurance grievances across the Indian sub-continent, Middle East, and Africa 

Share a story when the impact Insurance Samadhan had on someone brought a smile to your face 

Deepak:  In 2019, we had a bus full of 16 people from Jaipur show up at our office. They had been mis-sold 104 policies with a cumulative premium of INR 1.04 crores. It took us 10 months of hard work to help resolve their problems. To this day, we receive calls from those people to check up on how we are doing and to thank us for our effort. There are many such instances in our journey but the smiles we brought to those 16 people’s faces stand out even today.