Andrew Cons: Building an international unicorn

In this episode, Sabine VdL interviews Andrew Cons, who was the CEO of Bolttech’s European operations at the time of the recording. Now leading Bolttech in Indonesia. He discusses his leadership journey, including acquiring expertise over the years in strategy, business improvement, and founding his own venture. KEY TAKEAWAYS Bolttech has grown from a PowerPoint deck to a unicorn in just two years. It was different from the outset from anything I’d ever done before, and that’s what really attracted me to the business. I had set up my own business before, but this is unique in what we’re trying to do here. It’s a results-driven business, and I’m a results-driven person, but I really love driving innovation and seeing that through to fruition, so when Bottech came to me, I couldn’t really say no because it was such a great opportunity.  The two big experiences where I’ve experienced great growth have been, obviously, here with Bolttech, building it from the ground up has been an amazing experience, and leading it from the front, setting the example, and building the culture in your own image is both exciting and a very privileged position to be in. Secondly, it was building out Asurion across Asia/Pacific, another major growth path I pursued. Both paths bring a lot of pressure, but the pressure of growing a mature, stable business at lightning speed while simultaneously identifying and converting growth opportunities to make that happen is a privileged position to be in. We connect insurers with distribution partners and then end customers. We’ve made a pretty good start on that mission so far, and we achieved unicorn status with the largest ever Series A funding round for an InsurTech. To date, we’ve raised over $247 million from some key strategic investors. At the center of our business is the largest insurance exchange in the world, and we now transact over $44 billion in quoted premiums annually.  We see the digital ecosystem and ourselves as enablers for our partners and customers to gain the right protection at the time of need, which is really important. As a platform, we are the gel that enables insurance carriers and distribution partners to deliver great insurance products on demand. BEST MOMENTS ‘I fell into insurance, but I’ve really enjoyed all the roles I’ve had as well as starting up my own venture, and whether it’s leaving transformational change to building successful businesses from the ground up, I’ve certainly learned a lot on the way.’ ‘I’ve been really lucky to build an amazing leadership team and organization that I believe is the best InsurTech business in Europe.’ ‘We’re a many-to-many ecosystem for our partners and customers; we bring them together.’ ‘Our mission is to become the world’s leading technologically enabled ecosystem. To deliver on that mission, we’ve developed the world’s largest insurance exchange, but on top of that, we offer 5,000 insurance products – and growing – and we work with over 180 insurance providers to give that choice and quality of experience to our end customers.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Andrew Cons leads the Bolttech teams in Indonesia, providing strategic and dynamic leadership as Bolttech builds the next generation of insurance services, protections, and ecosystems for Bolttech's existing and new partners in the European region. His experience spans a portfolio of businesses and a track record of results, including extensive board-level leadership across technology, operations, and digital transformation.  Andrew leads an agile, future-ready team that is focused on expanding Bolttech’s reach by driving sustainable growth in Europe. Outside of work, he enjoys traveling, golfing, and spending time with his family. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]