James Benham on Why Insurance Is One of the Most Interesting Tech Problems

[00:00:01] - [Speaker 0]
Welcome back to the business tech perspective podcast. And today's conversation, well, it's for anyone who's ever questioned whether raising venture capital is the only way to build a serious tech company or, in fact, any kind of company. My guest today is nothing short of inspiring. A real renaissance man. His name is James Benham.

[00:00:24] - [Speaker 0]
He's a bootstrapped entrepreneur, technologist, TEDx speaker, bestselling author of Be Your Own VC, and has spent more than two decades building profitable tech businesses and doing so without giving up control, often in industries that many people overlook, including insurance and construction to name but a few. And today, he's the cofounder and CEO of JBK, a multinational technology and consulting firm that he has grown from a college dorm room into a global organization. And if all that isn't enough, he's also the cofounder of Terra, t e r r a, a cloud native platform that is modernizing workers' compensation claims and policy management in one of the most regulated sectors in the business. And trust me, when you listen to his story today, you will see the whole world around you very, very differently, even just going to a ballgame. Because today, we will talk about what bootstrapping really looks like over the long term, why cash discipline still matters in an AI driven world, and how innovation actually happens inside some of those so called boring industries.

[00:01:40] - [Speaker 0]
And they are far from boring industries once you're inside of them too. And why pace of execution now defines who survives and who falls behind. And we will even get into leadership, creativity, and why building companies that last often means thinking very differently about growth. Before I bring today's guest on, a quick thank you to my friends over at Denodo. AI is evolving fast, but the elephant in the room is initiatives are still failing.

[00:02:09] - [Speaker 0]
Not because the models aren't good, but because the data foundation isn't ready. That's why organizations are increasingly turning to Denodo and logical data management. Denodo unifies your data across every cloud and every system without the need for massive replication. So you can power trustworthy AI, accelerate lakehouse optimization, and build data products that make self-service real for every team. So if you're ready to make AI actually work, visit denodo.com and put logical data management to work today.

[00:02:47] - [Speaker 0]
Intrigued? Good. Enough seed setting for me. Let me introduce you to James right now. So a massive warm welcome to the show.

[00:02:58] - [Speaker 0]
Can you tell everyone listening a little about who you are and what you do?

[00:03:02] - [Speaker 1]
My name is James Benham. I'm from, this beautiful little city called College Station, Texas, home of Texas a and m in the middle of Texas, kind of in the middle of everywhere, the middle of nowhere. We're three hours from Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, two hours from Austin, hour and a half from Houston. I'm originally born and raised in South Louisiana. If you don't know where that is, that's, like, New Orleans, Mardi Gras, that whole thing.

[00:03:23] - [Speaker 1]
I I I you know, a lot of my family lives in New Orleans, and I grew up pretty close by, just under an hour away. And, you know, I'm I'm a I'm a lifelong technologist. I I'm 46. I started my love of tech started in 1991 in sixth grade when I got put into a computer science class at a magnet engineering middle school, which I then when I went to mag magnet engineering high school, was a bunch of nerds. There was no football, baseball, or basketball.

[00:03:53] - [Speaker 1]
It was just technology and engineering, which was really fun even though I played soccer, actually. To to your credit, Neil, my most arduous football foot football soccer experience was a summer soccer camp that two crazy Brits put on every year in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and they would just beat the tar out of us for for a week and teach us how real footballers played. So side note. But but, you know, I what was that? 1991 to now?

[00:04:25] - [Speaker 1]
So, I mean, functionally, thirty five years, I've been writing code of some kind. Got it got really involved in I started a little lawn business when I was 12. Loved cutting grass. Made a lot of money cutting grass. You you can make a lot of money cutting grass if you didn't know that.

[00:04:39] - [Speaker 1]
Mean, you can really

[00:04:40] - [Speaker 0]
Oh, man.

[00:04:40] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. You can do really well. I I I made $40 an hour in 1992 running the lawn and cutting business. So it was great. As a 12 year old, you know, my mom was like, how much did you make today?

[00:04:51] - [Speaker 1]
I'm like, a $160. She's like, what are you doing? I'm like, mom, I'm cutting grass and weeding and pulling stuff, and people don't like doing it. They're willing to pay a lot of money. You know?

[00:05:00] - [Speaker 1]
So I've been been doing this for a while, business and tech as well. And then went to well, got to run an Internet service provider in high school back when it was dial up. So I ran a dial up Internet service provider with some friends and then came to A and M, studied accounting, masters in masters in business as well, tried working for somebody else. It it it was alright. I I was a a two two time intern with PricewaterhouseCoopers and their audit and global security division.

[00:05:29] - [Speaker 1]
You know, I was paid to hack into stuff and then fix it. And then I just was like, man, I can't do this. So before I got out of school, after the internships, before graduation and went to my dad, I'm like, hey, man. I just wanna start a business. I'll I'll I'll build build software.

[00:05:43] - [Speaker 1]
And so I've been doing that now for twenty five years. My business partner played soccer with me, actually, in high school. He was from Argentina where all the good strikers are from. Uh-huh. And no no offense, but, you know, for a long time, the four top strikers in the world were all Argentinian.

[00:05:58] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. And and he so he he was from Argentina. He played soccer. He was a striker. I was a goalie.

[00:06:04] - [Speaker 1]
And we we met playing soccer, and we started this business together along with my my dad who came alongside us as a silent partner adviser and and silent partner. And, you know, we've spent now twenty this is our twenty fifth year of building enterprise technology, now exclusively for the insurance industry, but worked in all kinds of industries. We had a really big product line in construction for a long time that took me to The UK a lot. And, you know, we just had had a had a blast building software, custom software off the shelf. I've built, I don't know, seven products.

[00:06:36] - [Speaker 1]
Five of them failed. One was a wild success, and I I sold that company in 2018 and kept all the people and the mothership and started another product company. So today, I've got a service company, JBK, a product company, Terra, about 280 employees, and we build software for the insurance sector, whether it's off the shelf software, which is Terra, or custom enterprise software, which is JBK. So And on

[00:07:01] - [Speaker 0]
top and on top of all that, you're a West Ham guy as well. It's a store there. West Ham.

[00:07:06] - [Speaker 1]
West Ham. Yeah. So, yeah, I've got I've got I've got this guy. I should have worn my scarf. I don't think I have my scarf here.

[00:07:11] - [Speaker 1]
You know? But, you know, when you travel a lot and I've traveled all over the world. I have people all over Argentina, and then I've I've gotten to go to The UK a lot, going back to The UK coming up in a few weeks. You know, you just make good friends, and and a and a really good friend was like, hey. You you've got a you got a you got you got a team?

[00:07:31] - [Speaker 1]
I'm like, no, man. Don't know to he goes, you're West Ham now. And, like, he gave me a scarf, and he told me all about it. He, like, sold me on the West Ham culture, and then, like so I just I wear it now. I just wear the scarf around a lot.

[00:07:43] - [Speaker 1]
And people are like, oh, yeah. Watched Tom. And I'm like, hey, man. This is my kind of thing. Like, I I I can dig into this video.

[00:07:49] - [Speaker 1]
It was like when I when I first went to Argentina in 2002, I was 23. I had just finished grad school. I was flying down to open my office down there. I mean, baby baby James. We bootstrapped this business, by the way, so I had no money.

[00:08:02] - [Speaker 1]
I scrapped enough money together to fly to Argentina. My business partner was from there. He had returned back home. We were opening the office, and I was on the flight with a Boca Juniors player.

[00:08:14] - [Speaker 0]
No.

[00:08:15] - [Speaker 1]
And so I was like, hey. Blue and blue and gold? That's a that's a nice color scheme. This guy's a really nice guy. He tells me all kind of great things about the team.

[00:08:24] - [Speaker 1]
I go back. I found out that's who Maradona played for. And then, you know, I'm like, hey. This is this is cool, and I like the colors. I like the team.

[00:08:32] - [Speaker 1]
Of course, I find out that half my employees there are River Plate fans, which is, of course, the the arch rival of Boca Junior is, you know, fatal arch rivals. And then the other half are Boca's fan. I'm like, well, and my business partner turned out he's a river guy. I'm like, too late. I've already picked the team.

[00:08:47] - [Speaker 1]
I'm Boca. And and so that's the that's how that's how West Ham that's also how I'm a Boca fan. In The States, I'll be honest. Now my local team's the Dynamo who has done very well, and MLS is a real league now. We got, I don't know, 27 teams now.

[00:09:02] - [Speaker 1]
We're part of we have this North American Cup now with Mexico and Canada. I mean, we got some great soccer going on here now, but I love Inter Miami because I just love Lionel Messi. So I can't I can't I can't get enough of of of Inter Miami and Messi. Yeah. It's all good.

[00:09:17] - [Speaker 0]
I love it. And just listening to you though and your whole story, I mean, you've built multiple successful companies. And one of the things that stands out is without taking any outside investments. So what was it that inspired you to embrace the world of bootstrapping, and and how's it shaped your approach to leadership and innovation throughout your

[00:09:35] - [Speaker 1]
Oh, yeah.

[00:09:35] - [Speaker 0]
To today as well?

[00:09:37] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. It has to because, you know, bootstrappers just we're just we're just wired differently, man. And and I think what you might say what what would you say in England? Maybe he's got a screw loose. I I don't know what what phrase.

[00:09:50] - [Speaker 1]
Right? Like, you must you say screw you gotta screw loose because, you know, it's like this incredibly insane everything all in. Like, you're playing poker and you're like, you just keep saying all in. All in. All in.

[00:10:03] - [Speaker 1]
House, car, all my stuff, all in. And because you value independence and decision making so much that the the thought of having to go raise money and subjugate yourself to a board is pretty pretty challenging, you know, pretty challenging to think of. And so my dad was a bootstrapper. My grandfather was a farmer. You could say he was a businessman, but he just wasn't a great unfortunately, he he he was a he was a great granddad to me.

[00:10:29] - [Speaker 1]
Great granddad to me, but he just didn't have a lot of success at farming. But his father was a successful had a own successful medical practice. My my great grandfather had a a sanatorium back in the day. He was I mean, there's just some really interesting things that that I got to watch with my family, my aunts, uncles, cousins that were all entrepreneurs, and all of them were bootstrappers. And I was like, man, this can be done.

[00:10:54] - [Speaker 1]
And none of them helped me with my business. I mean, they would give me advice, but they, you know, I didn't I raised a total of $5,000 to start the business, you know, from from my dad because I I had no money. Yeah. And and I said, dad, I need I need $5 and a lot of advice. And so he he he he did it.

[00:11:12] - [Speaker 1]
And then I think I borrowed $63,000 on top of that, which I paid back in two years, and then we just haven't had any debt since then. And and so we've been able to to use the cash that we generate from our services business, you know, to to do really cool things and and build build companies. And, you know, when we sold SmartBed, I had clients all over The UK, Australia, Hong Kong. I mean, we had we had 1,200 major enterprise construction clients around the world. We had a quarter million subcontractors that would receive bids and and bid on work through our platform.

[00:11:46] - [Speaker 1]
It was really incredible. And, you know, then you had to say, okay. What do we do now? I said, we do ever you remember that that cartoon pinky and the brain? Yeah.

[00:11:55] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. Yeah. Pinky and the brain. Brain. Brain.

[00:11:57] - [Speaker 1]
Brain. And, like and he's like, what do we do today? Oh, what do we do every day, pinky? Take over the world. And and so I was like, what do we do now?

[00:12:04] - [Speaker 1]
Said, we start over. You know? And and, you know, it's and so we did. We we we decided to build a whole new product line in Terra and just go at it again, bootstrap it again and again, just say, you know what? All in.

[00:12:19] - [Speaker 1]
Like, let's you know, I'm 46. My partner's 49. Like, you know, we got we got we got a lot of time in front of us. Let's just go all in.

[00:12:29] - [Speaker 0]
And speaking of time, no matter everything you've got on your plate here, you've also had a book called be your own VC where you outlined 10 principles for building profitable companies while still maintaining control. So which of those principles do you think founders most overlook and why? It'd be great to send the message out for them founders listening, making sure they don't bump into them same mistakes again.

[00:12:52] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. I mean, they're they're all extremely valuable to me, but I think that they they tend to lose sight of cash. And and that's the number one rule, cash is king. You know? And and I just watch it over and over again.

[00:13:05] - [Speaker 1]
In particular, among, companies that are raising money, they just kind of feel like they they're just another round away from being okay for another three years. And, you know Yeah. Like, I I'm I'm an investor as well. I've I've invested in a lot of tech companies, private investments, you know, VC. So I'm a I'm a limited partner, an LP at four different VC funds.

[00:13:25] - [Speaker 1]
So I get to see the other side of it, which is the non bootstrapped world where I'm the money, I'm the house, and the LP, and, you know, they just tend to they tend to undervalue cash and having it on hand and generating it. And they're like, oh, we'll just raise another round. I'm like, well, maybe you won't. Yeah. Maybe, like, maybe your numbers won't be won't be attractive enough, and maybe you're gonna run out of cash, so you better figure out a way to to keep running.

[00:13:51] - [Speaker 1]
And so I'd say that's a big one that that they commonly underestimate and also just, you know, business sucks sometimes. It's really hard. I mean, it just you know, there's just days when you'd feel like everyone has their steel toed boots on, like so many cowboys wear here in Texas, and they're all kicking you right in the stomach. You know? Like, it it you have those days where you're like, what what else?

[00:14:15] - [Speaker 1]
Like, what else is gonna happen today, and will I survive till tomorrow? And so I think that, like, one of the hard things is that the number one rule of business is actually to survive. It's not you know, because you're not always gonna thrive. It's not always gonna be good. In fact, all too often is not good.

[00:14:33] - [Speaker 1]
And and in tech, you know, we've got these these really huge existential threats right now in tech. Right? Like, AI is a massive existential threat to the whole industry. Like, we really don't know exactly what percentage of the technology industry AI is gonna consume, but we know it's gonna be material. And so you you're always looking at how you survive, how you stay relevant.

[00:14:53] - [Speaker 1]
That always has to be question number one because, you know, the reality is we always have one foot as we as we would say, you always got one foot on the banana peel. You know, you're you're always you're always about to slip on something. And You know? So there's a we have another funny phrase here in Texas. You ever heard of this one, turd floater?

[00:15:13] - [Speaker 1]
No. That's that's when that's when it rains so much that the cow pies float. Okay? So you say, man, this this storm day is a real turd floater. Sometimes sometimes, you know, you you have a day that's a real turd floater, and you just gotta say, you know what?

[00:15:31] - [Speaker 1]
I just gotta survive today and get to tomorrow. And so I think that's another one.

[00:15:36] - [Speaker 0]
A quick thank you to the sponsor that supports every podcast across the tech talks network and every episode because their help allows me to publish 60 interviews a month with founders and technologists who are keeping this industry moving. And this month, I'm partnering with Alcor. And if you've ever tried to hire engineers in another country, you probably know just how painful it can be. Different laws, patchy support, and partners who don't truly understand engineering roles. So Alcor approaches this from a different tech point of view.

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[00:16:47] - [Speaker 0]
And that structure is why a mix of early stage and unicorn stage companies use them as they scale. So if you wanna take a look, visit alcor.com/podcast or tap on the link in the show notes. But now on with today's show. You mentioned a few moments ago, Tara, and it's something that's Yeah. Transforming the workers' compensation space.

[00:17:11] - [Speaker 0]
But one of the things that stood out to me about that is it's an industry many would consider boring, which doesn't sound like you at all. So what opportunities do you see for innovation in a very traditional and highly regulated sector like insurance?

[00:17:25] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. Highly regulated, very buttoned up, you know, very proper. Very proper. You know? You you got your coat and tie and, you know, right right proper.

[00:17:34] - [Speaker 1]
You always feel like a like a nobleman when you're talking about it. Yeah. Because insurance, of course, in in England originated in a coffee shop four hundred years ago. Right? Yeah.

[00:17:45] - [Speaker 1]
Lloyd's was a coffee shop. It became a a global empire, functionally. First off, insurance appears boring on the outside, is anything but boring on the inside because you deal with all the worst crap that happens on the planet, insurance deals with, and the claims process. You deal with you you deal with, rating the risk of it in the underwriting process, and then you deal with the consequences of all these terrible things in the claims process. And so that's why it's I'd say first, it's not now some would say that, like, banking and insurance because they're heavily regulated and they're parts of the financial sector, you know, it's that that they're boring.

[00:18:27] - [Speaker 1]
I'll alright. So let's compare it to the other industry I spent a lot of time in construction. Construction is really exciting because, you know, you got shovels turning dirt. You have, you know, men bending steel. You have I mean, you just have you just have this raw animalistic thing that we're shaping the future physically.

[00:18:47] - [Speaker 1]
You're building bridges and digging tunnels, and you're turning earth, and you're building houses and office buildings and bridges and roads. And it's cool because you can drive around and see all the things you got to be involved in, and insurance is not that way. You know? Yeah. And insurance is like, you can drive around, and you can see all the risk that you're carrying.

[00:19:05] - [Speaker 1]
Like like, you know, like, I I I developed technology that helps manage all the claims and risk on a bunch of big restaurant chains and a bunch of big retailers. Know, you I've gotten to go to their headquarters, and I've gotten I've gotten the I mean, I've gotten the peek inside the covers of some huge organizations. And and so it's that that to me is really cool because insurance touches everything. If we can't get insurance, it doesn't happen on the planet Earth. Like, if you can't like, I'm a pilot, like, to fly airplanes.

[00:19:36] - [Speaker 1]
If you can't get insurance, you're not flying. I mean, you're stupid if you fly without insurance because there's so many bad things that can happen, the consequences are so severe that if you're running bare, it's a bad thing. In England, they they require you to have insurance. Canada, you're required to have insurance to fly. In America, because it's, you know, Atlanta, the free home of the brave.

[00:19:53] - [Speaker 1]
You're not required to have insurance to fly, but you you you need to, and that's who really regulates it. And so that that's just a good example of, like, you know, you can meet all the requirements to fly, but the insurance companies won't carry you because they think you're too old. The FAA doesn't. Their opinion matters more. That's why insurance is so interesting because they weigh in on every activity that goes on in the planet, and they assign a risk factor to it and a cost to conduct that activity.

[00:20:19] - [Speaker 1]
And they back it up. Right? Everything that goes on, every football match that you go to with, was it you said Darby. Right? It's your team?

[00:20:26] - [Speaker 0]
Darby County. Yeah.

[00:20:27] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. Darby County. So every football match, you've got 20 insurance products that are protecting that match. You've got workers' compensation insurance for all the all all the workers. You've got general liability insurance for all the fans.

[00:20:41] - [Speaker 1]
You've got property insurance for the physical property. You probably got weather insurance in case there's a weather event. You got flood insurance to protect rising water. You've got a cyber, insurance to protect against a cyber attack that will take down ticketing. You I mean, I could walk you into that game, and I could just start picking apart all the different lines of coverage that are active during that game.

[00:20:59] - [Speaker 1]
You got errors and emission policy. You got a board of directors policy. It covers the board of Derby United because it's probably run by a a board. They want protection. So you mean, you just you can probably rack up 20 policies.

[00:21:09] - [Speaker 1]
And if any one of those things doesn't go on, that game doesn't happen. And that's what to me is is interesting about insurance. And, of course, the whole industry is a data industry, so it's why it's fun to be in technology because you really end up running the industry.

[00:21:20] - [Speaker 0]
Wow. You must see the world in a completely different different way now when you're walking around here

[00:21:26] - [Speaker 1]
because Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Especially when you start dealing heavily in handling claims. Because we have claim software, and then I work really closely with my, like, really closely with my clients that handle claims.

[00:21:36] - [Speaker 1]
And so you find out the stuff that happens that kills people or hurts them. Mhmm. And you and you start walking around, you look at stuff very differently. I remember it was funny. I was in a I was doing a pitch with what we sometimes my clients will actually have me come in and help them pitch on business because, like, technology is such a big component of what they offer.

[00:21:56] - [Speaker 1]
And I was doing a pitch, and my client and I were in the lobby of the building about to go up and do the pitch. And the the mat, the floor mat that was by the door was was loose. It wasn't like it wasn't had didn't have a sticky adhesive substance on the bottom. Right? So it kinda slid when you put your foot on it.

[00:22:16] - [Speaker 1]
And both he and I put our foot on it, and it moved a little bit. And we both looked at each other. And at the same time, we're like, that's a problem.

[00:22:24] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah.

[00:22:24] - [Speaker 1]
Like, that's a that's a GL claim, general liability claim waiting to happen. Like, you have a you have a floor mat by a door that's a little loose because that's we we handle those you know, get involved in those kind of claims. Our software handles it. His business handles it. And we're like and so, yeah, it does.

[00:22:39] - [Speaker 1]
It influences everything you see. You're like, that's gonna be a GL claim. And you'll even get people's attention like, hey. You need to fix this doormat because, like, someone's gonna that's gonna turn into a claim. You're gonna get sued.

[00:22:48] - [Speaker 1]
You're gonna have to settle, and it's gonna be bad. You know? It's it's gonna be entirely your fault because you didn't have a no slip surface underneath. I mean, it's really bizarre how you you turn into a little bit of a nanny, you know, where you're like, you really should have fixed that. You know?

[00:23:00] - [Speaker 1]
Or, like, I I was at I was on a beach a few months ago, and there was, like, exposed rebar, and this is at a major, like, high end resort, exposed rebar sticking out of the top of top of a concrete slab near the beach area where people walk with bare feet. Okay? Woah. Yeah. And, like, I immediately I just reported at the hotel.

[00:23:19] - [Speaker 1]
I'm like, you have exposed rebar out there on a concrete pad that's in between the hotel and the beach. Like, you're gonna get sued. They're gonna get the pantsuit off of you. You need to cover up the rebar. Like, you you know?

[00:23:29] - [Speaker 1]
I mean, it yeah. Because you and you you you it does. It does impact the way you look at everything. You have to. I mean, it can't it can't you can't be involved in and not be impacted by it.

[00:23:37] - [Speaker 0]
Man, it must be like being trapped in the final destination universe.

[00:23:40] - [Speaker 1]
Oh, those movies those movies messed me up so bad.

[00:23:44] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. You and me both.

[00:23:46] - [Speaker 1]
Like, I watched the the the most recent one, Bloodlines. Yeah.

[00:23:49] - [Speaker 0]
I was like and

[00:23:50] - [Speaker 1]
I was like and it was, you know, it was gory.

[00:23:52] - [Speaker 0]
I was

[00:23:53] - [Speaker 1]
like and I was like, oh, oh, there's so many bad there's there's so many it's like it's like the ultimate chain of terrible events. You know?

[00:24:02] - [Speaker 0]
Bringing us back on track. I mean, I'm curious here. You've had, what, more than two decades leading JBK. What kind of lessons have you learned about balancing things like product development and profitability, especially in an industry where technology often or traditionally used to move slower than ambition. But I think legal tech or insurtech in particular is changing that.

[00:24:25] - [Speaker 1]
But It is.

[00:24:26] - [Speaker 0]
Have you learned there?

[00:24:28] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. You know, you you're all well, first, I I gotta I gotta speak it from from my business, and then I'll speak for what I've learned from my clients because they're kind of the two you know, in in my business, what's happening now is we're able to develop the actual raw technology so much faster now that your obsolescence rate is pretty quick. Like, if you don't get to market with your product pretty fast, you're you're done. You know? Like, it's you gotta have a really solid go to market strategy because you can build the tech out pretty quickly, but so can all of your competitors.

[00:25:01] - [Speaker 1]
And so what I believe is, you know, pretty much everything with the the cost of developing applications starting to drop, it's gonna be a race on go to market. Like, who's the best at commercial commercializing technology and gaining market share and building trust? Because they're gonna there's gonna be more there's already a lot of competitors on the market. Like, in Terra, we have 32 core systems that we compete against functionally. And, you know, it's good good level of competition.

[00:25:27] - [Speaker 1]
Not all of them compete on every deal because they they all focus on different sectors, but, you know, you you've gotta be quick at go to market. You really do.

[00:25:35] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah.

[00:25:36] - [Speaker 1]
And and, you know, because otherwise, your tech's gonna become obsolete, and then, you know, you don't have, like, a big moat around you anymore. Like, you in the back in the day, you could build a lot of tech and a lot of stack, and you can kinda build a moat around your product where it's, like, really, really hard to replicate everything you have. So that's why that's why I like being in the core system business because you end up being wired into every part of their business, and and you become much more irreplaceable rather than selling point solutions. But, you know, if I if I take my hat off and my client hat on, you know, you you take you ask, like, what we can learn about tech and innovation and how it impacts business. Well, we've gotta be really good because the pace of change than the pace of play, and you could argue that, like, let's put it in in football terms, soccer, but, like, the proper football, English football.

[00:26:22] - [Speaker 1]
You know, you have pace of play in soccer too. Right? Like, And you can always tell when a team has a high pace of play because they just wear out their opponents. They just grind them down. Right?

[00:26:33] - [Speaker 1]
And they they still may they may have twice as many touches on ball. They may have, like, three times as many passes. They may they're they're, you know, they're pace of play. They're moving. They're moving the ball up, down, left, right.

[00:26:42] - [Speaker 1]
They're not they're not sitting back. And when they're on defense, they're aggressively attacking on defense. They're not sitting back and waiting for it to happen. I think we're we're entering a an era where we do have to have a faster pace of play because you have very big traditional businesses that are up against AI native businesses that have that are really rethinking all manual process. And there's still a ton of manual processes being performed in insurance, financial services, banking, well, construction too.

[00:27:11] - [Speaker 1]
And, you know, you have these mainline businesses that are that are kind of slow to adapt to to some of the change, and and they have a slow pace of play. They have a slow pace of change. And so it's be it's gonna become increasingly difficult for them to compete in the market on price because, you know, prices, in my opinion, what's gonna happen when you when you have, like, vast amounts of automation, prices will get under pressure and will come down. Right? Because we've had a we've had a period of people taking rate, taking price up, and and now as as they really drive efficiency, they're gonna say, okay.

[00:27:41] - [Speaker 1]
Well, we the really efficient businesses are gonna say, hey. We can we can cut our price and go after market share. They'll do it. Right? Yeah.

[00:27:48] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. Regardless whatever an industry it is. You you'll you'll see them take their rates back to chase market share, and, there'll be companies that can't make they can't chase that race with them, you know, because they just don't have any they don't have any more fat left to cut. And so that's that's what I'm seeing is they've gotta get better at change management. They've gotta get better at dragging people along.

[00:28:07] - [Speaker 1]
They gotta get better at retraining people into other tasks. Like, I I see a lot of companies that have a lot of job openings in one category and a lot of surplus people in another category, and they don't have a way of getting their their surplus staff, you know, let's let's say their manual data clerks, etcetera, retrained and upsized into their high demand jobs. You know? So it it'll be weird because you'll see people that have, like, this surplus of people in one area over here and then, like, a bunch of open job listings in another. You're like, well, they should just move them.

[00:28:37] - [Speaker 1]
Well, it's not that simple. If you don't have a a training program to upsize, like, their technology and their capabilities and what they can do, then, you know, you you you might actually end up with too many people in one area, not enough in another area, and you're and you're host.

[00:28:50] - [Speaker 0]
And when I was doing a little research on you, you're quite a renaissance man. Well, you're not bootstrapping multiple successful companies, writing books, being on the other side of the table in the world of VC. You've also spoken on literally hundreds of stages about that intersection of tech and business. So from all the work you're doing here doing there, are there any emerging trends in insurtech or enterprise software that that excite you at the moment? I'm of course, everyone's talking about AI, but is there anything that really stands out that that excites you?

[00:29:20] - [Speaker 1]
I I have, like, some YouTube feeds where, like, we are really like, I every morning, I I I I work out to it. I row and work out to this. And, you know, the what's going on in AI right now is the most exciting thing I think I've ever seen happen Yeah. Yeah. Ever in technology.

[00:29:41] - [Speaker 1]
The the the because we we no longer have to tell people that we can't do something. Right? We don't have to tell them we can't do something because there's really not many human tasks that we can't we can't work on. And so I think that's probably the most exciting thing to me right now is is being able to build things, whether it's software robots or hardware robots that can do stuff that is just previously thought to be impossible. That's what's that's what's really exciting to me.

[00:30:11] - [Speaker 0]
You're a guy that wears many hats, CEO, author, professor, pilot, and even musician. So how do you stay grounded and creative while leading companies that span multiple countries and industries? Any any any takeaways there?

[00:30:26] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. I mean, I like to have hobbies. I think I think one of the one of the ways to stay creative is to have things you do that are not work.

[00:30:32] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. Yeah.

[00:30:33] - [Speaker 1]
And if you don't have any other interest other than work, it's really hard to stay creative in general as a person. I I've been playing the piano since I was eight. I I love playing piano. I love playing guitar. I love singing.

[00:30:44] - [Speaker 1]
I was in a I was in choir for, I don't know, fifteen years. I played piano, competed from age eight to 18, and then I've played ever since. So, like, I just love I love the arts. And and, you know, what what's really been a joy for me is to watch my daughters grow up. They're almost 19 and almost 16 now.

[00:31:06] - [Speaker 1]
They're lovely, amazing, beautiful, creative. And it's interesting because I always encourage them to go into into business and, you know, technology, the things I was in. And and it turns out they're not interested in that. And my my oldest wants to be, I I guess I made the mistake of it's not a mistake because it's beautiful. I I I I introduced her to musicals.

[00:31:30] - [Speaker 1]
She'll she'll deny this, by the way. We have a running debate of whether I introduced her. She found that on her own. I introduced her to musicals a long time ago. I got her hooked.

[00:31:38] - [Speaker 1]
She used to say she didn't like Andrew Lloyd Webber, which is an insane thing an insane thing to say. Yeah. You know, one of the greatest musical producers of all time. And and so she's now chasing that dream. Like, she wants to be a professional on Broadway.

[00:31:53] - [Speaker 1]
She's a a musical theater major at NYU in New York City, and, you know, she's like, she's doing the thing. She's doing auditions, and she's my youngest wants to to to be a a camp director because I got her really hooked on summer camp, the summer camp I went to. And and she's really creative and an artist, and I I just think that art because I've gotten to watch both my daughters really deep dive down, you know, one, a a crafter and visual artist, and the other, an actual performer, like an incredible, beautiful, amazing and they're both actually both performers from my youngest in theater. I just think that art gives me the life. Yeah.

[00:32:26] - [Speaker 1]
I just think it does. And I think the world is a cold and lonely place without art. So I like to to play it for for years. For a few years, I participated up until a couple years ago. I was in a ballroom ballroom dance troupe here, and we did ballroom performances.

[00:32:38] - [Speaker 1]
And I I because it's fun. It's interesting. I I got to I got to be in the Nutcracker, which was I got to perform as a ballroom dancer in the Nutcracker in front of thousands of people. It was it was crazy. And I remember this point on this when I was on the stage and, you know, I'd have to go to practice after work, and then the performances were on the weekend.

[00:33:03] - [Speaker 1]
And we had a huge auditorium, you know, 2,500 seat auditorium sold out, you know, every night. I mean and I I was on stage performing, and it was so black in the audience that you couldn't you couldn't really see anybody. And you could just see the stage, and you could see all these people you become good friends with. And you're all in costume, and you're in a it's in a set, and it actually feels like you're in in Russia and that you're that you're participating. You're attending a ball and you're dancing.

[00:33:33] - [Speaker 1]
And you kinda get transported for that period of time, and then, like, you come back from that moment, and you're like, oh my gosh. That was so incredible. Like, it was incredible to be able to dance and perform and perform in front of thousands of people, and then and they like it, and it was fun. And then you can go back to work and be super creative, and they say, okay. It's time to come up with a new technology to go you know?

[00:33:52] - [Speaker 1]
I I don't know. For me, it's just like a a brain break, and I think that's why I I encourage everyone to all of my employees are are six core values, enjoy the ride and geek out. And I tell them you gotta geek out on something at work, something outside of work. And so I've got a ton of musicians. I could feel 20 bands inside my company, because we have a lot of people who play music, a lot of people who are one of some of my leadership team are, like, quasi professional dancers.

[00:34:18] - [Speaker 1]
Like, one of them is really incredible. And it's just it I think it's really cool to have artistic hobbies and creative hobbies because then you come to work energized because you you weren't a schlub on the weekends. You didn't

[00:34:29] - [Speaker 0]
just get Yeah. Yeah.

[00:34:30] - [Speaker 1]
You didn't go home and sit on the couch and watch TV, you didn't come to work, and your brain's ready to go. You know? And so that's also what flying does for me is flying kinda scratches that itch and gives me some time to think and some space and some perspective, and then you can come back to work for twelve hours a day and and and build something cool. It just means you gotta sacrifice some sleep.

[00:34:50] - [Speaker 0]
Enjoy the ride and geek out. Absolutely. I love that. And for anybody listening wanna dig a little bit deeper, I I could chat to you about this stuff for hours. I suspect people listening would be able to do the same as well.

[00:35:01] - [Speaker 0]
Really inspiring guy. So anyone listening wanting to dig deeper, where where should they go?

[00:35:07] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. My website's jamesbenham.com. It is an English last name for your English listeners. We're from we're from Plymouth. I found the I found the records.

[00:35:15] - [Speaker 1]
I went to Plymouth 1631. Ship was the Mary and John. The Benhams are from England. Anyway, so, James, benham.com. You can go there.

[00:35:25] - [Speaker 1]
You can go to my company as, JBK. So it's jbknowledge.com. Tara is t e r r a dot I n s u r e. So that you have Tara and JBK, and, of course, my website links to them, jj jamesbenham.com. And I'm super active.

[00:35:39] - [Speaker 1]
I'm really on one social platform that I'm really active on that's LinkedIn. So if you hit me up on LinkedIn, you can follow my content, see the videos I post, see all the all the articles I post. I really keep it all the LinkedIn. That's been the the the highest volume activity. And then the book is on the website.

[00:35:56] - [Speaker 1]
That's called be your own VC, 10 boost jack boot sharpening principles generate cash, keep control. Released the book, I think, four years ago now. It was it was exciting. Turned into an Amazon bestseller, which was fun. Like, legitimate like, I didn't I didn't buy my own copies to get it there.

[00:36:12] - [Speaker 1]
Like, people bought the book, and it and it turned into a bestseller. Was really fun. And so that's that's where they can go to get more information. And, of course, I have my own podcast called the InsurTech Geek. So if you're an insurance tech, you wanna geek out, you know, or if you just wanna fall asleep to the tone of my voice, you can go and then download InsurTech Geek and shut that at insurtechgeek.com.

[00:36:35] - [Speaker 0]
Well, I will include links to everything that you mentioned there, including the podcast. I encourage people to check you out. I'd love to get you back on later in the year. You're officially my Houston guy now next time I'm in Texas, but, well, I think we could have a blast. Let me tell you.

[00:36:48] - [Speaker 0]
But we'll save that for another day, but just thank you for joining me today.

[00:36:52] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. Thanks. Appreciate you.

[00:36:53] - [Speaker 0]
Wow. What an incredibly cool guy there. I mean, from bootstrapping global businesses to navigating regulation heavy industries, I think his insights cut through hype and focus on what actually keeps companies alive and relevant. I also love his ethos there in these companies about telling people about embracing the arts in downtime rather than just sitting around over the weekend watching TV. I know I'm guilty of doing that.

[00:37:20] - [Speaker 0]
Maybe I should unleash my inner rock star on the world. I don't know if the world is ready for that. But, seriously, if you enjoyed today's episode, I would encourage you to explore James' further work. His book, Be Your Own VC, does offer a practical framework for founders who want to grow on their own terms. And his platforms, JPK and Terra, they show how disciplined execution and different way of looking and doing things can reshape legacy industries without getting caught up chasing trends just for the sake of it.

[00:37:50] - [Speaker 0]
So I'll include links to James's website, his writing, and his own podcast so you can continue the conversation with him in your own time. So you can either get that by going to the show notes. There'll be links to everything there wherever you're listening to this podcast, or simply head straight over to Tech Talks Network, head for Business Tech Perspectives, and you'll find all the links you need there along with nine other podcasts and 4,000 interviews. But enough from me. It's time for me to take a break now.

[00:38:19] - [Speaker 0]
I'll return again soon with another guest, but thank you for listening as always. And I'll speak with you all again very soon. Bye for now.