Scott Loong is the founder and CEO of Covera.ai, a fully digital insurance brokerage that leverages data and technology to take insurance renewals off of your to-do list forever. Scott is also an Entrepreneur in Residence at Ferst Capital Partners, Canada’s most active FinTech venture capital fund. Scott writes and speaks about how technology, analytics, design and data impact the various components of the modern insurance industry. Previous to founding Covera, he worked as a business lawyer specializing in the areas of private equity, venture capital, corporate finance and M&A. He is active in the field of start-up business and technology entrepreneurship and sits on the Advisory Committee of the National Crowd Funding Association of Canada. Scott holds a masters degree in business administration (MBA) from Ï㽶ÊÓƵ’s Desautels Faculty of Management as well as civil and common law degrees from McGill’s Faculty of Law. We have interviewed Scott and asked him to tell us about his experience and the creation of , his start-up.Ìý
Give us a quick introduction of yourself.
My name is Scott Loong, I’m a lawyer and startup founder based in Montreal. I completed my MBA at Desautels in 2011 as part of the joint LL.B & B.C.L program with the McGill Faculty of Law. After graduation, I began my legal career at a national firm with a practice focused on private equity and venture capital transactions. Before law school I majored in political science and journalism both of which are fields that remain very close to my heart.
What made you decide to do an MBA ?
A lot of people suspect that they have what it takes to be an entrepreneur but never get a chance to validate whether or not that is true. I wanted to do everything in my control to ensure that wasn’t going to be my story. I wanted to be sure that when the day came where I would be running a business, I would be as prepared as possible. I was also very aware that in an increasingly competitive legal market, having an MBA would be a differentiator as I started my career.
What was your favorite part of the McGill MBA and why ?
I’ll always remember the adrenaline and camaraderie of the pitch competitions I participated in. For those who haven’t experienced a pitch competition, the format is simple – as a team of 4 you are presented with a case study that you need to read, digest and solve in one hour. At the conclusion of the hour, you walk directly from your break-out room and present your solution to an audience, often numbering in the hundreds. It’s incredibly stressful but amazingly rewarding – nothing will get you comfortable presenting in front of groups quite like pitch competitions.
Were there any particularly memorable MBA moments that you would like to share ?
The long nights of team work and way too much bad takeout sushi during the core. The intensity of the first semester of the MBA is nothing to shrug off.
Tell us a bit more about .Ìý
Today, I’m the CEO and a co-Founder of . Covera is a technology start-up that automatically shops for your home and auto insurance every year in order to find you optimal coverage at the best possible price. Once customers are registered, Covera audits their insurance policies annually and takes care of all of work needed to switch insurance companies if a better option is available. Insurance is a reality that we all have to live with and Covera offers a simple and convenient way to take care of a neglected and unloved part of people’s lives. In the future, we plan to offer other financial products and provide smart and automated ways to empower customers and improve customer mobility.
If you had a piece of advice for future MBAs, what would it be ?
Make sure to attend every event, cocktail, party, get together, breakfast, 5-a-7, conference and competition that you can manage. The lasting value of an MBA will not be curriculum, rather, it will be the relationships that you develop with your peers, many of whom are going to be managers and business leaders all over the world. Doing well academically is important, but you will only get the full value of an MBA if you make friends (which is a good thing!).
Desautels MBA Program
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