The Future Proof Framework: Building a $100M Business by Solving an Industry’s Existential Threat

The Future Proof Framework: Building a $100M Business by Solving an Industry’s Existential Threat

The biggest opportunities often hide in plain sight, masquerading as insurmountable industry problems. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Future Proof Technologies founder Alisa Valderrama revealed how they’re building a transformative business by tackling the insurance industry’s growing climate risk crisis.

From Market Gap to Market Opportunity

Insurance companies face a stark choice when dealing with climate risk: “Wherever insurers are not sure how to price the risk, they’ll usually choose one of two options,” Alisa explains. “Either they can charge exorbitant premium or they just choose to exit in an area or region where they cannot understand climate-related risk.”

This industry-wide challenge created an opening for innovation. Rather than building another InsurTech focused on distribution or claims processing, Future Proof targeted the core of insurance itself – risk selection and pricing.

Solving the Fundamental Problem

Future Proof’s approach began with a crucial insight about insurance claims data. As Alisa describes, “The reason the claims are so important is because in the claims data is captured this essential relationship between the magnitude of a peril, property characteristics and losses at an asset level.”

By applying AI to this claims data, they developed a more nuanced understanding of climate risk than traditional catastrophe models could provide. This technical breakthrough positioned them to solve a problem that was forcing insurers to abandon entire markets.

From Analytics to Infrastructure

Instead of selling their technology as a standalone product, Future Proof made a strategic decision to become a Managing General Agency (MGA). “We are not selling analytics into the market. We’re not selling a catastrophe model,” Alisa notes. “We are using our own unique model to select and price risk on behalf of insurers and reinsurers.”

This positioning transformed their innovation from a nice-to-have analytics tool into essential infrastructure for insurance companies wanting to operate in climate-vulnerable markets.

Validation Through Crisis

The company proved their value through rigorous testing. Working with a major reinsurance broker, they analyzed 270,000 Florida addresses from past hurricane events. This created what Alisa calls “a proof point of, hey, had you been working with Future Proof for this past hurricane event, here’s how much better you could have done.”

Building for Industry Transformation

Future Proof’s vision extends beyond just better risk assessment. As Alisa explains, “In five years we’re in all 50 states with homeowners commercial insurance as well. We have differentiated insurance policies… and crucially, the Future Proof insurance policies have financial incentives for investments in resiliency built in.”

This long-term vision positions them not just as a service provider, but as a catalyst for industry evolution. As Alisa emphasizes, “Insofar as insurance is really the grease on the wheels of global finance and commerce… it’s never going to take effect without insurance evolving and getting fixed first.”

Lessons for Founders

Future Proof’s approach offers valuable insights for founders targeting traditional industries:

1. Look for problems that force incumbent players to abandon markets
2. Build solutions that enable rather than disrupt existing business models
3. Position your innovation as essential infrastructure rather than optional technology
4. Validate your solution against real-world crisis scenarios

The key is recognizing that existential threats to an industry can become massive opportunities if you can provide a solution that works within existing frameworks. As Alisa reflects, “We’re in the right place at the right time… we’re working on one of the biggest and most high impact ideas I can think of when it comes to climate change.”

By solving a fundamental industry problem rather than just building better tools, Future Proof is positioning itself at the center of the insurance industry’s adaptation to climate change. Their journey shows that sometimes the biggest opportunities come from helping traditional industries evolve rather than trying to disrupt them.