$2.8B in Insurance claims were denied last year: My AI is fixing it.

In this episode of Startup Theatre, Troy Hammond and Serge Van Dam sit down with Simon Archer, founder of PolicyCheck, to unpack one of the biggest untapped problems in global fintech: understanding insurance.

Simon shares the story behind leaving a successful corporate career to build in the AI era, driven by a simple but powerful realisation. He had already missed one major wave and wasn’t going to miss the next.

The conversation moves beyond the typical startup narrative into something more grounded. What actually happens when you leave corporate? Why most founders aren’t prepared, no matter how much theory they consume, and how building with AI is fundamentally changing how companies are created.

At the core of the episode is a problem most people have experienced but rarely question. Insurance is a promise, yet billions in claims are denied each year because people don’t fully understand what they’ve signed up for . PolicyCheck is taking a data-first approach to fix that.

They also get into:

• Why workflow products are becoming obsolete and data is the real opportunity
• The shift to lean teams and shared product ownership
• Building in New Zealand versus Australia
• The reality of incubators in an AI-first world
• What it actually takes to build a globally relevant company from NZ

This is a conversation about timing, conviction, and solving problems that genuinely matter.

Links:
PolicyCheck: https://policycheck.com
Simon Archer: https://linkedin.com/in/simonarcher