Unfiltered with Matt & Nige Podcast

A weekly podcast about what’s really going on in insurance, and the people trying to keep up with it.

It’s hosted by Matt Connolly (CEO of Sønr) and Nigel Walsh (Global Head of Insurance at ServiceNow). Between them, they’ve spent years in and around the industry, so this isn’t theory. It’s what they’re seeing, hearing, and questioning in real time. Some weeks it’s just the two of them figuring things out out loud. Other weeks they’re joined by smart people from across insurance and tech. Founders, operators, investors, and the occasional curveball. The conversation moves between big ideas and day-to-day reality. Innovation, leadership, where the market is heading, and also family life, training, travel, and everything else that sits around the job. It’s thoughtful, honest, sometimes a bit direct, and never overcomplicated. If you work in insurance, or anywhere near it, you’ll probably feel right at home. New episodes every week. unfilteredwithmattnige.substack.com

Episodes

  1. The Job Apocalypse, SaaS Pricing, and the Guardrails Era

    2d ago

    The Job Apocalypse, SaaS Pricing, and the Guardrails Era

    Unfiltered with Matt & Nige | Episode 12 🎙️ London is a thousand degrees. Maybe more. Nigel has already been to the gym #hero Training chat. Life chat. A bit of Barcelona. And then into the good stuff. This week the conversation talks the “job apocalypse” narrative. The SaaS apocalypse narrative. The constant cycle of “everything’s broken. Woah, that’s all sounding a whole load less upbeat than it actually is. TLDR: the hype loops are getting faster, but the fundamentals still matter.And the real question is not whether the cycle turns.It’s whether there are still jobs on the other side of it. This week on Unfiltered, the two talk all things:1. The “job apocalypse” narrative and why these cycles keep repeating, but faster 2. Subscription versus usage pricing and why SaaS might have to rethink everything3. The bubble reality check4. Guardrails in life and guardrails in tech, because without them you just meltand the quiet reminder that switching off is now a skill, not a luxury The apocalypse narratives (and why they keep coming back) Nigel’s take is simple. We’ve heard this before.SaaS is dead. AI kills everything. Jobs are gone. The sky is falling. Then three months later, everyone rebounds.Because the fundamentals are still good.The businesses that matter still have distribution, data, workflows, and customers who cannot just switch their world off overnight. But Matt brings the human point. He hopes it’s true. If the job story breaks the wrong way, that’s not a headline. That’s real life. And it’s not a great look for any of us if the outcome is needing “generational wealth” so we can survive the future. Subscription versus usage: the uncomfortable pricing question This is a really interesting space. If your product is getting hammered with usage, charging per usage is a beautiful model.If it isn’t, a subscription model starts to look like a comfort blanket. The shift is already happening in AI and it forces SaaS to ask a slightly brutal question:Are you charging for value, or are you charging because you can? The bubble moment: “My mate has never used ChatGPT” We live inside a bubble. We read the threads. We talk about agents, orchestration, governance, and new operating layers like it’s normal. Then you meet someone outside the bubble and they ask:“What is SaaS?”Or they haven’t opened ChatGPT once. It’s refreshing. It’s grounding. And it’s the reminder that mass adoption is always slower than the loudest people think. Guardrails are the theme, whether you like it or not Nigel says it outright. He needs guardrails in life.Food. Apps. Browsing. Time limits. Tab limits. The whole thing. Because without guardrails, you overdo it. You scroll. You snack. You measure everything. You record everything. You do everything except actually unwind. Matt agrees and pushes the “switch off” bit.Sometimes the best thing you can do is leave the headphones behind, hear the birds, speak to another human, recall your dog. And that’s the bigger point of this episode. Not “AI is good” or “AI is bad”. It’s that the pace is faster, the loops are tighter, and if you don’t build guardrails, the cycle eats you. The big takeaway The apocalypse narratives are loud.The cycles are real.And they’re speeding up. But the winners will not be the ones shouting the loudest.They’ll be the ones who can keep a grip on fundamentals, adapt pricing and value models, and build guardrails for people and systems so the upside doesn’t come with burnout. Subscribe for more Unfiltered every week 🎙️ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unfilteredwithmattnige.substack.com

    30 min
  2. Clients Are Ahead, Insurers Are Behind, and Someone Finally Said It

    May 20

    Clients Are Ahead, Insurers Are Behind, and Someone Finally Said It

    On Unfiltered with Matt & Nige, Episode 11, we talk conference season and why the best conversations rarely happen on stage, Nigel’s new love affair with Whispr Flow and all things amphitheatres and ancient drainage tunnels. TLDR: the best value is still people, not slides. Roundtables beat theatre. Clients are moving faster than the market thinks. And “no swag, just tough conversations” might be the only honest conference concept left. This week on Unfiltered the two talk all things: * Whispr Flow and why dictation suddenly feels life changing * a risk focused event that was not “tech”, but still laddered back to “we need to embrace technology to stay ahead of risk” * a Coca Cola leader basically saying insurers are falling behind their risk reality, the alignment gap has widened massively * Matt’s newsletter habit, why writing forces relevance, and why having lunch with competitors might be an underrated strategy * the AI strategy soap opera, Elon, Anthropic, OpenAI dynamics, and why “enemy of your enemy” is alive and well * plus the real life ending - Nigel flying Sunday, Matt flying to Barcelona for Hyrox, both agreeing the weather is still the UK’s main personality trait Conference season, but make it worth it Nigel’s honest take is simple.If you go to everything, nothing changes.And he is worried we are not getting enough net new. That’s why he pulls himself out and prefers private dinners, smaller groups, proper conversations, and a format that actually forces depth. Matt agrees, and name checks a US event that nailed it.Smaller, no panels, and a properly old school attendee list sent out ahead of time so you can actually connect in advance. And then Nigel has the line of the episode.Maybe the answer is a sign that says, no swag, just tough conversation or fun conversation. The Coca Cola moment, clients are ahead This was one of the best reality checks. Matt describes a panel with an “outsider” perspective, a leader from Coca Cola connecting risk reality to insurance alignment. The line that lands is the gap.Ten years ago, the insurer partners were much more aligned with what Coca Cola cared about.Now, they are not. The alignment is down to 20 to 30 percent. And it is not even an innovation conference.It is a risk conversation that inevitably ends up in the same place. “We need to know the market better and adopt technology to keep up.” Puppies, barber shops, and why conferences need personality They have a fun mini debate about conference gimmicks. Matt is not sure where conference puppies fit.Nigel is more direct, he does not get the puppies. But he did love one thing Rory Pike did. A barber shop at the event.Practical, useful, and a surprisingly good way to bump into people right before they go on stage. The writing habit and the “CEO lunch” line Matt shares that he is back into his newsletter rhythm and actually enjoys it now.Writing forces you to stay relevant and stay connected to what is happening. Then he drops a phrase he heard that he loved.Try to have lunch with the CEO of your competitors once or twice a year. It is simple. It is slightly cheeky. It is also smart. The AI side quest, alliances shift quickly Because it is Unfiltered, they end with a quick strategy detour.Elon, Anthropic, OpenAI dynamics, Colossus compute, and why alliances shift fast when capacity and bottlenecks become leverage. They also touch the legal AI space again and the reality that deep domain expertise, data, and embedded enterprise workflows are what keep you safe from being commoditised. The human ending Nigel is flying Sunday night, up early in New York, and is proud of the early dinner and early bed lifestyle. Matt is off to Barcelona for Hyrox. The big takeaway Conferences are only as good as the conversations they create. The market wants depth, not theatre. And the biggest wake up call is still this, clients are moving faster than the insurance industry gives itself credit for. Subscribe for more Unfiltered every week 🎙️ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unfilteredwithmattnige.substack.com

    26 min
  3. AI Credits vs Salaries, Token Maxing Goes Corporate

    May 12

    AI Credits vs Salaries, Token Maxing Goes Corporate

    On Unfiltered with Matt & Nige, Episode 10, the boys start recording whilst still laughing, and eventually get into some good chat about spending the same on AI credits as employee salaries 🎙️ TLDR: some companies are pushing AI usage so hard that credits are on track with salaries. ServiceNow is going all in on “one front door” plus control. And governance is no longer the boring bit. It is the only way this scales. This week on Unfiltered the two talk all things: * the Speechify founder story, dyslexia, accessibility, and building a massive business off a real need * AI credits are starting to match engineering salaries, and some founders want the credits to exceed the people cost * token maxing and figuring out what to use AI for, and what not to * ServiceNow Knowledge, 27,000 people, Otto, AI Control Tower, and why governance is suddenly front and centre * Duolingo and the displacement question, can AI replace it, or does the streak keep it sticky * and Matt’s mini existential wrestle, building a business vs building actual change AI credits vs salaries Matt shares a story from 20VC, Harry Stebbings interviewing the Speechify founder. What sticks is not the product, it is the operating model. His engineering team’s AI credits are close to their salaries.And he is pushing for credits to go beyond. That is a proper marker of where we are heading. If you hire someone for 100k, do you assume they will burn 100k of AI credits too.That question is coming for every team. Token maxing, but with standards Nigel admits he is still in the “figure it out properly” phase. He wants to experiment with agents for his newsletter, but he does not want AI to rewrite his thinking. He writes to think. That is the point. Matt relates to that, but also pushes the other side. Founders driving usage hard, selecting best internal use cases, showing the team how it is done. The meta point is simple.Everyone is experimenting.The winners will standardise what good looks like inside teams. Accessibility and the “Enable” story Who doesn’t love an old story. . Matt talks about his first agency, built around digital accessibility and helping charities and NGOs. And how his mum, to this day, thinks he helps disabled people fix their computers. It is funny, but it is also real.A lot of the most important mainstream tech started as accessibility tech. Speechify sits in that lane.Solve a real need, then it becomes normal for everyone. ServiceNow Knowledge and the control story Nigel gives a quick view from Vegas. 27,000 people, massive announcements, and the big themes are consistent. One front door. Otto.Control. AI Control Tower. The message is clear.Agentic is not just “do stuff for me.”It is “do stuff for me safely,” across systems, data, and workflows. Governance is the unlock, not the brake. Duolingo and displacement They also hit the consumer angle. Duolingo is loved. It is addictive. The streak is real. But the displacement question is also real. AI can translate in real time. You can learn by doing, not tapping an owl for 1,000 days. Matt’s take is nuanced.Duolingo works, but learning style varies, and competitors are everywhere. This is the repeat pattern.Great UX plus habit loops can hold for a long time.Until the interface changes. The Matt wrestle, build a business vs build change Matt talks about getting pulled into vibe coding a new business idea, then catching himself. The goal is not just “build a thing.”The goal is to create change. It is a founder problem, and it is a good one.Tools make building easy. Purpose keeps you honest. The big takeaway AI is not just a productivity layer now.It is becoming a budget line. Credits. Controls. Governance. Adoption.This is the grown up phase. And if you want impact, the tool is not the mission.The mission is the mission. Subscribe for more Unfiltered every week 🎙️ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unfilteredwithmattnige.substack.com

    32 min
  4. Finfluencers, Fake Certainty, and Why Distribution Is the Real Moat

    May 5

    Finfluencers, Fake Certainty, and Why Distribution Is the Real Moat

    On Unfiltered with Matt & Nige, Episode 09, we talk money, moats, and giving advice with ZERO accountability. 🎙️ It starts with sunshine, lawn mowing, and Nigel heading to ServiceNow Knowledge with 22,000 other folk. Just another week in the life of Matt and Nige. Then we get into the real theme:It is getting easier to sound confident.It is getting harder to know what is true, who is accountable, and what is actually defensible. TLDR: Regulators are stepping in on finfluencers. Advice vs guidance matters. And “moats” are shifting from can you build it, to can you distribute it, defend it, and stand behind it. This week on Unfiltered the two talk all things: * the coordinated crackdown on finfluencers pushing unregulated financial products with complete certainty * why fines do not work when the upside is bigger than the penalty * advice vs guidance, and why the boring disclaimer scripts exist for a reason * Nigel’s Health OS experiment * insurance specific LLMs, and what the real “secret sauce” is, not the big model, the proprietary layer * private equity and debt, and what it means when a business hands the keys back to creditors * token budgets and why the “AI spend” conversation is about to get very grown up The finfluencer crackdown This is the headline. Regulators are coordinating across multiple jurisdictions to clamp down on influencers promoting unregulated products. It is 100% overdue.And it matters. Nigel’s point is small fines are not deterrents when one referral can cover the penalty. The bigger problem is the pattern.High certainty. Low accountability. Huge reach. Advice vs guidance, annoying but necessary Nigel goes into the reality of provider calls.Recorded call. Not advice. Not whole of market. No recommendation. Everyone hates the script.But the script exists because the moment someone acts, someone has to own duty of care. Right now, a lot of the internet wants the upside of influence without any of the responsibility. Nigel Health OS, and why this is actually an insurance story One of the best parts of the episode. Nigel is stitching together a personal Health OS. Strava, Whoop, nutrition, weight, stress, supplements. Plus it then tells him what is missing. Omega 3, apparently. Matt connects it immediately.That is the insurance pattern. Lots of fragmented inputs.One joined up view.A decision that depends entirely on context. That is where AI becomes genuinely useful. Not smart sentences. Joined up signals. Insurance LLMs and the copycat era Then the question that keeps coming up. Where are the insurance specific LLMs. Nigel references legal AI names like Harvey and Legora, and the online post claiming someone built a version in two weeks and open sourced it. Matt’s response is the reality check.Building is easier now. Copying is faster too. So what becomes defensible is: * proprietary data layers * workflow embedding * distribution * and being the one people come back to when it goes wrong Nigel adds the nuance. It is not big model versus small model. It is frontier model plus your layer. Your layer is the differentiator. And they land on a likely insurance direction. Domain intelligence by function. Claims. Underwriting. Market intelligence. Specific, embedded, useful. Debt, private equity, and the AI label effect Then we pivot into capital and reality checks. Nigel brings up a private equity story where a business handed the keys back because it could not service the debt. Rare in PE. A signal when it happens. It loops back to the same point.High leverage plus a weak moat equals pain. They also touch the “AI label” effect. The market still loves an AI pivot, sometimes for the right reasons, sometimes because the story is shiny. Token budgets and the grown up phase They close with the practical reality. Tokens cost money. Budgets get tracked. The next phase is cost and value, not vibes. You can do incredible work with these tools.Now you have to prove it is worth it. The human ending Hyrox planning. Family visiting. Vegas travel. Factor 5000 sunscreen.Plus the Allbirds confession, which Matt is owning. Just. The big takeaway If you want to win in this next phase, “confident content” is not enough.You need accountability. And if you are building, the moat is shifting to what is hardest to copy.Distribution. Proprietary data. Embedded workflows. And credible responsibility. Subscribe for more Unfiltered every week 🎙️ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unfilteredwithmattnige.substack.com

    31 min
  5. AI Advice Goes Mainstream, Who Owns the Interface?

    May 2

    AI Advice Goes Mainstream, Who Owns the Interface?

    Unfiltered with Matt & Nige | Episode 08 🎙️ This episode has BIG energy. It starts with sunshine and fresh haircuts and then onto their favourite topic - AI. This time the transition of behaviour from “interesting” to “default”, especially when money is involved. Gen Z are already using AI for financial management and investing decisions. Not experimenting. Doing. TLDR: the interface for money decisions is changing right in front of us, and the industry does not get to vote on whether it happens. The only question is who responds well, and who gets left behind. This week on Unfiltered the two talk all things: * why AI for money is already mainstream, what people actually ask AI about, modelling, retirement, tax, estate questions, strategy, the full life admin bundle * the messy line between insight and advice, and why confidence without context is where risk lives * voice in as the fast lane, plus the reality that it is brilliant but it can drain you if you do it all day * headless orchestration and invisible software, outcomes happen without you logging in * plus a proper market side quest, Cursor, SpaceX scale numbers, and the reminder that compute and infrastructure still decide the pace The new behaviour is already here People already get “advice” from everywhere, friends, WhatsApp groups, forums, newsletters, the bloke in the pub. So of course they are now using AI too. The difference is scale, speed, and confidence. Matt pushes the obvious question. Can AI ever replicate the nuance of a great advisor, and where does it stop? They land on the real lever. Discovery.If you feed a model nothing, you get generic guidance.If you feed it your actual context, goals, assets, liabilities, time horizon, risk appetite, it can become a seriously useful insight layer. The decision still sits with the human, but the “thinking support” is accelerating fast. And the uncomfortable truth is this. People will use it anyway. So the industry needs to meet them where they are. Proactive beats annual, and the phone is the interface This thread is exciting because it is so practical. Not once a year.More like quarterly check ins, life event prompts, renewal reminders, and nudges that stop people ignoring important decisions until the last minute. Nigel’s view is that the phone is the interface and the experience is conversational.That is how you make financial habits stick. Voice input, fast but tiring Matt shares that voice in is faster, deeper, and more natural than typing. You get more out with less friction. But there is a cost. If you are talking to tools all day, it can feel like you are running your brain at full speed. Nigel lands the important point. Thinking time matters more than ever. The future is not only speed. It is also judgement, pause, and space to reflect. Wise Nigel. Headless orchestration and invisible software This is where it snaps back into enterprise and insurance. Nigel brings back the idea of frictionless insurance in a land of utility, then pushes it into headless orchestration. The Salesforce thought experiment says it all.What if you never had to log into Salesforce again, but the outcomes still happened. Matt connects it to agents plugging into tools so work moves without you living inside interfaces. Not another dashboard. Just outcomes. Then the next step. Agents have to learn and improve, not repeat the same task forever. That is when this stops being automation and starts being a new operating layer. The market side quest, Cursor, SpaceX, and compute reality They finish with a proper market moment. Cursor, SpaceX scale numbers, and the reminder that the constraint is still compute, power, and infrastructure. Quantum, data centres, gigawatts. The plumbing decides the pace. It’s got it all. The human ending Matt heads off to play golf with his boy in the sunshine, ideally for free because he refuses to pay £7 on principle. Nigel signs off with a wellbeing day, coffee, and saying hello to his wife. What. A. Friday. The big takeaway AI is already becoming the first stop for money decisions.The interface is conversational. And the winners will be the ones who combine speed with context, guardrails, and trust. Subscribe for more Unfiltered every week 🎙️ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unfilteredwithmattnige.substack.com

    28 min
  6. Build vs Buy in the AI Era: What’s a Real Moat Now?

    Apr 30

    Build vs Buy in the AI Era: What’s a Real Moat Now?

    Unfiltered with Matt & Nige is back with a new episode, same unfiltered energy 🎙️ There’s sunshine, training chat, and once they settle in, the real thread is bigger than fitness. AI isn’t just changing what we do. It’s changing what software is. TLDR: empty SaaS is getting disposable, the new UX is conversational, and curiosity is starting to look like a competitive advantage. This week on Unfiltered, they talk all things: * why “vibe coding” is suddenly everywhere, and why it’s not just developers doing it * what counts as a moat now: data, distribution, connectivity, guardrails, or just speed * whether the app store still matters, or if people will just build their own tools * why the next user experience is AI: chat, agents, voice, conversational everything * and the bigger human question underneath it all: what should we teach our kids when the floor is rising for everyone Vibe coding: the “normal people” moment Matt’s building a Hyrox-specific platform that pulls together training and race data, predicts performance, and highlights where to focus next. Nigel’s doing a similar pattern for personal finance, basically building an “AI IFA for myself” around pensions, savings and strategy. But the moment that really lands is when Matt mentions a mate, an actor and not a “tech guy”, who just built a tool to manage his property portfolio. That’s the shift. These tools are moving from “specialists only” to “anyone curious enough to try”. Empty SaaS vs real platforms They’re pretty aligned here. Empty SaaS, a container with a login and no real moat, is replicable and therefore disposable. But core enterprise systems aren’t getting ripped out overnight, ServiceNow, Salesforce, SAP, Oracle, and the rest. The more realistic future is this. Core platforms stay, and smarter tools get bolted around the edges, especially the ones that integrate into where people already live. Guidewire gets a mention for a reason. The new UX is AI, and voice is coming Nigel’s point is simple. The next UX isn’t another app. It’s conversational. Matt connects it to robotics and voice, because once everything becomes an agent, voice starts to feel like the default interface. Then comes the grown up reality check, especially in regulated worlds.If voice mishears you and sends money to the wrong person, now what. Guardrails still matter. Distribution is the moat, and venture might be changing Then the episode takes a sharp left into attention, Jake Paul, MrBeast, and “distribution as value”. And it’s a smart point. If someone has the audience, the black book, and the ability to move attention, that starts to look like a new kind of venture model. The human bit that matters They finish where these conversations usually end up. Curiosity, experimentation, and what it means to stay human when the tools are doing more and more. Imagination. Taste. Grit. And the idea that humans are getting better at everything, so we need to get better at being human. The big takeaway AI is pushing software toward personalisation, conversation and speed. Some SaaS becomes disposable. Core platforms stay. And the people who win will be the ones who keep learning, keep experimenting, and build with guardrails, not just vibes. Subscribe for more Unfiltered every week 🎙️ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unfilteredwithmattnige.substack.com

    31 min
  7. Peak AI Slop: When AI Starts Talking to AI

    Apr 14

    Peak AI Slop: When AI Starts Talking to AI

    Unfiltered with Matt & Nige returns 🎙️And Episode 6 starts exactly how it should: Matt and Nigel are still figuring out the “perfect” intro… they nearly land it. Unfiltered, as promised. We’ve got a bit of transatlantic energy, a bit of UK weather whiplash, and the usual life admin creeping into the first five minutes… which somehow always ends up being the most accurate set up for the actual topic. Once they settle in, the real theme appears…Are we heading for peak AI usage… or peak AI slop? TLDR: we’re using it more, trusting it more, and generating more… but the signal to noise problem is getting worse. This week on Unfiltered the two talk all things: * AI talking to AI (and why LinkedIn comment sections are starting to feel inhuman) * the confidence problem: when AI sounds complete… but it isn’t (dangerous when it’s a topic you don’t know well) * triangulating answers: asking Gemini, Claude and ChatGPT the same question to sanity check outputs * token maxing vs token minimising: why “how many tokens did you burn?” is about to become a very real ROI conversation * and the next shift from co work to auto work: set a task, go to sleep, wake up and things moved (and yes, the cost curve gets interesting) Getting a little deeper… this episode is really about trust and judgement. Not “trust the AI.” Trust in the chain: what goes in, what comes out, what gets repeated, and what happens when humans stop checking because everything is delivered with confidence. Peak AI slop: when humans step out of the loop Matt’s point was simple and painfully true: using AI to comment on LinkedIn posts drives him mad… and it gets even worse when someone uses AI to comment on the AI comment.You end up with a thread of bots congratulating bots, while humans scroll past and feel slightly dead inside. Nigel linked it to a bigger issue: if people aren’t asking the right questions, we’re not getting smarter… we’re just creating more content. And then “numpties like us” are left correcting it later. The confidence problem (again) This is the part Matt kept coming back to: AI can be magic… and also unbelievably dumb… and it delivers both with the same confidence.If it’s a topic you know well, you spot what’s missing.If it’s a topic you don’t know well, you assume it’s brilliant. That’s the trap. Triangulation: three models, three answers Nigel’s workaround was practical: ask multiple models the same question and compare.He even did it with fitness supplements - same question, different models, different answers. Fascinating… and slightly alarming. Matt added the industry twist: clients are now blending multiple sources - AI outputs, ecosystem partners, specialists - and triangulating that too. The “research stack” is changing. Token maxing vs token minimising Then the ROI thread kicks in. If one person is burning a quarter of a million tokens worth of work… how many humans would that be? And is it actually better if you still need review?Nigel’s take: token minimising is going to be the next wave - people getting serious about cost, value, and whether the output is worth the spend. Matt connected it to the always on model: once you’re running auto work overnight (set tasks, wake up to results), the consumption curve gets wild - but so does the productivity potential. Lawyers: same hours, different pain One of the most real examples: lawyers aren’t saving time yet - they’re spending the same hours correcting contracts their clients generated with AI.So instead of “AI removes work,” it becomes “AI changes the work… and sometimes adds review overhead.” The human ending (because obviously) They wrap in classic Unfiltered practicality: a real life to do list, travel logistics, and Matt signing off with “big chats… big love.” Which feels right! The big takeaway AI is everywhere.Output is cheap.Confidence is free. So the advantage is shifting to the people who can: ask better questions, validate faster, minimise waste, and keep human judgement in the loop. Subscribe for more Unfiltered every week 🎙️ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unfilteredwithmattnige.substack.com

    29 min
  8. AI Is Moving Fast. Adoption Isn’t. The Expectation Gap Is Getting Dangerous

    Apr 8

    AI Is Moving Fast. Adoption Isn’t. The Expectation Gap Is Getting Dangerous

    Unfiltered with Matt & Nige is back 🎙️ And Episode 05 starts in classic Unfiltered fashion: the boys still don’t fully nail the intro. For this episode Matt is in New York to see Nigel. Nigel is in Basingstoke. They immediately go off on a tangent about tracking airplanes, boarding lofts, shelving projects, Hornby train sets, and what retirement apparently looks like. Once they find the thread, the real theme of the episode appears… AI is accelerating at a massive pace… but adoption and change aren’t keeping up. TLDR: the expectation gap is widening. Boards think “AI is the answer”. Teams are still trying to make the basics work. And that gap is getting bigger, faster. This week on Unfiltered the two talk all things: * the widening gap between AI capability and real adoption (in big companies and in normal life) * why the tools are everywhere… but the “so what do I actually do with this?” problem is still real * AI talking to AI and whether we’re creating more noise than signal * the confidence problem: incomplete answers delivered with maximum certainty (and why it drives Matt mad) * the future of advice vs guidance (financial advice, brokers, advisors… what gets augmented vs replaced) * plus a surprising hero: pen and paper Getting a little deeper… the episode is really about trust.Not “trust the AI”. Trust in the whole system: the data going in, the outputs coming out, and what happens when people start building decisions on top of the wrong foundation. The adoption gap: “AI is the answer… what’s the question?” Nigel’s point was sharp: execs are excited, boards are excited, everyone’s saying “replace legacy systems”… but the 10,000 to 30,000 people inside the organisation aren’t there yet. Because change management isn’t solved by a model release.And the business doesn’t move at the same pace as the tooling. Matt took it wider: it’s true for individuals too.The case studies are everywhere, the promise is everywhere, but it still takes time to return to the tools, test features, build habits, and work out what fits your life. And even then… you’re not always ready to hand over the keys. Pen, paper, and the “Limitless” brain state This was one of the best bits: Matt’s back in notebook mode.Write notes everywhere, snap them, dump them into AI, turn them into action. Simple, old school, effective. Nigel’s similar with writing: he doesn’t use AI to write his newsletter because writing is how he does his thinking. The takeaway:AI can accelerate output, but it doesn’t replace the thinking part.And sometimes the thinking part starts with… a pen. AI talking to AI (and the rise of “friction”) This section was basically modern life in one sentence: Matt’s in a dispute with a car hire company. They’re sending AI generated letters. He’s replying with AI generated letters. Everyone’s confident. Nobody’s solving anything. Nigel’s broadband provider is charging him for kit they’ve already confirmed they received. 30 minutes on the phone. Process broken. Total friction. Btw, if you’re still tuning in at this point, you’re doing well. The confidence problem (the bit that really annoys Matt) Matt’s rant here is extremely relatable:AI can give you an incomplete answer with full confidence, plus the weird flattery layer, and it creates a bigger downstream problem because people build on top of it. Nigel’s extension was important: if wrong insights keep feeding systems, you end up with more false information, more noise, and it gets harder to find the needle in the haystack. And that’s where “market intelligence” stakes go up.Bad inputs don’t just waste time, they distort decisions. Advice vs guidance: brokers, advisors, and what gets augmented first They then pulled it into financial advice and the “guidance vs advice” line.How far can AI go in comparing options, explaining, narrowing, and helping you decide - at a fraction of the cost? Same question as insurance, really:Brokers and advisors may not disappear overnight… but the simple stuff gets augmented first, then compressed. And then the nuance: it’s not only trust, it’s recourse.If something goes wrong, who do you go back to? The “raise the floor, raise the ceiling” bit This episode also had a strong thread about learning: the floor is rising, everyone’s leveling up, and curiosity is becoming the advantage. Not just using the tools… but using them with the right questions:“show me”, “prove it”, “unpack it”, “what’s missing”, “what would change your mind”. That’s how you avoid fake certainty.And that’s how you make the tools genuinely useful. The human ending (because obviously) They wrap in full Unfiltered chaos: headphones dying, random batteries, coughing across 6,000 miles, travel and Substack plans. Also: the idea that AirPods should be insured as a utility subscription 🤷 The big takeaway AI is moving fast.Adoption isn’t.And the gap between what leaders expect and what organisations can safely deliver is widening. The winners won’t be the ones shouting “AI first”. They’ll be the ones who can turn capability into adoption - without creating more noise, more friction, or more fake certainty. Subscribe for more Unfiltered every week 🎙️ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unfilteredwithmattnige.substack.com

    26 min
  9. Insurtech Insights After Dark: Scale, Sprawl and Going Beyond Panels

    Mar 24

    Insurtech Insights After Dark: Scale, Sprawl and Going Beyond Panels

    Unfiltered with Matt & Nige is back 🎙️This week… it’s sunny in the UK. And that’s where the chat starts. Very British. Episode 04 starts with Nigel talking through his Croc collection. And once they stop laughing, they get into what the week was really about: Insurtech Insights London, and the growing difficulty in separating startups/vendors in the insurance innovation space. Why does it feel like everyone is building the same thing? TLDR: the market is converging.Same pitch. Same message. Same “AI is changing everything” energy.Which makes the real job now: differentiation… and figuring out what actually scales. This week on Unfiltered the chaps talk all things: * Insurtech Insights reality check: walk left, walk right… it’s the same solution in different branding * Orchestration vs point solutions: the future of insurance is orchestrated, not built * Data in vs data out: ingestion isn’t “one problem”, it’s 50 different problems (forms, images, SOVs, claims, medical, etc.) * Pilot purgatory: as we shift beyond POC… we realise scaling is the hard bit Getting a little deeper… the theme under all of this was control. Not “control” as in bureaucracy. Control as in: if you’re joining the dots across the insurance value chain, you need visibility, guardrails, governance and someone conducting the orchestra. Otherwise you’re just rebuilding the old mess… but faster. The “everyone is doing the same thing” problem Matt’s point from the event floor was sharp: founders, CEOs, tech vendors… stands either side… pitching basically the same promise AI is helping everyone move faster, build better demos, evolve their product quickly.But if everyone can do that… then differentiation gets harder, the noise gets louder. Plus then it becomes a buyer problem.How do you pick between a dozen versions of the “same thing”? Or at least that’s how it appears on the surface. Orchestration: the future is joined up, not monolithic Nigel loves a good soundbite. This week’s: the future of insurance is orchestrated, not built. Because the insurance value chain is long and messy. You don’t want one monolith doing everything end to end. You want that “steel thread” through the middle… and the ability to plug things in, swap things out, turn things on and off. That’s where the real advantage sits: orchestration + governance + visibility end to end. Data in, data out (and why “ingestion” is not one use case) They got practical here. Because “data” always becomes the headline… but it’s usually vague. Nigel’s example was perfect: you might need to ingest * a claims form * a medical form * an SOV * an image of Matt’s dodgy knee * a bashed up car Those aren’t the same problem. They might need different tech, different controls, different accuracy requirements. And if you stitch them together without governance, you end up with sprawl - the same old application sprawl… but now it’s AI sprawl. Pilot purgatory and the scaling wall This one was everywhere at the event: we’ve moved beyond testing… now it’s “how do we scale this, and how do we scale it successfully?” Matt’s view: we keep hitting the same blockers we’ve always hit in innovation:ownership, proximity to the business, real sponsorship, and the incentives to change. If we don’t get it right out the blocks, it will never work further down the line. Nigel framed it as two speed IT:AI is moving at warp speed. Your organisation is not.And you can’t just plug speed into a risk averse business unless you’ve got the right guardrails. Which leads to the line that stuck:You’re not going to be disrupted by AI.You’re going to be disrupted by the competitor who’s using AI properly. Panels: why the best conversations aren’t on stage They also touched the uncomfortable truth: panels can’t go deep.Often the same people. Often the same narratives. And ofte, not enough candour.And part of that is comms constraints - big companies can’t always say what they really think on a stage with cameras. So the best insight often happens elsewhere: smaller groups, Chatham House rules, proper peer conversations where people can be honest. The left field ending (because of course) Then, in full Unfiltered fashion, they take a hard turn into Louis Theroux, the Manosphere, parenting, social media, and why this stuff genuinely scares them as fathers. The vibe shifts from Croc and insurance chat to “we need to protect our kids”.And it’s real. Then to close: Matt reveals he’s wearing Uggs. It’s all about the balance. Hey, it’s unfiltered right. We’re starting to get to know these guys. The big takeaway Insurtech is converging.AI is making everyone faster.And the next competitive edge won’t be “having AI”. It’ll be: orchestrating it, governing it, and scaling it in a way that actually works inside real insurance organisations. Subscribe for more Unfiltered every week 🎙️ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unfilteredwithmattnige.substack.com

    36 min
  10. 9–9–6 Is Back: Are We Working Harder or Just Working Smarter With AI?

    Mar 20

    9–9–6 Is Back: Are We Working Harder or Just Working Smarter With AI?

    Unfiltered with Matt & Nige is back 🎙️And this week… the energy is very Friday. Episode 03 starts perfectly: Nigel goes for a clean intro… Matt interrupts… and they then immediately forget the plan. Unfiltered, as promised. 😅 Once they find their rhythm, they got stuck into something that’s quietly become a real thing again: working 996 - are we working harder or just smarter with AI? TLDR: kinda…The pace is mad, the tools are fast, and it’s way too easy to fill every spare minute with “just one more thing”. This week on Unfiltered the boys talk all things: * 996 energy: are we working harder… or just producing more because everything is supercharged now? * AI in real life: not hype - actual day to day workflows, habits, and the “how do you use it?” questions that matter * Personalisation that actually works (yes, they got nerdy about Whoop and training) * Shadow AI: people are already doing it while the org is still writing the policy doc (you’ve seen it) * and the next shift: stitching tools together so the magic happens without extra friction Getting a little deeper… the interesting bit isn’t “AI exists”.It’s what happens when it becomes this quiet layer running alongside your life in parallel. The 996 reality: “it’s always on in the background” Matt’s point was brutally honest: when you’re building something, it’s “all I think about”… almost in your sleep. And when you’ve got the US and Canada on the other side of your day, the evenings disappear fast. Nigel’s angle was similar, just wrapped in travel chaos: you’re moving time zones, recovering, catching up… and still filling the gaps with podcasts, notes, ideas, learning. It doesn’t always feel like work. But it still adds up. And that’s the interesting part of this moment:AI can save you time… and then you immediately spend the time you saved. AI workflows: the (un)sexy stuff that changes everything They didn’t talk theory. They talked reality. Mostly. Just now always mapping it to the world of insurance! Matt’s using AI religiously for training: mapped plans, then adjusting daily based on Strava and Whoop data (manually stitched together… for now).Not “one size fits all”. More like: “here’s the plan, here’s the data, now help me make the right call today.” Nigel’s version was more “in the moment”: he’s literally translating slides mid-call so he can stay in the flow, in real time. It all sounds small… until you realise how much friction that removes when you’re bouncing between people, content, context and decisions. Personalisation: when it stops being gimmicky And back to their favourite other topic - Nigel’s Whoop moment was the perfect example: after travel and time shifts, it recommended a walk instead of the gym… and it was spot on. For once, “data driven insight” was genuinely useful. Matt’s point was simple: that level of insight is hard for a human coach to replicate - because the signals are constant, and the patterns are subtle. Which then opens up the obvious question:Why isn’t health insurance leaning into this properly - prevention, devices, daily decisions - not just protection? Matt’s view: it’ll happen, but it’s evolutionary. Not overnight. Shadow AI + the “stitching” problem This is where it got real. People are already accelerating with AI - but it’s fragmented.One tool for notes. One tool for summaries. One tool for translation. Another for planning. Another for data. Another for “please just help me think”. And the next win isn’t “another tool”.It’s secure, enterprise grade stitching across what we already use. Less friction. Less bouncing between tabs. More flow. Because when AI works properly, you don’t notice the tool.You notice the outcome. The human ending (because obviously) They wrapped in full Unfiltered fashion: DIY Saturday, Mother’s Day planning (restaurant chosen by an eight year old… brave), mowing lawns, and a London trip on the horizon. No big finale. Mostly two guys realising they spent too long talking before the show and that they’d probably better had get on. The big takeaway We’re not just working more.We’re operating in a world where spare minutes turn into output instantly - and the line between “work” and “life admin” is getting thinner. So the question becomes: what do you keep doing, what do you stop doing, and how do you use this properly without burning out? Subscribe for more Unfiltered every week🎙️Unfiltered with Matt & Nige is back 🎙️And this week… the energy is very Friday. Episode 03 starts perfectly: Nigel goes for a clean intro… Matt interrupts… and they then immediately forget the plan. Unfiltered, as promised. 😅 Once they find their rhythm, they got stuck into something that’s quietly become a real thing again: working 996 - are we working harder or just smarter with AI? TLDR: kinda…The pace is mad, the tools are fast, and it’s way too easy to fill every spare minute with “just one more thing”. This week on Unfiltered the boys talk all things: * 996 energy: are we working harder… or just producing more because everything is supercharged now? * AI in real life: not hype - actual day to day workflows, habits, and the “how do you use it?” questions that matter * Personalisation that actually works (yes, they got nerdy about Whoop and training) * Shadow AI: people are already doing it while the org is still writing the policy doc (you’ve seen it) * and the next shift: stitching tools together so the magic happens without extra friction Getting a little deeper… the interesting bit isn’t “AI exists”.It’s what happens when it becomes this quiet layer running alongside your life in parallel. The 996 reality: “it’s always on in the background” Matt’s point was brutally honest: when you’re building something, it’s “all I think about”… almost in your sleep. And when you’ve got the US and Canada on the other side of your day, the evenings disappear fast. Nigel’s angle was similar, just wrapped in travel chaos: you’re moving time zones, recovering, catching up… and still filling the gaps with podcasts, notes, ideas, learning. It doesn’t always feel like work. But it still adds up. And that’s the interesting part of this moment:AI can save you time… and then you immediately spend the time you saved. AI workflows: the (un)sexy stuff that changes everything They didn’t talk theory. They talked reality. Mostly. Just now always mapping it to the world of insurance! Matt’s using AI religiously for training: mapped plans, then adjusting daily based on Strava and Whoop data (manually stitched together… for now).Not “one size fits all”. More like: “here’s the plan, here’s the data, now help me make the right call today.” Nigel’s version was more “in the moment”: he’s literally translating slides mid-call so he can stay in the flow, in real time. It all sounds small… until you realise how much friction that removes when you’re bouncing between people, content, context and decisions. Personalisation: when it stops being gimmicky And back to their favourite other topic - Nigel’s Whoop moment was the perfect example: after travel and time shifts, it recommended a walk instead of the gym… and it was spot on. For once, “data driven insight” was genuinely useful. Matt’s point was simple: that level of insight is hard for a human coach to replicate - because the signals are constant, and the patterns are subtle. Which then opens up the obvious question:Why isn’t health insurance leaning into this properly - prevention, devices, daily decisions - not just protection? Matt’s view: it’ll happen, but it’s evolutionary. Not overnight. Shadow AI + the “stitching” problem This is where it got real. People are already accelerating with AI - but it’s fragmented.One tool for notes. One tool for summaries. One tool for translation. Another for planning. Another for data. Another for “please just help me think”. And the next win isn’t “another tool”.It’s secure, enterprise grade stitching across what we already use. Less friction. Less bouncing between tabs. More flow. Because when AI works properly, you don’t notice the tool.You notice the outcome. The human ending (because obviously) They wrapped in full Unfiltered fashion: DIY Saturday, Mother’s Day planning (restaurant chosen by an eight year old… brave), mowing lawns, and a London trip on the horizon. No big finale. Mostly two guys realising they spent too long talking before the show and that they’d probably better had get on. The big takeaway We’re not just working more.We’re operating in a world where spare minutes turn into output instantly - and the line between “work” and “life admin” is getting thinner. So the question becomes: what do you keep doing, what do you stop doing, and how do you use this properly without burning out? Subscribe for more Unfiltered every week🎙️ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unfilteredwithmattnige.substack.com

    29 min
  11. SaaS Is (Not) Dead. Why AI Doesn’t Replace SaaS Overnight

    Mar 6

    SaaS Is (Not) Dead. Why AI Doesn’t Replace SaaS Overnight

    Unfiltered with Matt & Nige is back 🎙️And this week is as beautiful as last. Maybe even more beautiful. And yes, before we get into the serious stuff… Nigel’s in Orlando with a fresh buzz cut and sadly no Mickey Mouse ears. He’s supposedly too busy for Disney. There’s no hair… but there is plenty of opinion. This week, we got into a topic that’s been much talked about. Are we seeing the the death of SaaS? TLDR: no, well some.But it is the end of a certain kind of SaaS comfort blanket. This week on Unfiltered we talk all things”: * why “SaaS is dead” is the wrong framing (and why it keeps coming back) * why agentic AI changes the surface area of software * why regulated industries can’t “just switch it off overnight” * and why the real bottleneck isn’t the tech… it’s governance, orchestration, and adoption Getting a little deeper, it’s not that software disappears, it’s that the interface and workflow start moving. From structured tools to AI-native layers that can do “jobs to be done” across systems But in insurance, banking, and capital markets, you don’t get to pretend the messy bits don’t exist: * security * controls * regulation * auditability * integration * operating risk So yes, you can spin things up faster (vibe coding is real) but that doesn’t automatically give you: data access, governance, or real adoption. The “Bloomberg is dead” problem (in a nutshell) You can build something shiny in a weekend.But if it doesn’t connect to proprietary data, trusted sources, and workflows people already rely on…it’s a demo. Not a system. The moat question: “System of record” isn’t a permanent cheat code This was a good one. We got into how a lot of incumbents have lived comfortably inside the line:“We’re safe - we own the system of record.” But the uncomfortable reality is: * it might be your moat today * it might be a slow fade tomorrow So the defensive play isn’t “bolt on AI” and call it transformation.It’s not spoilers on an old car. Or lipstick on a pig. It’s: change the thing from the inside out. Governance as an accelerator (not a brake) This was another thread explored. For years, the default enterprise response has been: “we can’t do that… risk hasn’t signed it off.” But in an AI world, the winning companies will flip that: governance becomes the way you move faster safely. Because without guardrails, you get: * a thousand experiments * zero scalable outcomes * and a lot of risk you can’t explain later Which brings us to the final wrap… Innovation is decentralising (and that’s both good and messy) We talked about the shift away from moonshots, towards A → B transformation: * more Horizon 1, less Horizon 3 * more practical change, less theatre But the catch is brutal: the people being asked to innovate often… * don’t have the tools * don’t have the networks * don’t have the “innovation muscle” * and are naturally risk-averse (in most cases) So you get decentralised responsibility… without decentralised capability. And that creates a real opening for platforms and partners that can help teams: * see outside their four walls * connect to the right solutions * and coordinate needs across the business Because the problem isn’t “no one wants change.”It’s that change isn’t coordinated. The big takeaway SaaS isn’t dead.But the “easy money for generic containers” era gets a lot harder. AI changes: * what’s easy to replicate * what users expect * and what “value” actually means And if you’re operating in a regulated environment, the winners won’t be the loudest.They’ll be the ones who can answer: How do we integrate? How do we govern? How do we orchestrate? How do we adopt - at pace - without breaking trust? That’s the game now. Subscribe for more Unfiltered takes every week. 🎙️ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unfilteredwithmattnige.substack.com

    30 min
  12. The Day the Brokers Lost Billions: How LLMs Are Changing the Game

    Mar 6

    The Day the Brokers Lost Billions: How LLMs Are Changing the Game

    The podcast you didn’t know you needed is here… 🎙️Unfiltered with Matt & Nige. And we’re starting with a topic that sounds niche until you realise it changes everything:apps inside large language models (LLMs) and what that means for insurance. Because when the interface changes, the market changes.Not overnight. But structurally. This Week: This week on Unfiltered with Matt & Nige, we asked:“What happens when insurance stops living in tabs… and starts living in chat?” 😅 We covered: * brokers: squeezed in some places, stronger in others * personal lines: first to compress * commercial: still needs judgement, context, humans * and the UK: already trained for speed, so this shift could feel… surprisingly natural Because the real story isn’t automation.It’s where the journey starts and who gets to shape it. What’s actually happening? We’re seeing the early signs of a shift from:search + forms + comparison tabsto:conversation + context + action Instead of hopping between aggregator pages, portals, PDFs, and half remembered logins, the customer journey becomes: “Here’s my situation… what do I need?”“What’s covered?”“What’s the right limit?”“Show me options.”“Let’s do it.” It’s less about AI replacing insurance…and more about insurance becoming accessible through the same interface people already live in. Why this matters for the insurance industry (not just the tech crowd) A lot of “AI in insurance” talk gets stuck at automation buzzwords. This is different. LLM apps create a new front door. And whoever owns the front door has leverage over: * distribution * user experience * trust * product choice * and ultimately… conversion That’s the real tension. Brokers: disrupted… or upgraded? One of the clearest points from this conversation was the nuance. Some broker activity gets eroded. Some gets elevated. Where it gets squeezed: * high volume, low complexity business * admin-heavy workflows * transactional placement where “speed + price” wins Where brokers can win harder: * complex risk * advice and judgement * structuring cover properly * navigating uncertainty (the thing forms can’t do well) So it’s not “brokers disappear”.It’s: the role moves up the value chain, if the model adapts. Personal lines vs commercial: not the same story This is where the conversation got practical. Personal lines is the first pressure point because it’s: * repetitive * high volume * heavily price-led * already trained by aggregators Commercial remains stubbornly human because it’s: * bespoke * context-heavy * negotiated * built on judgement and relationships AI can speed up parts of commercial (and it will).But the placement still needs people when the stakes are real. The UK market is different (in a good way, mostly) The UK’s reliance on aggregators shapes consumer expectations: fast comparison, minimal friction, low patience. That matters because if LLM apps become the interface, they don’t enter a neutral market.They enter one that’s already trained for speed. So the question isn’t “will consumers adopt conversational insurance?”.It’s “how quickly will they prefer it once it works properly?” The consumer experience: fewer tabs, more clarity A simple example we touched on: Consumers struggle with questions like: * “What’s my rebuild cost?” * “Am I underinsured?” * “What does this exclusion actually mean?” * “Do I need this add-on?” LLM-style interfaces are designed to handle that:explain, clarify, guide, personalise. This is where the biggest UX upgrade lives not just in quoting faster, but in helping people understand what they’re actually buying. The big takeaway This isn’t about a single tool or a single platform. It’s the start of a broader shift:insurance becomes something you access through conversation. If you’re a broker, insurer, MGA, or platform thinking about 2026: * the product still matters * the underwriting still matters * the distribution still matters …but the interface is becoming the battlefield. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unfilteredwithmattnige.substack.com

    26 min
  • 12 Episodes

About

It’s hosted by Matt Connolly (CEO of Sønr) and Nigel Walsh (Global Head of Insurance at ServiceNow). Between them, they’ve spent years in and around the industry, so this isn’t theory. It’s what they’re seeing, hearing, and questioning in real time. Some weeks it’s just the two of them figuring things out out loud. Other weeks they’re joined by smart people from across insurance and tech. Founders, operators, investors, and the occasional curveball. The conversation moves between big ideas and day-to-day reality. Innovation, leadership, where the market is heading, and also family life, training, travel, and everything else that sits around the job. It’s thoughtful, honest, sometimes a bit direct, and never overcomplicated. If you work in insurance, or anywhere near it, you’ll probably feel right at home. New episodes every week. unfilteredwithmattnige.substack.com

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  • Creator
    A weekly podcast about what’s really going on in insurance, and the people trying to keep up with it.
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    12
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    Clean
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    © Unfiltered with Matt & Nige
  • Show Website
    Unfiltered with Matt & Nige Podcast

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