Most Brokers Skip the Extra 3 Points of Commission. Here's Why | Duncan Crystal, Herald

Every brokerage has a placement strategy. Then there is the placement reality: where producers actually end up placing business. Duncan Crystal, Co-Founder of Herald, spends his days closing that gap.In Episode 173 of InsurTechTalk, Duncan explains why Herald started with a unified API for commercial insurance, why forcing all of insurance into one API hit a ceiling, and how AI let the company move to "radical acceptance": helping brokers work wherever they already work. He also shares what surprised him most when he entered the industry: producers are so underwater that many skip an extra three points of commission just to clear their desk.Chapters:0:00 Intro: Duncan in Chicago for Broker Tech Connect0:29 What Herald sells: strategic placement at scale3:46 How big the placement problem is, and its five steps5:17 Who "the market" is: MGAs, wholesalers, portals, and the swivel chair8:21 The old insurtech mistake: "we will replace the broker"10:39 Herald's origin: the unified API and the ceiling it hit12:24 Duncan's path: wrestling, rugby, and At-Bay15:56 The messy middle between the CRM and the AMS17:55 How brokerages solve it today, and where AI fits20:53 Does commission drive placement? Why brokers skip the extra points23:13 Closing question: what insurance should talk about more25:55 Vibe coding is a double-edged swordIn this episode:Strategic placement at scale: closing the gap between a brokerage's placement strategy and its placement realityThe five steps of placement, from submission intake to binding and issuingWhy "the market" is really MGAs, wholesalers, carriers and reinsurers, each with its own email, portal or APIWhy "we will replace the broker" was the old insurtech mistake, and why Duncan has fallen into that thinking tooHow Herald's unified API hit a ceiling, and what changed with AIThe "messy middle" between the CRM and the agency management systemWhy strategically right placements lose to the easy ones, and how AI can flip thatWhy vibe coding makes judgment about what to build the new bottleneck🔗 Learn more: https://www.heraldai.com/https://insurtech.me/InsurTechTalk is the podcast for insurance professionals, InsurTech founders, and anyone who wants a no-BS look at where the industry is headed.🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week.#AIinInsurance, #BrokerTech, #CommercialInsurance, #DuncanCrystal, #Herald, #Insurance, #InsuranceInnovation, #InsurTech, #InsurTechTalk, #Placement