The Retention Gap: Why Carriers Lose Policyholders They Priced Correctly
The Retention Gap: Why Carriers Lose Policyholders They Priced Correctly  
Podcast: Full Episodes | Insurtech Leadership Podcast
Published On: Wed Mar 18 2026
Description: Introduction What happens when carriers can predict where risk exists but have zero control over how that risk changes after the policy is written? Valkyrie Holmes, CEO and Co-Founder of Faura, returns to the Insurtech Leadership Podcast to answer that question with a new playbook: turn policyholders into active risk managers, and retention follows. In this episode, Holmes unpacks Faura's retention engine for high-risk consumers, the two-page resilience report reshaping how homeowners engage with their own property risk, and why MGAs have become her favorite distribution partners. The conversation covers carrier trust, first-party data strategies, composable platform architecture, and what it takes to lead a scaling insurtech as the youngest person in every room. Guest Bio Valkyrie Holmes is the CEO and Co-Founder of Faura, a climate risk intelligence platform that evaluates property survivability across all five NATCAT perils: wildfire, hurricane, hail, flood, and earthquake. Holmes skipped college, interned at NASA and SpaceX, and co-founded Faura in 2023. The company has raised $3.5M in seed funding from Harlem Capital, Building Ventures, MetaProp, and Dorm Room Fund, won the State Farm Pitch Competition at InsureTech Connect, and secured a strategic partnership with Insurity to embed resilience analytics into P&C underwriting workflows. Key Topics • The Retention Engine - Faura's new approach to turning policyholders from passive premium-payers into active risk managers through engagement and behavioral data • Two-Page Resilience Reports - Homeowner-facing reports that prioritize easy action items first, building momentum before introducing harder mitigation steps • QR Codes and CA Compliance - How carriers use Faura's walkthrough module as a compliance tool for state-mandated wildfire discounts in California • First-Party Property Data - Filling modifier gaps in carrier datasets by partnering with homeowners for ongoing risk information in exchange for incentives • MGA Strategy - Why MGAs move faster, require less consensus, and have become Faura's ideal distribution partners over tier-one carriers • Composable Platform Architecture - Building a system flexible enough to customize endpoints, reports, and fields for any carrier, broker, or distribution partner • Differentiation in High-Risk Markets - What carriers need beyond price to retain policyholders as competition increases in FL, CA, and emerging catastrophe zones Notable Quotes "Historically, many carriers have been very good at predicting where risk exists, but have very little control over how that risk changes after the policy is written." • Valkyrie Holmes, CEO/Co-Founder, Faura "If you're re-entering a market or trying to take up market share, what is the reason someone stays with you over switching to another carrier for a fifty-dollar premium reduction next year?" • Valkyrie Holmes "Talk to everyone. Talk widely. And then narrow to your mission." • Valkyrie Holmes Resources Guest: • Faura: https://www.faura.us/ • Valkyrie Holmes on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valkyrieholmes/ Host & Organization: • Joshua R. Hollander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuarhollander/ • Horton International (USA): https://www.horton-usa.com/ • Insurtech Leadership Podcast (LinkedIn Showcase): https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/insurtech-leadership-show Subscribe & Review If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe on your favorite platform and leave a review. The Insurtech Leadership Podcast is available on YouTube, Podbean, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.