Callan Harrington sits down with Andy Harbut, Co-Founder of NewCo Risk, who built a multi-million dollar insurance brokerage in just one year after leaving the big brokerage world. Andy shares how he and his partner, Josh, carved out their own path, focusing on search fund clients and lower middle-market private equity deals. With 75% of their clients being entrepreneurs who bought their own businesses, Andy explains why this niche offers more personal satisfaction than working as a cog in a large institutional machine.

Andy breaks down their growth strategy built on old-school relationship building through conference sponsorships, university events, and face-to-face networking within the search fund community. He discusses the challenges of carrier selection across 40 states, why they wholesale specialty lines to true experts, and how they compete against major brokers by offering intimate client relationships and direct accountability. The conversation covers everything from insurance diligence in M&A transactions to why Andy insists on calling himself a broker rather than an agent.

This episode offers tactical insights for any insurance professional looking to understand niche market development and independent brokerage growth strategies.

Key topics covered:

[00:00] Intro
[04:26] Why Start Your Own Brokerage
[07:51] Extreme Growth in Search Fund Niche
[13:14] Unique Competitive Positioning Advantage
[16:01] Old School Selling Insurance Strategy
[17:32] University Conference Marketing Approach
[20:03] Building Messaging Around Unknown Problems
[21:58] National Carrier Selection Challenges
[24:06] Program Business Growth Strategy
[28:20] Leveraging Underwriting Office Arbitrage
[32:46] Wholesaling vs In-House Expertise
[36:21] Why Broker Not Agent
[39:49] Fee Only Model Exploration
[42:54] Growing the Team

Connect with Andy Harbut on LinkedIn for more marketing insights and strategies: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyharbut/

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How Andy Harbut Scaled a Niche Insurance Brokerage in One Year