Acquisitions made easy: Milly Books & ICA Group Podcast Recap

The Insurance Perspectives Podcast involves contributors outside of HawkSoft. The participants' views are entirely their own and may not reflect the views of HawkSoft.

This recap of the Insurance Perspectives Podcast summarizes highlights of the two episodes about HawkSoft's partner Milly Books (formerly Cake), where HawkSoft host Kenny Hendricks interviews Adam Bowe of Milly Books and Clayton (Clay) Yomtob of ICA Group, which uses Milly Books as part of their strategy to drive agency growth through acquisitions.

Clay and Adam discuss the need for acquisition tools for small and medium-sized independent agencies, which make up a large volume of the market.

NOTE: Cake is now Milly Books

Since these podcast episodes were recorded, Cake has rebranded and is now Milly Books. We've updated the company name in the blog post and quotes below. Learn more about Cake's rebrand to Milly Books here.  

In this article:

• Part 1: Milly Books (Adam Bowe)

• • What is Milly Books' reason for participating in the independent agency channel?
  • What one aspect of Milly Books draws agencies in and keeps them working with you?
  • How does Milly Books approach data ownership with regard to your customers?
  • What is the hardest part of working with insurance agencies?
  • What is the best part of working with insurance agencies?

• Part 2: Clay Yomtob (Insurance Company Advisors Group)
  • Tell us about your agency
  • What was your agency looking for when you first encountered Milly Books?
  • What is your agency able to do now with Milly Books that you couldn't do before?
  • What is one thing you would change about Milly Books if you could?
  • How would you describe the value that Milly Books brings to your agency?

Part 1: Milly Books (Adam Bowe)

Watch the video podcast - Part 1

Question 1: Why does Milly Books exist? What is your reason for participating in the independent agency channel?

• Adam Bowe shares that their vision is to make it easier for agents to buy and sell books of business.
  
  
• One of the unique things about Milly Books is that it brings acquisition tools to smaller and medium-sized agencies, who traditionally have fewer options due to the M&A space being controlled by larger brokers.
  
  
• Adam points out that a large segment of the insurance channel is retiring or will be over the next few years, making it a significant customer base that needs solutions for succession.
  
  
• Larger brokers typically look for M&A deals with larger agencies in the $8-10 million range, but most independent agencies are smaller than this.
  
  
• Adam and his founding partner at Milly Books previously worked for a company that provided a similar transactional marketplace for manufacturing. After having a conversation with an independent agency that was going through a sale, he realized there was an opportunity in the insurance industry for the same type of solution that would connect buyers and sellers.

“We make it easier for agents to buy and sell books of business. We do that really uniquely for small to medium sized agencies, because the super brokers of the world have traditionally been very active players in this, but we bring these tools and products to the smaller agencies.”

Question 2: If you had to pick one aspect of Milly Books that draws in and keeps agencies working with you, what would that be and why?

• Adam feels their free book valuation tool is a customer favorite, as many agencies have no idea what the value of their agency is, despite it being their most valuable asset and a critical number to have for the sales process.
  
  
• Milly Books is an API partner of HawkSoft, so it can pull the book of business data from HawkSoft to help with valuation and sale.
  
  
• Adam describes the valuation tool as being similar to Zillow for real estate, giving agencies a ballpark estimate that can depend on aspects of the sale, such as the number of interested buyers.
  
  
• Clayton (Clay) Yomtob agrees that accurate valuation can be difficult, and Milly Books takes some of the guesswork out of a sale by helping buyers move forward with the best matches. It helps them to see whether a new book of business is a good fit for their agency, and analyze whether they are maintaining the value of a book they’ve purchased.
  
  

“Understanding the value of your biggest asset is a really powerful tool and one that's evergreen useful. Whether you're buying or selling, understanding what you're growing or what you're transacting on is a really powerful tool. So I think that's the feature that best captures our intent.”

Question 3: How does Milly Books approach data ownership with regard to your customers?

• Adam explains that Milly Books does not claim ownership of the agent’s data, or sell or monetize it.
  
  
• Because data about an agency’s book of business is so sensitive, Milly Books generalizes the data buyers see, to give them an idea of a book of business without surfacing PII or policy-level details.
  
  
• Sellers on Milly Books also remain anonymous until they choose to interact with a buyer, as they understand that selling can be a sensitive issue for agencies.

“Our listings summarize information to the point where a buyer can get a good sense if they're interested, but can't actually see the raw policy-level details without the seller approving that. The seller is anonymous until they approve to interact with the buyer. We're even protecting seller contact information, because a lot of sellers don't want it to be known that they're selling until they’re farther down the road.”

 

Question 4: What is the hardest part of working with insurance agencies?

• Adam notes that it can be hard to get time with agents to get feedback about the product and how Milly Books can better serve their needs, as agents are so busy, especially around the time of a sale.
  
  
• He also observe that independent agents often have a mistrust of insurtechs, which some agents feel are trying to replace them.
  
  
• Another difficulty for Milly Books, which Adam recognizes is largely outside the agency’s control, can be obtaining and standardizing the data they need for valuation and sale. Because policy data passes through so many hands between carriers and the insured, it can be difficult to get the data they need and standardize it across all carriers.
  
  
• Clay agrees with these pain points, but feels that agencies need to adopt technology in order to compete with direct channels.
  
  
• Adam would love to see a world where insurtechs and independent agencies work together more directly, which benefits both parties.

“Agencies have so much power to shape the solutions that are built. Insurtechs are desperate to work with the majority of agencies, not just the big boys. As an insurtech founder, I'm desperate to listen and be responsive to those pain points and find ways to solve them, because there's a lot of upsides for us as well.”

Question 5: What is the best part of working with insurance agencies?

• Adam loves how collaborative the independent channel is, with agents willing to help and provide feedback to their peers and technology partners alike.
  
  
• Adam also finds fulfillment in being able to help agency owners through what is often the single biggest sale transaction they will have in their life.
  
  

“This is the biggest single transaction that agents will make, as they’re retiring or selling. To be able to honor that and help them and reduce friction is kind of a magical moment because they're super, super excited to receive that help.”

Part 2: ICA Group (Clay Yomtob)

Watch the video podcast - Part 2

In this episode:

• Tell us about your agency
• What was your agency looking for when you first encountered Milly Books?
• What is your agency able to do now with Milly Books that you couldn't do before?
• What is one thing you would change about Milly Books if you could?
• How would you describe the value that Milly Books brings to your agency?

Question 1: Tell us about your agency. How long have you been in the business, and how did you get into the business? Do you have any specializations? What gets you excited about insurance?

• Clay is a partner at the Insurance Company Advisors Group in South Carolina, and is relatively new to HawkSoft.
  
  
• Clay got into insurance in his early twenties as a captive agent with AAA, where he built an agency for the North and South Carolina territory. He sold that agency in 2023, and has now started an independent agency.
  
  
• The agency has four employees and does both personal and commercial lines, specializing in high net worth coastal homes, artists, and contractors.
  
  
• What excites Clay about the insurance industry is its changing nature, as well as the essential nature of the product and the opportunity to differentiate his business.
  
  
• Clay’s independent agency is very focused on growth, planning to do 60% of its growth through acquisitions, with 40% organic growth.
  
  
• Adam appreciates Clay’s growth strategy and feels he is a model customer for Milly Books, with the type of growth vision and strategy they want to help drive for mid-market agencies.
  
  

“I always tell people it's not how you get the client, it's how you keep the client. It's insurance, so they have to have it. It's either going to be with you or it's going to be with the guy down the street. So what's going to separate you from the rest of the pack?”

Question 2: What was your agency looking for when you first encountered Milly Books?

• Clay heard about Milly Books on The Insurance Guys podcast and contacted them after that to get started with their solution.
  
  
• Clay feels Milly Books has made it much easier to find agencies that would be a good potential fit to acquire, and allows sellers to share sensitive book of business details in a secure way.
  
  
• He mentions the chat feature makes it easy to have a personal conversation with buyers, and Adam agrees that their vision is not to take away the relationship part of the transaction, but to make it easier to focus on that by taking care of the transactional details.
  
  

“If I want to jump in with a buyer, I have to send the message first. They have to accept it. Then we’re able to really have a true conversation, get deep into what the nitty gritty of their agency is. It's all backed by Milly Books' platform and their security. That really helps the seller and the buyer feel comfortable with disclosing their information.”

 

Question 3: What is your agency able to do now with Milly Books that you couldn't do before?

• Clay feels Milly Books makes it easy for his agency to buy a book of business in a certain specialty he may be looking to grow. He can pinpoint exact LOBs and carriers before even contacting the seller, which eliminates a lot of the back-and-forth that otherwise happens with potential sellers.
  
  
• Milly Books also makes it easy for him to buy an entire book of business, but be able to sell off a piece of it that may not be a good fit for his agency.
  
  
• Adam agrees that Milly Books does a good number of fractional sales of just certain pieces or lines in a book of business.
  
  
• Adam mentions that Milly Books is also looking into adding more functionality for buyers who have Milly Books and want to bring an outside seller in, and that Clay is helping them test drive this.
  
  
• Clay also loves that Milly Books includes a payment platform for the actual sale transaction, which provides a secure, standardized way to complete such a large transaction with the appropriate documentation.
  
  

“If I want to break into a space, Milly Books will give me a breakdown per carrier, per policy, before I even contact the seller. So I can see if this is going to be a good fit or if I just need to keep moving on, versus having ten phone calls with a guy who posted on Facebook Marketplace. It allows me to pick and choose how I want to grow my agency from an acquisition standpoint.”

Question 4: What is one thing that you would change about Milly Books if you could?

• Clay acknowledges that Milly Books is still growing, but feels that the direction they are moving is great. He feels they have been very responsive to his questions and needs.
  
  
• Clay observes that for such a marketplace to be truly successful, everyone needs to be using it. He wishes there were more agencies using Milly Books rather than other less efficient avenues to find buyers or sellers.

Question 5: How would you describe the value that Milly Books brings to your agency?

• Clay feels Milly Books helps streamline and take the guesswork out of buying or selling a book of business.
  
  
• He feels it’s especially helpful for owners who haven’t bought or sold before, who may not understand the process or the steps they need to go through.
  
  
• It also helps reduce the time it takes to find out if an agency will be a good fit and whether he should proceed with a sale or look for a different seller.

“The Milly Books platform is fantastic. It helps me not have to look at certain avenues that I would typically have to look at. That's probably the biggest factor. It's going to allow me to take the guesswork out and move a transaction a lot faster, instead of spending two months on a book that I don't end up purchasing.”