Local startup ClaimKit has introduced a new product, RiskGenius, which uses the same basic technology—but could reach exponentially more customers.

CEO Chris Cheatham talked about the creation of RiskGenius during a pivot-focused edition of 1 Million Cups at the Kauffman Foundation.

ClaimKit is an online platform that makes it easier for insurance companies to manage all the documents that are part of the claims-review process. The startup has been growing and making money, but not as fast as Cheatham wanted for his investors.

“If we’re growing incrementally, we’re not making them a lot of money,” Cheatham said. “We want that hockey stick growth.”

Luckily, Cheatham found an “adjacent opportunity” thanks to a major project that ClaimKit was working on—organizing files on a $1.6 billion claim for a single client. “Then something interesting happened,” he said.

The client’s underwriting department contacted ClaimKit because they wanted to go back and review how their department had underwritten that particular project.

The underwriting department loved ClaimKit. And they wondered if they’d be able to use ClaimKit’s platform as part of the contract review process.

Cheatham and his team said yes. Thanks to their hard work on ClaimKit, they already had the basic technology to do the job. They needed only two weeks to create what eventually became RiskGenius. The full version of the product launched last month.

“People are using it,” Cheatham said. “It’s fun.”

Even better, RiskGenius could potentially generate $100 million in annual revenue, compared to $15 million per year for ClaimKit. There are more customers who could benefit from RiskGenius’ collaborative contract review, and lead generation is easier, too.

Cheatham had other advice for startups:

• Cater to your early users, even if that means building in features that might not scale well because they’re a great source of information and support. Zurich, Lockton and CBIZ are among some of the clients that have helped Cheatham and his team.
• If you decide to shift your company’s focus, you’ve got to get your staff and your investors onboard first.
• Journaling is one of the most valuable habits that entrepreneurs can adopt.
• One way to start a company is to pick an industry and go work in it. That way, you can understand its pain points and where opportunities existed. Cheatham previously worked as an insurance lawyer, which showed him the need for services like ClaimKit and RiskGenius.

[ LINK: Check out past Thinking Bigger Business coverage of ClaimKit here. ]