2025 BTV Mania participants smile for a group photo at Holmes Murphy.
Corporate Culture

Catching Lightning in a Bottle with Intentionality

Innovation requires intention and collaboration. You can find this in abundance at BrokerTech Ventures’ annual signature event, BTV Mania. Holmes Murphy Chief Marketing Officer and BTV Chief Operating Officer Susan Hatten shares her perspective.
Susan Hatten
Susan Hatten
Chief Marketing Officer

This April, Holmes Murphy and BrokerTech Ventures (BTV) hosted one of our signature annual events—BTV Mania. This unique event brings 25 Broker, Carrier, and Wholesale Partners together to meet and business plan with our newly inducted BTV Accelerator cohort companies.

If I had to choose a word to describe the mission of BTV Mania, I would say, “intention.” Without intention, innovation lives in a vacuum and struggles to reach its full potential. Our Holmes Murphy and BTV leaders built this fast-paced two-day event with intention because we see the potential of our cohort companies and the collaborative community we’ve built around “co-opetition.”

Deliberate by Design

We intentionally pair Brokers with Carriers and Wholesalers throughout the sessions to encourage bridge collaboration and greater understanding of potential pain points and gaps within the insurance value chain. Our cohort companies are intentionally selected during our BTV Selection Series so that BTV Mania can focus on activating business case solutions or pilot interest, rather than a series of pitches.

Our intention doesn’t only extend to business, though. Great care and intention goes into our social events and networking activities—like our fan-favorite BTV’s Happy Hour Hop through downtown Des Moines. We are already in the process of building our next intentional collaborative conference event, BrokerTech Connect: Chicago, which will be held this upcoming August.

From Idea to Impact

What does BTV Mania mean for the startups and their innovative ideas and solutions? It means swifter access to product distribution, efficiency in refining their business plans, a deeper understanding of broader insurance market applicability, and a greater opportunity for capital support. It also offers a community of potential partners and collaborators who resonate with their need to innovate.

Unsurprisingly, I am endlessly proud and moved by the work we have the privilege to be part of at BTV and the energy that fills our Holmes Murphy headquarters during BTV Mania. However, this experience is made even more meaningful when we hear positive feedback from our startups and partners about the value of BTV and BTV Mania.

“If we were to compare the amount of effort it would take and the amount of time it would take for us to get this level of exposure, you’re looking at six months to a year of business development, hundreds of cold emails, getting ignored. This opportunity, to be in this room, face-to-face with these people, and multiple perspectives all in that room at once is incredible.” – Tyler Amundsen, LightDoc

Focused Innovation

We believe we have created something special with BTV, and Holmes Murphy has been the driving force from the start. Innovation is a part of our Holmes Murphy culture, and we want BTV to be a catalyst for differentiating us in the marketplace and creating the future of insurtech. Capturing lightning in a bottle isn’t easy—but what you do with it makes all the difference.

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