MyInsuranceExpert expands into life insurance, adds 10 jobs

MyInsuranceExpert.com was cruising along in its first year, employing 90 people who helped individuals find health-insurance plans. Then the health-care reform laws took place, cutting in half the Troy-based firm's average compensation per policy.

Faced with shrinking revenue streams, MyInsuranceExpert reinvented itself as the life-insurance version of its former self. That forced it to shrink to 40 people, but allowed it to regroup for future growth.

"It was a defining moment for us," says Lorne Zalesin, CEO of MyInsuranceExpert. "It was clear that it was a must have, not a maybe. It was either change or go out of business in the next 18 months."

The change quickly turned into new jobs. MyInsuranceExpert has hired 10 people over the last few months and hopes to hire another 100 people over the next year. The company sold 900 term life insurance policies in its first month and now ranks in the Top 20 in its industry.

"Our goal is to be the second-biggest company in the next 18 months," Zalesin says.

Source: Lorne Zalesin, CEO of MyInsuranceExpert
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.