A Conversation With Brennen Lawrence, Co-Founder And CEO At Proofly On The Next Evolution Of Claims Readiness

“We believe the next evolution of claims readiness begins before the loss. Proofly is building the trusted property record layer so insurers can begin every claim with verified information instead of reconstruction.”

Tell us about Proofly and how you came up with the idea


Proofly was founded on a simple observation: the insurance industry had transformed almost every part of the claims process, yet property claims still often begin with reconstruction.

The industry has made tremendous progress modernising underwriting, claims operations, catastrophe response, and digital experiences. But despite all that innovation, property claims still often begin without a trusted property record.

As we listened to everyone involved – from carriers to policyholders – one observation kept coming up: after a loss, both sides are trying to reconstruct what existed before the event. We realised this wasn’t just frustrating for policyholders – it was equally challenging for insurers trying to begin the claim with incomplete information. Policyholders rely on memory. Families search through photos, receipts, emails, and bank records. Adjusters spend months – and often closer to a year – gathering and validating documentation that simply didn’t exist in a trusted, structured form before the loss.

The more we studied the process, the clearer it became that reconstruction isn’t really the problem – it’s the consequence. When trusted information doesn’t exist before a loss, everyone is forced to recreate it afterward. That means relying on memory, incomplete documentation, and information gathered from multiple sources, often over weeks or months. Without a trusted property record established before the loss, there’s simply no common starting point when a claim is filed. The impact carries through the entire claims process, influencing everything that follows – from documentation and validation to the policyholder’s recovery. That realization fundamentally changed how we thought about claims readiness and where the greatest opportunity for innovation really exists.

That’s when it became clear to us that the missing layer wasn’t another claims workflow. It was the trusted property record layer that helps insurers begin every claim with verified information established before the loss occurs. That’s the opportunity we’re pursuing at Proofly.

Why do property claims often begin with reconstruction?


For most homeowners, documenting what they own simply isn’t easy or top of mind until after a loss occurs. That’s when they suddenly realize how important that information is—and by then, reconstruction becomes the only option.

People do the best they can with what’s available. They search through family photos, receipts, emails, bank records, and anything else that helps piece together what was lost. While insurers have encouraged homeowners to document their belongings for years, most existing approaches rely on manual inventories, spreadsheets, photos, or videos that are difficult to maintain and aren’t structured for the claims process.

When insurers can help policyholders create trusted property records before a loss and make them available at the start of a claim, the conversation changes. Instead of beginning with, “What did you lose?” the conversation can begin with, “We’ve already got your property records. Let’s focus on helping you recover.”

What excites you most about the insurance industry’s progress so far?


What excites me most is that the industry continues to focus on improving outcomes for policyholders during some of the most difficult moments in their lives. Whether it’s a fire, severe storm, or another unexpected loss, these events are life-changing and incredibly stressful.

What’s encouraging is seeing how insurers are embracing technology to improve that experience—helping claims move faster, reducing unnecessary friction, and getting people on the road to recovery sooner. Every operational improvement ultimately has a human impact on someone trying to rebuild their life.

I’m also encouraged by the industry’s willingness to rethink longstanding processes. Some of the biggest opportunities don’t come from replacing people—they come from giving claims professionals better information, reducing unnecessary administrative work, and allowing them to spend more time helping policyholders recover.

I believe that’s what innovation should be about. It’s not technology for technology’s sake; it’s using better information and better tools to help people recover when they need it most.

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome?

The biggest challenge has been trying to change where a property claim begins.

For decades, reconstruction has simply been accepted as part of the claims process. We’re trying to change that starting point by asking a different question: what if claims could begin with trusted property records created before the loss instead of trying to recreate information afterward?

That’s not an incremental improvement. It’s a fundamental shift in thinking.

The challenge is that solving this problem requires more than building technology. It requires changing habits, improving awareness, creating a simpler experience for policyholders, and establishing a trusted record before it’s ever needed. That’s a very different challenge than optimizing an existing claims workflow because you’re creating something that becomes valuable long before a claim is ever filed.

We chose to solve one of the hardest problems in property insurance because we believe better information at the beginning of a claim has the potential to improve every step that follows—for insurers, adjusters, and, most importantly, the families trying to recover after a loss. Meaningful innovation isn’t always about making an existing process incrementally better. Sometimes it’s about rethinking where that process should begin in the first place.

What is your number one piece of advice to aspiring entrepreneurs?


If you wake up every day expecting entrepreneurship to be easy, you’ll probably quit. If you wake up every day expecting to learn, you’ll keep moving forward.