On the TechTO stage ×1
First seen on the TechTO stage in 2017. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Michael ↗
In their words
What people say in surveys or in focus groups or any other kind of market research doesn't always equate to what they do.
If you're pitching a VC and you have the best greatest of whatever it is you're doing, you better be able to talk to all three.
Quick answers
Who is Michael Shostak?
The marketing executive who launched Sonnet. He described himself on the FintechTO stage as chief marketing officer of Economical Mutual Insurance Company, and the agency that built the Sonnet brand describes him as Sonnet Insurance's first chief marketing officer.
What is Sonnet?
A Canadian home and auto insurer sold entirely online, launched in 2016 by Economical Insurance — now Definity — as a direct writer that underwrites its own policies rather than selling through brokers.
What is his "recipe for disruption"?
Three ingredients — an unmet customer need, a business model, and technology — taken in that order. His argument was that everyone starts with the technology and it should come last, and that the word disruption is used for things that are merely innovative (TechTO FintechTO, August 2017).
What did he say about market research?
To use it to validate thinking rather than to lead it: what people say in a survey or a focus group does not always match what they do, and for something genuinely new the research will not tell you much. Get to the unmet need instead — ask why five times.
What is Michael Shostak doing now?
Not established. A 2024 case study by the agency behind Sonnet's brand refers to him as former CMO of Sonnet Insurance; no source read for this page states a current role, and this page does not publish from LinkedIn or contact-data aggregators.