How Waypoint Market works

To drive organic growth. We turn the niches in your book into exclusive programs you own, so your producers have something no one else can sell. A regional book can go national, and you reach global markets most agencies and MGAs can't reach on their own. Waypoint Specialty's program brokers build the program with you and provide every element required, from underwriting to the back office, while your current market relationships stay yours.

Short overviews of how Waypoint Market works, one for each side.

Waypoint Market has two kinds of account, and each login is one or the other.

• Niche submitter: agents, brokers, wholesalers and MGAs who bring a niche to Waypoint Specialty to build into a program, in property, general liability, workers' comp, EPLI, terrorism or SAM (sexual abuse and molestation). Register as a submitter.
• Capacity provider: insurers, reinsurers, Lloyd's syndicates, ILS funds and other capacity providers who want to see niches that match their appetite. Register as a capacity provider.

Both need a company email address. Personal addresses such as Gmail or Outlook.com can't be accepted. If you do both, use a separate work email for each account.

Waypoint Specialty licensed brokers. Waypoint Specialty is a team of experienced, licensed specialty program brokers who build, structure and place niche insurance programs. Waypoint Market is the tool we built to do that work faster and in the open: it collects your niche, prepares a first read and keeps you posted as it moves.

The automated parts give you a head start. The judgment calls are ours: which markets to approach, how to structure the program, how to tell the story of your book, and when it's ready to go out. You'll be working with Waypoint Specialty licensed brokers who know niche programs, not a technology company.

Yes. Many firms like to meet the person behind the platform before they share anything about a niche, and Adam Besnard, our CEO, is glad to meet with you. Here's how:

• Register first. It takes about two minutes and is free. You don't need to submit a niche. Registering gives Adam your name, company and contact details, so he knows who he's meeting, and the contact form fills them in for you.
• Ask for a meeting on our contact form. Once you're signed in, choose Meet our CEO before submitting and tell us a little about your niche and what you'd like to cover.
• Or connect with Adam on LinkedIn and send him a message.
• Already have Adam's email or phone number? You're welcome to reach him directly.

Nothing you share in the meeting or the message is shown to markets. It stays private until you agree.

Register to request a meeting   Already registered? Request a meeting   Adam on LinkedIn

Sign in. The site recognizes the account type and offers to delete that login, which takes a few seconds. Then register again on the right side with the same work email. See deleting your account for what is removed.

No. We never contact your current market or markets, and those relationships stay yours. We're not shopping your business. We're exploring a full platform built around your niche, alongside the client relationship you already have.

What you share stays private until you agree. Capacity partners see only a summary with no names (class, states and size), never your name or company. Nothing goes to a market without your OK, and you can say no to any introduction. As a fail safe, our carriers, syndicates and capacity partners have NDAs in place with us too.

Markets back niches they can understand quickly and that a team clearly knows well. The submissions that move fastest have:

• A specific class. "Owner-occupied dental offices, newer construction" beats "medical," and "Texas artisan electrical contractors" beats "contractors."
• A clear niche name. As you type, the form may suggest a sharper name for your niche. Use it or keep yours.
• Real numbers. First-year and 5-year premium, the premium you can roll over in year one, and the basics that size your line: for property, the TIV per location that would cover about 75% of your accounts (not your single largest location); for general liability and EPLI, the typical insured's revenue or employee count; for workers' comp, the main class codes if you have them.
• The states you actually write, not every state you could.
• Your expertise. What you know that most underwriters miss, the loss controls your best accounts use, and what makes the book hard to copy. A few sentences each is plenty.
• A target launch date. The more lead time we have, the more of the program we can fill as new markets join our panel.

Not sure what a strong one looks like? The three sample programs on the home page range from nearly ready to an early idea.

Just 5 to 7 minutes and your best estimates. Our technology does the heavy lifting, and you don't need documents to submit. Have handy:

• Whether you are established, with premium in the niche today to roll in at or above the cut-off for your main line, or a start-up, entering the niche or under that cut-off today. The cut-off is $2 million for property, $1 million for general liability, $1 million for workers' comp, $500,000 for EPLI and $1 million for terrorism, hired and non-owned auto, SAM and other lines
• The main line of coverage that drives the program: property, general liability, workers' comp, EPLI, terrorism or SAM (sexual abuse and molestation)
• Premium estimates for year one and five years (projections are fine for start-ups) and, if you are established, how much you can bring over in year one
• For property: the TIV per location that would cover about 75% of your accounts, not your single largest location. For workers' comp: the main class codes, if you have them.
• For general liability and EPLI, the typical insured's size: annual revenue or employee count, picked from a few bands
• A few optional quick picks for your main line, if you know them. General liability: limits sought, completed operations and subcontractors. Workers' comp: program type and safety programs. EPLI: claims history, HR practices and coverage needs. Property: main construction and number of locations
• Whether the program needs admitted paper, non-admitted (E&S) paper, or either. Workers' comp programs are placed on admitted paper, so we don't ask
• For property, which cat perils it needs beyond standard: named windstorm, convective storm and hail, flood, earthquake, wildfire or terrorism
• How long you have worked the niche, and names of one or two other key people on your team
• Up to five other lines, such as general liability or workers' comp, with the most opportunity to package with your main line

Your answers save automatically as you type. Choose Save and finish later and we'll email you a link to pick up where you left off. Drafts also stay in your account, so you can sign in on any device and choose Continue.

Yes. Choose Start-up as your first answer. You won't be asked about premium to roll over, and your premium figures become projections. Instead we ask who serves the niche today and where they fall short, why your team has the expertise to enter it, and how you'll win your first accounts. The clearer the opportunity, the more our licensed brokers can do with it.

Property, general liability, workers' comp, EPLI, terrorism and SAM (sexual abuse and molestation). Pick the main line of coverage that drives the program right after Established or Start-up. Property programs also give the TIV per location that would cover about 75% of their accounts and the cat perils they need; general liability programs give the insureds' total annual sales or revenue, workers' comp programs their total payroll and EPLI programs their total employees. General liability, workers' comp and EPLI programs also pick the typical insured's size, and those lines and property have a few optional quick picks, such as limits sought for general liability, the typical experience mod for workers' comp, HR practices for EPLI and main construction for property. Terrorism, hired and non-owned auto and SAM programs give the premium and the story of the niche; our brokers ask for the rest. The established cut-off depends on the main line: $2 million of premium for property, $1 million for general liability, workers' comp, terrorism, hired and non-owned auto, SAM and other lines, and $500,000 for EPLI. Our licensed brokers take it from there, and capacity partners only see niches in the lines they write.

Waypoint Market learns from every niche, every market answer and every outcome, and our brokers use what it learns on every program they build. It learns which programs place and why, which capacity providers say yes to which kinds of niches, and what each agency, MGA and market tells us success looks like. When you share what would make a program a success for you, we use it to tailor the program, the markets we approach and how we work with you.

The result is a consultative process that fits you and your company, matches that get sharper with every answer, and a platform built to lift placement and bind rates over time. Learning happens inside Waypoint: your identity and your book stay anonymous to markets until you agree, as described in Trust and security.

Once you register, open Our view and press Show me your view. In a minute or two you'll see what our model views as potential niches your firm has, each tagged with its main line of coverage (Property, General Liability, Workers' Comp, EPLI and, where your book supports it, Terrorism, Hired & Non-Owned Auto or SAM) and a short note on why it could become an exclusive program. When demand is high, your view may wait in line for a few hours; you'll see Your view is in line, and it will appear on the same page without starting it again.

1. Confirm: mark each niche Yes or No for whether you write it today.
2. Size it: pick a premium range and roughly how many accounts each one carries. Not sure is fine. You'll see its program potential as you go.
3. Add what we missed: add any niche that isn't on the list and pick its main line. Niches you add get our attention first.
4. Pick what to review: press Ask us to review this niche on the ones you want us to explore, or Send my answers to Waypoint to send them all. Our licensed brokers explore whether we can create a better solution to drive growth and increase your retention too.

Any niche can go straight to Turn this into a submission, which starts the niche form with its name, states and main line filled in. Choose Talk to our brokers about this niche and tell us in a sentence or two why you're the right one to own it, and we'll point you to the best next step, whether that's a call with our licensed brokers or your Program Snapshot. Or choose Write it through a Waypoint program to start writing the class today through an existing Waypoint program (offered on property niches for now). Refresh my review looks again for niches we may have missed, and Share my niche map gives you a link showing your niche names only. Your answers save as you go and stay with Waypoint.

1. Right away: you'll see your submission summary and can download your Program Snapshot, a PDF to share with your principal or partners. A short confirmation email follows, and your Program Snapshot follows by email.
2. Make it stronger (optional): about 3 minutes of extra questions that show markets why your book will outperform. Answer them on the confirmation screen or any time from My Submissions.
3. Sign our mutual NDA: it takes about a minute and covers every niche you submit. Sign it whenever you like, before you share anything (from My Submissions or the top of the submission form) or after your first niche; it just needs to be in place before your submission finalization meeting. One NDA covers your whole company: if a colleague at your firm has already signed, My Submissions shows it as on file, with a button to view it, and there is nothing for you to sign. Read it through to the end, add your firm's legal name and full office address, and sign. If someone else signs agreements for your firm, send it to them from the same screen; one signature covers you both. Once it is signed you can share loss runs, values or exposure data and your distribution plan securely on the site.
4. Countersigned by Waypoint: we countersign within minutes, and the fully executed copy comes to you by email, often together with your Program Snapshot.
5. Submission finalization meeting: 25 minutes with your broker, a Waypoint Specialty licensed broker, one meeting per niche. Book it from My Submissions as soon as you have signed the NDA, and bring the people who can tell the story of the book. Once your time is confirmed we email you what to bring. If the time no longer works or you miss it, we'll email you a link to pick a new one. The day after the meeting we ask one question, whether it was useful, with room for an optional note that goes to your broker.
6. Building the program: we build the loss perspective, values and distribution case, then take it to our global market panel.
7. Terms and placement: we walk you through any terms before anything is agreed.

Nothing moves forward without your go-ahead. My Submissions shows each step as it happens, and we email you when your submission moves to a new stage. If it moves through more than one stage at once, you get one email with the latest and a short recap of the steps in between. While your niche is In review or Building placement, we also send a short progress note on Tuesdays. Turn it off under Weekly progress note in your account settings.

As specific as you can make it. Waypoint is a niche specialty brokerage, not a wholesaler: the exclusive programs we build win because they are built around a clearly defined group of accounts you know better than anyone. "Self-managed condo associations under 100 units, coastal Southeast" will get much further than "national condo program".

A national or very broad program usually needs a roll-over book of $10 million or more behind it. If you have a broad book, submit the tightest slice of it first: the class, region or kind of account where your results are best.

No. Submitting a niche on Waypoint Market does not reserve or block any market, and it does not give broker-of-record or agent-of-record (BOR/AOR) protection. We approach markets for a niche only once we have agreed to build and place the program together, and that is when the program is presented on your behalf.

Waypoint Market is for niches you want us to build and place with you, not a way to register a whole book for protection.

Received	Your niche is in our queue. A member of the placement team will review it shortly.
In review	We're reviewing fit and may reach out with a question or two.
Building placement	We've met and we're building the market package with you, matching your niche to capacity on our global market panel and shaping the structure. We'll be in touch as markets respond.
Terms sent	Indicative terms are with you. Review them with your team and send us your questions.
Placed	Your program is placed. We'll be in touch about launch, reporting and rolling out Waypoint Training to your insureds’ employees.
Not a fit yet	We can't place it right now. We tell you what would most likely change our answer, and those points show on your niche as a checklist. When you have worked on them, press Update and send back with a short note and it goes back to In review for a fresh look. We also check back in about three months. Appetite and capacity change often.
Referred	We already work with an established program for this class, so rather than build a new one, our team introduces you to it directly.

• Loss runs: five years of carrier loss runs for the accounts in the niche
• Schedule of values (property): locations, TIV, construction, occupancy, year built and protection. For other lines, exposure data instead: revenue or units by class for general liability, payroll by class code and state with experience mod worksheets for workers' comp, employee counts by state for EPLI, locations and values by city for terrorism, employees who drive and miles driven for hired and non-owned auto, or people served, staff counts and screening practices for SAM
• Distribution plan: producers, associations or franchisor ties, and premium targets by year
• Anything else that helps, such as underwriting guidelines or applications

Upload them from the submission in My Submissions once the mutual NDA is in place. Files are kept in private storage that only you and our team can open. PDF, Excel, CSV, Word and images are accepted. Each upload gets an automated read within a few minutes, flagging what it shows and any gaps, and our team reviews it too.

An automated, indicative read of what you submitted: the strengths, the gaps to close and how a market is likely to see it. It gives our brokers and you a shared starting point. It is not an underwriting decision or a quote, and it can change as we learn more about the book.

Waypoint Training is loss prevention training for your insureds’ employees: the people working at each insured location, not you or your producers. For every program we build, we create 10 short courses around the class’s top 10 loss drivers, such as a kitchen fire, a frozen pipe, a roof left unmaintained, a fall from a ladder or a poorly handled termination.

The courses run on a white-labeled platform under your brand, and you can see completion at every insured location. Fewer losses mean better program results and markets that want to stay on. Ask for a 30-minute Training and Technology demo from any niche in My Submissions.

Yes. Open it in My Submissions and choose Edit. Changes are visible to our team straight away. Submissions are locked once they are Placed. A niche marked Not a fit yet can be updated and sent back once you have worked on what we suggested, using Update and send back on the niche. There is a limit on how many niches each account can have open at once while demand is high, shown on your dashboard. Withdrawn niches don't count toward it.

Changed your mind? Open the niche and choose Withdraw this submission at the bottom. You can tell us why in one tap if you like. It leaves your list straight away, our team is told, and nothing more moves forward on it. Send it again, or a new niche, any time.

A capacity profile describes one appetite: the lines you write (property, general liability, workers' comp, EPLI, terrorism, hired and non-owned auto, SAM (sexual abuse and molestation) or another line), the forms of capacity you offer, states, program size, the classes you want to see and, for property, maximum value per location and perils. Niches are matched on their main line. Add one profile per line, product or syndicate, for example "US Southeast property, primary and excess," "Cat XL, Gulf states" and "General liability for artisan contractors, Southeast." Each profile is reviewed, approved and matched on its own. Want a feel for the niches first? Use Test-drive on the capacity page; nothing you pick there is saved or sent.

Drafts save as you type. Choose Save and finish later and we'll email you a link back.

Our brokers read your profile the way they would read a market's appetite guide. The more precise it is, the better the niches we bring you.

• Only the states you will really write. We would rather bring you fewer niches you will quote than many you will decline.
• Admitted, non-admitted or both. If you write both, select both, so niches that need either kind of paper reach you.
• For property, every cat peril you'll write. Our brokers check each niche's exposures against what you've listed.
• A realistic program size range and, for property, maximum value per location. Too narrow and you'll miss good niches; too wide and you'll see noise.
• The classes you want to see. It tells our brokers where to focus for you.
• Spell out exclusions and anything that changes your appetite, such as coastal limits or inception dates.

1. Right away you get a welcome email with a one-page summary of your profile (PDF), and our team is told.
2. Our team reviews it and reaches out to set up a short fit meeting.
3. After the meeting, and once your mutual NDA is in place, we approve the profile and you get an email.
4. Matched niches appear in your portal as our team releases them.
5. On Tuesdays, in weeks when new niches are released, we email a short list of them, best fit first, with ranges only and no names. Turn it off any time under Weekly email of new niches in your account settings.

Our program brokers decide which niches reach you. They know each niche from the inside, having worked through the book and built the program with the producer who writes it, and they bring it to the capacity providers whose appetite, paper and capacity fit it best. Because they talk with you regularly, what they know about your appetite goes well beyond the form.

Strong fit means our brokers see the niche squarely in your appetite. Possible fit means it is close, and a short conversation will usually settle whether it works.

The more complete and current your profile, the sharper the niches we bring you.

Interested tells our team straight away. Add a note on line size, structure or timing if you can. We'll be in touch to talk it through. The niche stays anonymous: we share the submitter's identity and full details only when both sides agree and a confidentiality agreement is in place.

Pass simply records your answer and helps us tune future matches. You can change either answer later.

Ready to talk with the producer? On a niche you marked Interested, press Yes, introduce us. Our team checks with the submitter, and we make the introduction once both sides agree.

• Pause an approved profile when you need to hold and focus elsewhere. You keep the niches already matched, but new ones won't appear until you choose Resume.
• Withdraw a profile you no longer need. It leaves your portal and stops matching. Our team keeps the record, so we can reinstate it if you ask.
• Every 90 days we'll email a quick check that your appetite is still current. Press Yes, still current on the page the email opens to confirm it; opening the email alone changes nothing. Editing the profile counts too.

Yes. Every capacity partner signs our mutual NDA before we approve their profile and they see any niches, so submitters know every market on the panel has one in place with us. It takes about a minute, and you'll find it at the top of your portal.

If someone else signs agreements for your firm, choose Send to the person who signs. They get a secure link, sign with their own company email, and the NDA covers you both. Waypoint Specialty countersigns within minutes, and the fully executed copy comes to you both by email.

Yes. Most firms split capacity by line: open market property with one team, treaty with another, facilities or binders with a third. On the Capacity profiles tab, use Bring in the rest of your team to invite a colleague with the same company email domain, and add what they look after.

• They get an email with a link that works for 30 days, register with their own login, and join your firm's team. An email address that already has a submitter account can't join; they need a separate work email for the capacity side.
• Each person keeps their own capacity profiles current, so every niche reaches the right desk. Everyone on the team can see each other's submitted profiles.
• You can resend or withdraw an invitation that hasn't been accepted yet.

Know someone at another firm? Share your personal link under Matches instead.

We add new features often, sometimes hourly. While we put an update in place, the site may briefly show a maintenance page. Maintenance usually takes less than an hour, and your submissions, documents and NDAs are safe and untouched. The page checks every minute and takes you back as soon as we're open again.

Use Forgot password? on the sign-in screen. Emails come from noreply@waypointspecialty.com, so check junk or quarantine folders, and ask IT to allow that address if needed. That address doesn't receive replies, so please use our contact form for questions.

Didn't get the confirmation email? Right after you register, the Almost done page has a Resend button. If you still haven't confirmed a day later, we send the confirmation email once more automatically. Still nothing? Contact us.

Emails about something you just did, such as a sign-in link, a password reset or a link back to your draft, come straight away. Our other emails go out on weekdays during business hours in your time zone, so anything that happens at night, over a weekend or on a US holiday arrives the next business morning. Reminders come at most once a day, and replies to our emails are not received, so please use our contact form for questions. Pausing your account stops reminders and digests.

Yes. Open the menu under your name, choose Account, then Pause my account. Reminder and digest emails stop, and any active capacity profiles pause so new niches won't reach you. Nothing is deleted. Choose Resume my account any time and everything picks up where it left off.

Open the menu under your name at the top right, choose Account, then the delete option at the bottom of the page.

First, close out anything still open. The delete box lists each open submission or capacity profile with a button to withdraw it, and each draft with a button to delete it. Once the list is clear, type DELETE to confirm. This permanently removes your login and everything tied to it: submissions, drafts and documents, or capacity profiles and responses. It can't be undone. Records of documents you signed, such as a mutual NDA, are kept, as our Privacy Policy explains, and our team gets a short notice of the deletion.

If a submission is already being placed, contact us and we'll close it out properly. Just need a break? Pause your account instead.

Only you and the Waypoint team see your full submission or profile. On the capacity side, colleagues you invite to your own firm's team can also see each other's submitted profiles. Approved capacity providers see anonymized niche summaries, never the submitter's name or company without both sides' agreement and an NDA. Every capacity partner on our panel has signed a mutual NDA with us, and we never contact a submitter's current market or markets. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.