Welcome to the Max Revenue Letter. Recapping the news, trends, and top producer insights from the week.
I’m about to hop on a plane from Denver back to New Orleans. So, let’s make this quick.
Today: 3 briefs, 3 podcasts, 1 giant Thank You!. LFG🔥
NEWS BRIEFS
🔮Mind-Boggling Stat on Old-School vs. AI-Native Brokers
Zywave’s new “Broker of the Future” study says AI will unlock more than $100 billion a year for carriers and brokers in the next five to seven years... and not by replacing you.
Why? Insurance is a product that “must be sold, not bought,” and no insurer has stepped up to underwrite an AI’s mistake at the point of bind. So a licensed human stays in the loop, per Zywave.
The real threat, according to the report, is who’s left to fill that seat. Roughly 400,000 insurance pros will have retired since 2021 by the end of this year. AI-native brokers are filling the gap with tech, running at close to $1M in revenue per employee vs. about $175K at a traditional agency. Mind-boggling. That’s nearly 6x the output from the same chair.
Our hot take: Zywave sells tech to brokers, so take the $1 million number with a grain of salt. Only half the report is out so far, and the methodology isn’t public. But we 100% agree with the premise... the producers of the future will use AI to clear the busywork off their desks, so they can spend more time doing the one thing a robot can’t… sitting across the table from insureds.
⛈️2026 Was Death By 1,000 “Convection Storms”
Good news first... global insured nat cat losses hit about $91 billion through September, the lowest nine-month total since 2019 and way under the five-year average of $135 billion, per Aon.
Now the catch. There were 23 billion-dollar insured events, well above the usual 14. So 2026 wasn’t about one monster storm. It was a steady drip of above average ones.
Severe convective storm did most of the damage at $55 billion. The U.S. took the biggest hit at $56 billion, with $43 billion of that from convction storms alone.
Hurricane season finally showed up, too. Isaias landed near Destin as a Cat 2 on October 9, and modelers have it anywhere from $1 billion to $4.5 billion in insured losses. Aon expects Q4 to push the year past $100 billion.
Our hot take: We all love a quiet year. Unfortunately, despite the “lowest nine-month total since 2019” line, this was not a quiet year. Twenty-three billion-dollar events says otherwise, and we all know the frequency vs. severity story.
🚨Anthropic Admits It Might Be Too Big to Insure
Anthropic, the company behind Claude, filed for its IPO this week, and buried in 94 pages of risk factors is a line everyone in our industry should read twice.
The company says a catastrophic AI incident could cause losses bigger than any single insurer, and possibly the whole industry, can cover. It also calls the AI insurance market "nascent" and says some of its risks may not be insurable at any reasonable price.
And it's not just theory. Anthropic says its insurance didn't fully cover its $1.5 billion copyright settlement. With every Fortune 10 company and more than half the Fortune 500 paying it at least $100K a year, one bad model day and… what could possibly go wrong?
Our hot take: We've seen this movie before with silent cyber. Policies never named the risk, then the claims showed up and everyone fought over the wording. Except this time, AI is a 100x bigger problem. It's already baked into how your clients operate, and one model failure can hit thousands of insureds at once. If you’re not well versed in the AI exclusion stuff, now’s the time.
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PODCASTS
Chubb’s CEO Warns of “Extremely Naive” Capacity Flooding the Market
In this Monday Brief, Brandon Schuh breaks down why Chubb’s Evan Greenberg and other carrier execs are sounding the alarm on naive capacity flooding the market, and what producers should look out for. He also weighs in on the Chubb vs. Marsh squabble over AI exclusions and how he’s protecting himself on renewals. Then he shares how he built the London and Bermuda underwriter relationships behind his program business, and how any producer can start building their own.
I Was Wrong About Referrals with Micah Salas (Plus, Listener Q&A)
In this episode, Micah Salas admits his love/hate relationship with referrals, mostly because they never really worked for him. That changed this year when one new client turned into half-a-dozen referral opportunities in the last 30 days. He breaks down why it’s finally happening now, what he did (and didn’t do) to earn it, and why helping clients save money is one of the best ways to get people talking. If referrals have felt random or out of reach for you, you’ll walk away with a clearer picture of what actually drives them and how to set yourself up to get more.
Luke Berry Breaks Down His Biggest Year Yet (7 Clients, $1.1M)
In this episode, Luke Berry is back after closing out 2026 with nearly $1.2 million in new revenue, topping the Max Revenue leaderboard. Luke digs into how he did it, from ditching big events in favor of duck hunts and fishing trips to building real friendships with prospects years before a deal ever shows up. Luke also breaks down how coaching up his team, protecting his calendar, and finally learning to rest made room for his biggest year yet. Plus, what he’s seeing in a brutal EB renewal season, what’s coming in 2027, and the advice he gave a 24-year-old producer just starting out.
Listen on Spotify | Watch on YouTube
THANK YOU!
Micah and I just want to take a second to say thank you to everyone who came to Elite Producer Training. Honestly, I’m still in disbelief at the turnout, and wanted to take one last opportunity to say it again… THANK YOU!
CJ, Daniel, Michael, James (both of you), Andrew, Abraham, Will (both of you), Eric, Brandon (both of you), Levi, Tim, Brian, Matt (all four of you), Trevor, Jonny, Josh, Sean, Lynn, Wes, Dale, Ryan (both of you), Bryce, Nick, Jennifer, Erick, Alan, Lantz, Steven, Grant, Forrest, Kim, Zaher, Sarah, Colton, Joe, Christopher, Austin, Greg, Ben, Kyle (both of you), Tanner, Tyler, Phil, Alex, Parker, Emily, Dan, Jon, Aaron, Zach, Charles, Frank, Eduardo, Clark, Jason, Connor, Mark, Derek, Andy, and any of the late additions I didn’t name… all of you!
Hope you got an insane amount of value from Larry and his team (Dan, Gordon, Nate, Max, and Emma). I know we did. Micah was scribbling away furiosuly in his notebook for 48 hours. If I can ever be of service to any of you, please let me know. I gave you my number. I’m serious, call me if you ever need anything.
And to everyone who was on the wait list or wanted to come but couldn’t make it, we missed you. Hope to see every one of you next year.
Shrek & The Zen Master
LINKS
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