Welcome to the Max Revenue Letter. Recapping the news, trends, and top producer insights from the week.
Before we dive in, a huge shout-out to our newest partner, Innovative Captive Strategies. Big thanks to Tim, Will and the whole ICS team. We’ve got some big things in the works with them, so stay tuned.
Alright, onward! Today: 3 briefs, 3 podcasts, 1 article. LFG🔥
NEWS BRIEFS
🥴Brokers Beware, Dumb & Dumber Capacity is Everywhere
The top of the market is sounding the alarm, and it's not about 2 guys showing up to Aspen on a tiny motorized bike. This earnings season, carrier CEOs and E&S execs alike are warning that a flood of hungry, inexperienced capital is pushing prices below where the risk says they should be.
Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg, never one to pull punches, said on this week's Q3 call there's "a lot of hungry and extremely naive capacity available." Over at W. R. Berkley, CEO Rob Berkley said that as the market softens, big accounts with more zeros become every underwriter's Mary Swanson... the kind of eye candy that compromises people's discipline. At WSIA, an AmTrust E&S exec blamed irresponsible capital for pushing rates lower than the fundamentals support.
Our Hot Take: Cheap quotes look great right up until the claim hits. Before you bind, ask who's actually behind the paper. That goes double for the InsurTechs larping as carriers. Slick apps, dirt cheap quotes, and about as much under the hood as the Mutt Cutts van. Our advice... avoid them like the plague. Unless, of course, you're selling against them... then give 'em hell. Hint hint: read their coverage forms with a fine-tooth comb. Word on the street is you'll find plenty to pick apart.
📉Agency M&A Pumped The Brakes in Q3
In it’s latest report, OPTIS Partners counted 144 deals in Q3, down 27% from 197 a year ago. Year to date it’s 439, off roughly 20%... and the rolling 12-month total is the lowest since 2018.
To be clear, the buyers didn’t disappear... they just got pickier. PE-backed and hybrid shops still drove most of the action, led by Broadstreet (57), Inszone (48), and Hub (22). Meanwhile Gallagher, Brown & Brown, and Aon did fewer deals but went big game hunting, scooping up large PE-backed firms to muscle into the middle market.
Word on the street is agencies that grew mostly on rate should expect lower multiples and bigger earnouts. Shops with producer-led organic growth, strong benefits books, or specialty niches should hold their value.
Our Hot Take: PE didn’t lose its appetite, it lost its cheap money. Borrowing costs are up, platforms are carrying heavy debt, and rate-driven growth has dried up. That means organic growth is king again. If you hold equity or phantom stock, that’s the number that matters now.
🥊Insurance Heavyweights Battle Over AI Exclusions
Everyone agrees AI risk is real, new, and poorly understood. What they don’t agree on is who’s going to pay for it. On Marsh’s Q3 call, John Doyle came out swinging against broad AI exclusions, warning they’d create confusion, disputes, and coverage gaps for clients who already run their businesses on AI. His argument? Most AI risk is just a new cause of old perils, so it should stay inside the policies clients already buy.
A week later, Chubb’s Greenberg made it clear carriers see it differently. AI liability was never contemplated when casualty policies were priced, he said, which means nobody’s been paid to take it on. His fix? A mix of policy clarifications, exclusions, and new products as pricing catches up.
Our Hot Take: Marsh sees risk clients already think they’ve bought, while Chubb sees unpriced exposure to carve out. Either way, everybody wants to push the sh*t downhill. Just make sure your client isn’t standing at the bottom. Check every renewal for new AI language across every line, and don’t assume no exclusion means covered. Get ahead of it before a claim does it for you.
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PODCASTS
WSIA Marketplace 2026 Recap: What We Heard in San Diego
In this Monday Brief, Brandon Schuh shares insights from WSIA regarding the E&S market, recent AI regulation, and the eye-opening story that made the rounds regarding Corgi.
The Numbers Behind Micah's $354k Year (Full Breakdown)
In this episode, Micah Salas gives a behind the scenes look at his 2026. Every meeting set, every win, every loss, and where his $354K in new revenue actually came from. Micah breaks down revenue from cold calling vs. drop-ins vs. referrals, how his BORs compared to his quoted deals, and how a single book drop turned into a $100K account. Micah also gets honest about the long stretches with zero wins, and why complacency (not other brokers) is your real competition.
He Nearly 3X’d His Book in 3.5 Years Using This One Strategy with Trevor Elliott
In this episode, Trey and Micah sit down with Trevor Elliott, a top producer with Hub specializing in multi-family. He spent a decade as the hometown generalist before going all in on his niche and “negotiation strategy”. He explains what it is and how to deploy it yourself so you can avoid the vendor trap forever.
Listen on Spotify | Watch on YouTube
ARTICLE
4 Business Income Coverages To Get Dangerously Good At
by Derek Laczniak, CIC
Business income is the most technical corner of commercial insurance, and it's where good brokers can seperate themselves.
I'll say it again, this is an area where if you become very proficient, you can become seriously dangerous and crush your competition. Buyers are constantly asking for help here, and frankly the broker community and carriers have underperformed. When I was broking, getting real help from an underwriter on a business income evaluation was about as common as a quiet January 1 renewal season.
It's hard because it’s one of the few areas in insurance with no definitive answer. There's no "if this, then that." You have to be comfortable sitting in a meeting where you don't know the outcome, and you have to understand how a business actually operates and how to read financials. My best client relationships were built in hour-long meetings going line by line through interim financials, talking through business income. Not glamorous. But those are the meetings that make customers stay.
My recent business income episodes kicked up a wave of follow-up questions (apparently I'm not the only one who finds this stuff fun). Four topics kept coming up.
Here are my answers, and a few cheat sheets for you too.
LINKS
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