The Crumdale Connection | EP 01 Matthew Naylor

[Jessica Willingham] Welcome to The Crumdale Connection. I’m your host, Jessica Willingham. I’m speaking with Crumdale Partners Founder & CEO, Matt Naylor. Welcome, Matt.

[Matthew Naylor] Thanks, Jess.

[Jessica Willingham] Thanks for joining us. Tell us about Crumdale Partners, what inspired you to create the company?

[Matthew Naylor] You know, Jess, it’s a great question. I’ve spent 25, maybe 30 years in and around the health insurance space. I’ve owned, I’ve operated, and have built lots of very successful companies. And what I learned over that period of time was there was a significant lack of alignment in healthcare between the payers, providers, and administrators of healthcare. And I wanted to build a business that would have a positive impact on the people that we would have an opportunity to lead, grow, and inspire change in a very disruptive way.

[Jessica Willingham] And you really put people first at Crumdale, that innovation, disruption, people who are willing to think outside of the box. Can you tell us a little bit about the culture that shapes Crumdale?

[Matthew Naylor] Yeah, Jess. That’s another great question. For me, I’ve learned more from a leadership perspective my, I would say my mistakes. But over the years, I’ve learned that in order to build great companies, you really have to build a great vision and strategy for how you want to lead a business. And for me personally, managing the organization by trying to have a positive impact on people’s lives really was at the forefront of my vision, my strategy, and my leadership style.

[Jessica Willingham] So, there’s a lot of positive impact that goes into delivering solutions to complex problems in this marketplace. What problems are you solving?

[Matthew Naylor] Well, there’s a significant lack of alignment in healthcare. There’s a lack of understanding and transparency. And the way it’s been delivered by most large insurance companies is in a way to serve them and not the consumer. And so, as an entrepreneur, I’ve always tried to be innovative, creative, and disruptive in my strategies through a process of trying to find alignment in a way where you’re delivering and developing solutions that are gonna make a meaningful difference.

[Jessica Willingham] And that alignment you’re able to bring about through great partnerships. What are you looking for in the broker partners that you work with?

[Matthew Naylor] Well, before the broker partners, I would say that in order for us to ideate and innovate, and develop products, we have to have partnerships. Healthcare is a great space cause it’s very fragmented, it’s very miscorrelated, and there’s lots of innovation and technology. Harnessing that as a small business can be terribly difficult. And so, one of our core beliefs is, we are better by partnering with people that philosophically are aligned with what we’re trying to bring to the market. And so, we find trading partners that believe in truly reducing costs, providing better outcomes, and better experiences for the clients that we get to serve every day.

[Jessica Willingham] And that’s really the end goal. I know some of our other employees and partners have talked about just a scenario where everyone wins, where those interests are in alignment, and people are working towards a common goal to save money, provide great care, and really provide those personal relationships. So, can you speak a little bit more about what those relationships and partnerships mean to you and to Crumdale?

[Matthew Naylor] Yeah, I think in order to be a unique and distinctive business, one of our core beliefs is relationships and people come first. And so, whether it’s our culture and it’s our team, whether it’s trading partners, whether it’s brokers, consultants, agents, and distribution, even clients and customers, we just have a very, very strong philosophical belief that if you build the right relationships, the right outcomes will happen.

[Jessica Willingham] Well, it’s very exciting the relationships that you’ve built so far at Crumdale. Where do you see the organization going in the future?

[Matthew Naylor] You know, Jess, I am humbled, grateful, and thankful for the amazing team that we’ve built at Crumdale. And we’ve done so many wonderful things – to be Inc. Magazine’s “Best Places to Work,” to be Inc. Magazine’s “Fastest 5000 Growing Companies in the United States,” to be in the top 100 – all of those are wonderful, I guess, examples of a great business, but I really, truly see Crumdale making a meaningful impact, hopefully on every single life we touch.

[Jessica Willingham] Well, I’m sure the best is yet to come. Is there anything that you’d like to add in closing?

[Matthew Naylor] No.

[Jessica Willingham] Well, thank you very much for joining us today. Happy to have you.

[Matthew Naylor] Thanks, Jess.