Tim Metzner’s public announcement came via LinkedIn in late February. After nearly five years at red-hot insurtech Coterie, he decided to step down from the day-to-day — bidding adieu to the startup he helped launch and grow.
Or as his father would say, for the second time in his career, Metzner had built something, got it to a certain point, then basically fired himself.
Either way, it was time, he said. Metzner recently chatted with Cincy Inno about the decision to leave, the timing behind it and what’s next.
The early days
Metzner said he decided to help co-found Coterie in 2018 because it was “too good of an opportunity to pass up" despite not having a background in the industry. He launched it with CEO David McFarland, a former insurance actuary, and Kevin Mackey, another Cincinnati serial entrepreneur.
For most insurance agents, selling small business insurance is time consuming and tedious. “Most will tell you it’s a necessary evil,” he said. Coterie aimed to use tech to quote and provide instant coverage, making the process faster and easier for all.
The team was aligned early on a few important points. One in particular: Coterie was not meant to be a quick flip.
“We wanted to build a company that would be around forever — the next Great American Insurance,” Metzner said. “It’s (a category) that's been ignored by most large insurance companies, and there’s still plenty of headroom to grow and grab market share."
The three realized quickly there was a ton of pent-up demand. Blue Ash-based Coterie, over the past two years in particular, has been on a "phenomenal" growth trajectory — despite layoffs in mid-2022 that eliminated 30 positions, or roughly 20% of its workforce.
The company raised two rounds of capital the year prior totaling $61.5 million, upping it in the ranks as the region’s ninth best-funded startup. Coterie continues to hit its “stretch goals,” Metzner said, and more recently, has seriously shored up its C-suite, including adding its first chief financial officer.
Those string of new hires also included Bobbie Collies, a nearly 20-year commercial insurance leader, who joined Coterie last March as its vice president of distribution. Metzner said he and McFarland both knew at the time she could ultimately replace Metzner on the leadership team.
A few months later, in November, Collies was officially promoted to Metzner’s previously held chief growth officer role.
Three months later, he officially stepped out of the day-to-day.
“When I handed over the reins (to Bobbie), it wasn't like, ‘OK, now it's time to step away,'” he said. “The vast majority of my net worth is tied up in this business. I wouldn’t step away if I didn't think we were in a good spot, and if I felt I could still add a ton of value. I've got enough self-awareness to know other people can add more to the business than I can at this point.”
Metzner's next act: Fireroad
Since leaving Coterie, Metzner has turned his attention to a new venture, Fireroad. It's “a culmination” of several ideas he’s had throughout his career, he said.
Before Coterie, Metzner was the co-founder and partner at Differential, a high-growth startup studio, one of the country's first, which spun out Cincinnati unicorn Astronomer. Its former development shop, also known as Differential, is now a separate 41-employee downtown-based company.
Fireroad is part search fund (which will acquire small businesses), part “Warren-Buffett-style” holding company and part venture studio, where new startup ideas will be created/validated with founders plugged in to run and scale them.
He’s coined it a “BuildCo,” a company that builds “moonshot ideas” using profits from its long-held small businesses — like Differential but on steroids.
“I have so much passion and energy for creating great jobs and careers for people, and I love the idea of buy, build and hold forever. That will be the secret sauce for us,” he said. “If it's a great company that's cash flowing, let's hold on to that asset and continue to make it a great place and add jobs and use cash flow from those companies to start more things.”
Metzner said he’s quietly building out the Fireroad team; he declined to name the others involved in the business at this point.
Initially, the firm will lean heavily into the home remodeling and home services industry. It's his thesis these companies will gain in value: “As AI gets better and better, a lot of the white collar jobs are going to be less valuable. But blue collar jobs are not,” Metzner said.
The sector is “highly fragmented and saturated with tiny companies” that have historically underleveraged technology and automation, he said.
Fireroad, for example, could offer funding to fuel that next stage of growth. It could also build a software-as-a-service “subco” to solve some of those bottleneck problems.
Fireroad will likely raise capital to fuel its first wave of acquisitions.
It’s already incubating a couple ideas that could form the very first companies it builds out.
“Our goal is to find great founders, great operators and owners who don't want to ride off into the sunset,” he said. “They want to keep building. They just need an opportunity to partner with someone who can add technology and strategy and vision.”
