Not every high school dropout winds up running a $20 million-plus business, but not every high school dropout is Adam Lyons. After working a series of odd jobs, the tireless and hungry hustler went back to school to study risk management and insurance at Temple University. In 2012, he and his partner Josh Dziabiak used what they learned in school and in life to co-found The Zebra, an auto insurance comparison engine that allows drivers to anonymously compare dozens of insurance companies in real time.
The business was built by recognizing the problems that over-regulation created in the insurance industry, and finding a solution.This week at SXSW, Lyons sat on a panel with one of The Zebra’s primary investors, Mark Cuban, to discuss government’s role in tech, and more to the point, the government’s role in disrupting the disruptors.
Entrepreneur spoke with Lyons about the panel and the steps he took from being a self-described “nobody” to becoming a change-maker in business. (Hint: don’t undervalue the power of a cold email!)
How did this panel come about?
Mark and I had talked about doing a panel a while back, and it seemed like a pretty timely topic to talk about how government can work with or against innovative companies. And so Zebra being one of his more regulated investments, it made a lot of sense.
Mr. Cuban has not been shy on Twitter about his feelings about the Trump administration. Do you share his outlook?
When it comes to business, some of Trump’s ideas and policies are great. I also think that he’s doing a lot of things that aren’t great. I like the talk about how for every regulation that lawmakers want to add, two need to be removed. As a business,…