Does our existing policy satisfy a customer’s insurance requirement?
It depends on what the clause names and what your policy says. The requirement tells you what the customer wants to see, not whether the policy fits your business. Check four things: whether the policy carries the coverages and limits (the most it pays) the contract names; what it says about adding the customer as an additional insured; whether it describes the product or service you actually deliver; and whether you can produce the proof they want by their deadline. Send us the clause before you sign and we tell you what your policies would need to match it.
Where the requirement comes from
Most startups buy insurance because something requires it: a first hire, a funding round, a customer contract, a lease. A customer’s requirement sits in the agreement’s insurance clause, and the clause is written from the customer’s side: it describes what they want to see, not what your business needs.
Send the actual clause, not a summary. A summary loses the detail that decides whether you comply, such as the exact limit or who has to be named on the policy. Send it before you sign, and we tell you what your policies would need to match the insurance terms it asks for.
What each coverage is for
Each coverage is for a different kind of claim. Which ones apply to your business depends on what you sell, who you sell to and where your people work, and what a policy covers always depends on its terms and exclusions.
- Technology errors and omissions (technology E&O, also called professional liability): for claims that your product or service did not work as promised and cost a customer money. It may apply only to the services the policy describes, so the description has to match what you sell to this customer.
- Cyber: depending on the policy, for your own costs after a hack or data breach, such as investigation, notification and downtime, and for claims from customers and others who were affected.
- General liability: for injuries to other people and damage to their property. Property insurance is for your own equipment and space. If you make or sell a physical product, check whether claims over the product are included in the general liability policy or need their own cover.
- Workers’ compensation: for employees who are hurt or become ill because of their work. The rules depend on where each person works, so a remote team in several states means several sets of rules.
- Directors and officers (D&O): for claims against founders, officers and the board over how the company was run. It is separate from whether the product worked, so it does not stand in for technology E&O or the other coverages on this list.
The terms inside the clause: limits, additional insured and proof
A clause does more than list coverages. It usually sets limits (the most a policy pays), and it may ask for terms of its own. These are the points we check:
- Which coverages and limits the contract names, and whether your policy carries them.
- Whether the customer wants to be added to your policy as an additional insured, so that certain claims against them tied to your work may be covered too, or asks for other specific terms, and what your policy says about that.
- Whether the policy describes the product or service you actually deliver to this customer.
- What proof of insurance they need, and by when. Proof may be a certificate of insurance (a one-page summary of your coverage that does not change what the policy covers) or a copy of the policy itself.
Before you sign, and how Cilantro helps
A certificate that satisfies the clause can still leave gaps in who is insured, whether legal fees come out of the same limit, or what is excluded. Those details decide whether the policy works when a claim arrives, and they are the reason to read the policy against the clause rather than stop at the certificate.
If the policy does not match, we ask the insurer whether the coverage, limit or term can be added. That takes time, so start before the proof is due rather than after you sign.
Send us the insurance clause before you sign, with any current policies, and we tell you what your policies would need to match the insurance terms it asks for. If you have no insurance yet, that is fine: tell us what you are building and what put insurance on your list, and we start from scratch. We take your details to the insurance market for terms that fit and set the quotes side by side, including the fine print.
A policy is written for the business you described when you bought it. If this contract means selling something new, handling new kinds of data or working from a new place, tell us and we ask the insurer to update the policy. The same goes for the next big customer: each new clause is worth reading against the policy you already have.
To get started, send us what you do (a plain description of the product or service and who uses it), how you operate (entities, locations, headcount, revenue, and the data or equipment you rely on), what is changing, and what you have been asked for: the contract clause, any deadline and any current policies.