About this episode

Curtis Barton discusses the rapid growth and innovative strategies of ALKEME in the insurance brokerage industry.

Curtis Barton started ALKEME in the middle of COVID with seven agencies and $25 million in combined revenue. Five years later, it is a $350M+ brokerage operating in 35 states with over 85 acquisitions and backing from GCP Capital and Apollo S3.In Episode 160 of InsurTechTalk, Curtis breaks down the consolidation playbook in a way most people in the industry are not willing to say out loud — why most rollups are overleveraged, why organic growth is being faked through producer poaching, and why the brokerage model is being fundamentally rewritten by AI whether legacy players want it to or not.In this episode:1. The founding story: how Curtis convinced 6 P&C shops and a wealth management firm to build something together instead of selling out2. The integration playbook: signed bilateral roadmaps, day-one absolutes, and why disruption is the devil if you move too fast3. Why most consolidators are more leveraged than they report — PIK instruments, share class waterfalls, and the organic growth illusion4. AI governance at scale: how Alkeme built a BI team that deploys employee ideas the same day within a governed framework5. The prompt-based brokerage: querying the entire network…

People in this episode

Host: Gilad Shai

Guest: Curtis Barton

Topics covered

• insurance brokerage
• business consolidation
• AI in insurance
• organic growth
• cybersecurity
• producer poaching

Keywords

• insurance
• brokerage
• consolidation
• AI
• organic growth
• M&A
• cybersecurity

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ALKEME, GCP Capital, Apollo S3, P&C, AMS

More episodes of InsurTechTalk

• We Talk Too Much About Tech and Not Enough About People | Jonathan Crystal, Crystal Venture Partners · July 20, 2026 · 42 min
• The AI Race Moved to the Construction Site | Justin Levine, Shepherd · July 20, 2026 · 46 min
• Fourth-Generation Agent Sold — Here's What She Learned About Running an Agency Worth Buying · July 11, 2026 · 44 min
• AI as a "Safety Net" for Claims Adjusters: Inside CLARA Analytics with CEO Heather Wilson · July 10, 2026 · 37 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the InsurTechTalk podcast page.