The professionals in the insurance industry specialize in estimating the risk associated with any endeavor. Innovation, especially disruptive innovation, is extremely risky in the beginning and is almost always perceived to be riskier than it is. This does not mean that it will stay risky forever and perceptions certainly change. Innovations that go mainstream become progressively less risky.

If you'd like a specific example, consider that insurance companies in 48 states can and will likely cancel insurance policies of anyone who rents their car to another individual, even if they hold a separate insurance policy to cover it[1]. This means that the tens of millions of cars sitting in garages would never be shared even if a startup decided to insure those doing peer to peer sharing.

GetAround, which won the TechCrunch Disrupt audience prize last year, or RelayRides which does the same thing, would never have started if they followed this rule. It's a bit early to claim that they have changed the world for the better, but I am optimistic they will.

I think what I said may be somewhat pithy but I certainly wasn't being glib.

[1] http://travel.usatoday.com/news/2011-06-17-personal-car-shar...