I and my colleagues have done consulting work for several insurance companies. I'd love to develop some sick claim processing/auditing software or data management solution for insurance, but it's next to impossible to get visibility into the data they're processing and where the improvement opportunities lie without working there or having an in.
This sounds complicated but remember that there is little downside risk for the insurance company that buys you. If you don't make a good product, then you or your investors are out the cash, and they are out $0. This is probably 99% of cases. If you do make a good product, then they can just buy it later when the $ is worth less! (There is also a risk that a competitor buys you, I guess.)
My template - https://www.wittenburg.co.uk/Work/Protection_System.aspx
This isn't institutionally crazy.
It's an old, old, story. Lots of people feel like they can come in from the outside to a complex domain, apply some "generic" techniques etc, and make changes with huge positive impact. They usually wrong, usually enough that many people feel safe just ignoring the possibility.
Chance of success is much higher by building capability internally for the techniques with people who already understand the domain well. This however runs into both internal politics and moribund institutions so can be a real challenge.