Episode 293: Harnessing AI for Growth with Daniel Metcalf

When a speaker leaves an entire room buzzing, you know they’re onto something powerful—and that’s exactly what happened when Daniel Metcalf shared his insights at our Grand Mastermind. In this episode, I finally got him behind the mic to break down what’s really happening at the intersection of AI, cybersecurity, and independent insurance agency growth.

Daniel, co-founder of CyberFin and a seasoned expert in both AI and security, shares how agencies can stop drowning in AI “features” and start extracting real business benefits. We explore how to build a protected, efficient agency tech stack with AI and automation at the core—freeing up your people, reducing risk, and ultimately driving profitability. Daniel also walks us through how to identify repetitive tasks ripe for automation, the right way to adopt AI tools without compromising data, and why building a custom AI “co-CEO” might be your smartest next move.

Highlights:

  • How to identify and automate the most time-consuming, repetitive agency tasks for maximum efficiency gains.
  • Why “features fatigue” is real—and how to focus on AI tools that actually deliver measurable ROI.
  • What agentic AI is, how it differs from bots, and how it’s quietly reshaping operations in forward-thinking agencies.
  • The real risks of unsecured AI use in agencies and how to implement zero-trust, verifiable AI policies.
  • How to reverse-engineer your agency’s structure by leading with AI, then layering in VAs and licensed experts.
  • Why your first AI move should be building a custom GPT “co-CEO” to guide strategic decisions and save hours of thinking time.

 

About Daniel Metcalf:

Daniel Metcalf, Co-founder & President of CyberFin. Daniel’s a Speaker & Cybersecurity Evangelist for the Insurance Industry on a mission to simplify cybersecurity for SMBs, and especially for Financial and Insurance Agencies.

His mission and my passion is to protect entrepreneurs and agency owners from cyber-crimes & compliance fines.

But my journey doesn’t stop there.

With a rich background in marketing, tech, and e-commerce, Daniel’s worn multiple hats – from a visionary entrepreneur to a results-driven Chief Revenue Officer. His expertise in revenue operations for tech and e-commerce companies has consistently driven growth and innovation to all my endeavors.

At his core, he’s a tech enthusiast with an entrepreneurial spirit, a Marketing Maverick with a Tech Twist, always eager to connect, collaborate, and create.

Whether it’s pioneering cybersecurity solutions at CyberFin or strategizing revenue growth for tech ventures, Daniel thrives on challenges and the thrill of innovation.

If you’re an entrepreneur, business owner, or just someone passionate about tech and innovation, let’s connect and explore synergies!

 

Until next time, get out there and make a difference, be unstoppable, and leave no regrets!

Mike Stromsoe
The Unstoppable Profit Producer
Call 800-770-9984

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://unstoppableprofitproducer.com/

Virtual Events: http://www.uppfaststart.com/

Podcast: http://unstoppableprofitpodcast.com

If you want to learn more about our Coaching & Mastermind Programs and how they can help you grow your agency business, schedule your private Agency Growth Session with Mike Stromsoe Now (click here)!

Episode 140: No Tech-Ups Allowed with James Laszko

If you don’t have the right PPE, cyber protection partners, and its partners standing by your side, it could devastate your business in a heartbeat.

In this episode, I am excited to connect you all with James Laszko, the founder of Mythos Technology Inc. Join us as we have a how we started working together and how this partnership is part of a key component of the secret sauce that assists us in being the profitable business that we are today.  Learn how James and Mythos Technology works hard to provide you with the IT solutions you need to be successful.

Highlights:

  • Being digitally connected throughout the day you need to have your business infrastructure and customer information protected.
  • Don’t get caught without the infrastructures that you need as you don’t want to be in a position of having an issue and not effectively make a claim.
  • Multi-factor authentication has become a requirement in 50 states
  • It’s amazing how many threats and how many attacks come from just somebody not knowing to click on something that they should not be clicking on
  • Cyber claims are on the rise more so than ever before.
  • 90% of the agencies that James has talked to do not have the base requirements to fill out a questionnaire and have a policy written because they don’t have the systems in place to make it work

 

Resources Mentioned
Reach out to James at https://mythostech.com/

Sign up for virtual training at http://uppfaststart.com

Become Unstoppable: http://beunstoppablebootcamp.com

 

About my Guest:

James Laszko is the founder of Mythos Technology Inc. In his role as CTO, his responsibilities include the development of the technical direction of the business, 3rd tier engineering, disaster recovery planning, and strategic development of internal and client infrastructures. He has been in the Information Technology field for over 27 years providing outsourced solutions throughout the nation. Beginning his career as an internal engineer for a small consulting firm James cut his teeth in the small business arena. Working with best-of-breed vendors, James developed a robust CyberSecurity program protecting businesses of all sizes from Cyber Attacks. James is an expert in the fields of disaster recovery, business continuity, technology management, and CyberSecurity.

 

Until next time, get out there and make a difference, be unstoppable, and leave no regrets!

 

Mike Stromsoe
The Unstoppable Profit Producer
Call 800-770-9984
Email [email protected]

Episode 134: Are You 3.0 or Better with Tolga Tezel

Founder and CEO of Canopy Connect, Tolga Tezel joins me to discuss how his company has allowed insurance agencies to gather accurate, comprehensive data from their prospects and clients while allowing those potential clients to find, share and protect their data as well. This was an enlightening conversation and one that you are not going to want to miss.

Highlights:

  • Canopy Connect is putting the agent in control of helping people.
  • The advantages of not having to ask potential clients a number of questions but instead get the information with just a few clicks from both the client and yourself.
  • Most agencies do not have a 3.0 score, i.e. having 1000 clients and a minimum of 3000 policies
  • A look at the process of how it is integrated into your system
  • Although there is a focus on personal lines, Canopy Connect is extending into commercial as well.
  • Potential clients want to talk with an agent however they don’t want to spend time gathering the information they need to give

 

Resources Mentioned

Sign up for virtual training at http://uppfaststart.com

Become Unstoppable: http://beunstoppablebootcamp.com

 

About My Guest:

Hi! 👋 I’m Tolga, founder & CEO at Canopy Connect. I honed my craft at startups, through open source work, and as an early infrastructure and product engineer at Dropbox.

Being Canadian, I had a hard time getting a credit card when I immigrated to the US. Banks couldn’t access my Canadian credit information, so they rejected me. In 2018 I joined Nova Credit to help launch in Canada and solve this problem. We helped immigrants get fair access to credit through their international data. I saw the power of consumer consent-driven data sharing first-hand. Through the magic of consumer consent + technology, we helped people unlock better financial outcomes for themselves. This inspiration drove me to discover other areas where consumers have a hard time getting value and convenience from their own data.

In 2019 I learned that this problem existed in the insurance space too. I talked with hundreds of insurance agency owners, agents, insurtechs and carrier reps and learned that getting accurate, comprehensive data from their prospects and customers was painfully difficult. Who knows their premiums, limits and deductibles off the top of their head? Who knows their VIN number, or where to find their dec page (let alone what a dec page even is?!) Of course no one knows. It’s not like most people are thinking about the bodily injury limit on their auto policy on a daily basis.

Not only is it painful for consumers to find and share their own data, but once data is shared, we lack the controls to know who we’ve shared it with, and to revoke our data if we want to. These are fundamental privacy and data controls we should have around our own sensitive data as consumers. They are necessary building blocks of a healthy insurance ecosystem where the consumer is in the driver’s seat.

I realized we could build a world where all of this was simple. The necessary ingredients are there; consumers want insurance to be personalized, seamless and easy, and they want basic control over their data. Insurance players need data to write better risks. The missing piece was infrastructure. So in early 2019 I started building the infrastructure for instant, secure and consumer consent-driven insurance data sharing. In February 2020 I founded Canopy Connect. A few months later we closed our seed round and started assembling a world-class engineering and product-focused team. Our team is now fully distributed across the US.

https://usecanopy.com/

[email protected]

 

Until next time, get out there and make a difference, be unstoppable, and leave no regrets!

 

Mike Stromsoe
The Unstoppable Profit Producer
Call 800-770-9984
Email [email protected]

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