
Ask HN: Insurance for startups - starkey
What kind of insurance (if any) do startups have?  Do you have an umbrella policy for liability or something else?  Any information or stories would be appreciated!
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aquaphile
Requirements will depend upon your state, your office setup, your line of
business, and the amount of capital involved. We have the following: *
Workers' Compensation policy * Business Personal Property policy * Commercial
Liability Umbrella policy * Directors & Officers ("D&O") policy * Errors &
Omissions ("E&O") policy * Life insurance policies on key employees, payable
to the company (aka "key man" policies)

If you have employees you will need Workers' Comp. If you have a lease in a
commercial office building, they will require that you maintain a Commercial
Liability Umbrella with limits of at least $1 million. Business Personal
Property is very minor, and is generally packaged with the former. D&O is
something that protects the officers and directors, and which sophisticated
investors will require of any portfolio company. E&O is generally only
necessary in service businesses. Key-man is a good idea for all the "key"
employees, and for early-stage companies a sophisticated investor will make
key-man insurance mandatory.

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starkey
Can I assume by the lack of response that no one has insurance? This might not
be an issue for a fresh college grad, but unfortunately I have personal
liabilities I have to protect.

Being 40, I have a house and family I have to protect from any mishaps that
might occur.

Am I being paranoid or is it not an issue with software development?

~~~
DanielBMarkham
1\. Incorporate

2\. Pick up a million-dollar liability policy

That's about it from a bare minimums standpoint. You can go into errors and
omissions insurance and a lot of other stuff, but I've never really seen the
value in it.

