How Simply Business’s Mission Guides Its Work
What does it mean to ‘enable big dreams’?
According to the teams at Simply Business, it means empowering business owners to protect their livelihoods so they can grow their businesses, create jobs and support the communities around them.
What Does Simply Business Do?
Simply Business is a platform that helps small business owners find and buy insurance that fits their needs and budget.
Simply Business’s mission — “Insuring small businesses. Enabling big dreams” — is reflected in its digital marketplace, which helps small business owners discover and buy insurance that suits their business needs and budget.
“Ultimately, small business owners benefit from this approach, gaining the peace of mind and financial security they need to focus on running and growing their ventures without being bogged down by complexity,” Insurance Product Development Specialist Omar Akmal said.
Simply Business’s mission shapes more than its product. Team members describe an empowering culture that inspires them to shape the insurance space while supporting their communities.
How Simply Business Connects Its Mission to Product and Community Programs
Simply Business’s mission is reflected in every project that employees take on, including the company’s recent strategic expansion of its carrier panel.
Throughout the project, Akmal led the technical onboarding of several new partners and helped deepen product offerings with existing carriers.
“This project directly enhanced our platform’s ‘quoteability,’ resulting in a measurable increase in customer choice and a higher conversion rate for niche small business sectors that were previously underserved,” Akmal said.
This commitment to supporting customers also came to life during the company’s inaugural Impact Week in December, which takes place around Small Business Saturday in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Rather than simply write corporate checks, the company’s teams paused their day-to-day operations around the world and spent time supporting entrepreneurs. In the United Kingdom, employees mentored founders through Ada College and Hatch clinics, and in the United States, teams partnered with Sky’s the Limit to host a “Pop-in & Pitch” event, where employees vetted and coached founders and awarded $5,000 to three top businesses.
“Best of all, several teams were so inspired that they actually set up ongoing mentorships with the founders they met,” D&I Program Manager Martha Duffield said.
The metrics spoke for themselves: Over 215 employees volunteered, impacting over 150 people, and respondents gave the program a Volunteer Net Promoter Score of 89 in the United States and 84 in the United Kingdom. Beneficiaries of the program gave the program a Beneficiary NPS of 80.
But Simply Business’s charitable roots go back much further.
One of the company’s most anticipated, customer-focused rituals is its annual “Auction of Promises,” which Simply Business has hosted for nearly a decade. The auction funds the company’s social impact partners and is entirely run by employees, who offer their personal talents and experiences to the highest bidder, whether that’s a weekend stay at a family cottage, a basket filled with home-cooked food or a one-on-one soccer skills session, which Duffield herself brought to the table. This year, the auction raised over $29,325 in the United States and £47,030 in the United Kingdom.
“It’s the perfect ritual because it keeps our mission top of mind, helps us discover each other’s hidden talents and connects us all through a shared purpose,” Duffield said.
While Simply Business’s community outreach is often spearheaded by employees, Duffield said the leadership team integrates the spirit of giving back into its commercial strategy, collaborating closely with brand teams to run shared campaigns, such as the current $25,000 Big Dreams Grant in the United States, an initiative launched by Simply Business in partnership with the nonprofit digital business accelerator Sky’s the Limit, and the £50,000 Young Entrepreneur Fund in the United Kingdom.
“This allows us to use marketing dollars to directly inject capital into the global small business ecosystem,” Duffield said.
How Simply Business Measures Social Impact and Business Outcomes
When it comes to social impact and key business objectives, Simply Business leaders have ambitious goals.
Two of those goals? Help 10,000 small businesses start or grow by 2030, and have 40 percent of employees actively volunteering in social impact programs by 2030.
“Having that massive, specific number provides deep purpose to our daily work and gives us incredible clarity when making strategic decisions,” Duffield said.
Progress toward that goal is measured through internal activation and external impact, Duffield added. They also track their NPS score, as well as quoteability and conversion rates, ensuring every new carrier or product added to the panel directly increases the options available to customers. Other metrics like speed-to-market and technical accuracy help teams verify that they’re simplifying the insurance process without compromising integrity.
“Having this framework ensures we aren’t just doing ‘feel good’ work, but driving measurable business outcomes,” Duffield said.
How Employees Shape Simply Business’s Culture and Product Ideas
At Simply Business, employees play a key role in deciding what social impact means.
After gathering employee feedback about the company’s social impact and inclusion programs last summer, Duffield’s team discovered a trend: Employees wanted more ways to give back that didn’t just involve fundraisers and events. So, Duffield’s team pivoted its strategy, and now, employees can leverage their skill sets by reviewing resumes, coaching founders and judging business pitches, or engage in hands-on community work, such as cleaning tables at local pubs or helping a neighborhood baker box customer orders.
“This shift completely transformed our culture of giving,” Duffield said. “By offering different ways to show up, we made giving back so much more accessible and energizing for our broader organization.”
“By offering different ways to show up, we made giving back so much more accessible and energizing for our broader organization.”
Employee feedback has also shaped product decisions. After an employee suggested a “modular coverage” approach for the company’s platform, for example, Akmal and his peers worked on a feature that would allow customers to toggle specific protections on and off within a single policy.
“This reshaped our mission by moving away from ‘one-size-fits-all’ bundles and toward a truly customizable experience that ensures small business owners only pay for the exact coverage they need,” Akmal said.
Simply Business’s mission even influences how employees brainstorm and share ideas. Akmal’s team holds regular “Carrier Deep Dives” and cross-functional meetings where they evaluate how technical product updates directly impact customers’ ability to find a quote.
“By consistently reviewing real-time ‘quoteability’ data, we ensure that our daily technical tasks remain focused on the core mission of providing simple, accessible choice,” Akmal said.
In fact, he and his peers treat ‘simplicity’ as a live technical challenge that requires constant refinement.
“We prove that our commitment to an effortless customer experience is an active, everyday priority,” Akmal said.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Simply Business's mission?
Simply Business’s core mission is "Insuring small businesses. Enabling big dreams." To the teams at Simply Business, "enabling big dreams" means empowering small business owners to protect their livelihoods so they can focus on growing their ventures, creating jobs and supporting the communities around them.
How does Simply Business support small businesses?
Simply Business supports entrepreneurs and small business owners through a mix of digital product solutions, direct financial grants and hand-on mentorship. For instance, the company operates a digital marketplace that simplifies finding and buying affordable coverage. Features like "modular coverage" allow business owners to toggle specific protections on and off so they only pay for the exact coverage they need. Also, Simply Business integrates community outreach into its commercial strategy by funding initiatives like the $25,000 Big Dreams Grant in the United States.
What is Simply Business Impact Week?
Impact Week is an annual companywide initiative held in December around Small Business Saturday across both the United States and the United Kingdom. During this week, employees around the world pause their day-to-day corporate tasks to directly volunteer and mentor local entrepreneurs.
