In a recent episode of “How to Sell Your Vision,” a podcast about startup storytelling, fundraising, and the emotional engine behind visionary founders, host Moti Elkaim sat down with Five Sigma’s co-founder and CTO Michael Krikheli to talk investor pitching.
The conversation explored what truly resonates with investors, how to craft a memorable story, and why solving hard problems—not just trending ones—is what sets successful startups apart.
Q: Why did you start Five Sigma?
Michael: Our vision has always been to modernize and automate the entire process of insurance claims management. We use AI agents to make that happen. We’re operating in four geographies today, across various lines of business, providing solutions for insurers, MGAs, TPAs, and reinsurers. From day one, we’ve believed the problem was hard enough—and valuable enough—to be worth solving.
Q: One piece of advice to early-stage founders?
Michael: Figure out your inner ‘why’. If you’re not convinced about the reason you’re building your company, you won’t convince anyone else. That’s what investors connect with, your motivation, your vision, your story.
Q: How should founders pitch AI in a meaningful way?
Michael: AI is an enabler—not the story. You’re not building ‘an AI company.’ You’re solving a specific problem. And you need to show that the problem is big, painful, and now solvable in a new way. Start with the problem. Then explain why AI helps.
Q: How important is storytelling in fundraising?
Michael: Storytelling is everything. Investors meet 30 startups a day. You need to be the one they remember. That means you need a one-liner—something that sticks. Something they’ll remember when they go back to your deck. Something like: ‘Five Sigma is automating the entire claims process’.
Q: You mentioned that fundraising is a two-way street?
Michael: Absolutely. You’re choosing your investors as much as they’re choosing you. You’ll work with them for years, so make sure you ask questions, and understand their view of the field you are developing. Make it a real conversation, not a one-sided pitch. And make sure there’s a real fit.
“I think that founders—and investors—should look for problems that are hard to solve. If it’s an easy problem, it’s hard to create real differentiation. But if it’s hard, and you solve it, you’re creating long-term value that’s not easily replicated.” – Michael Krikheli, Co-Founder and CTO of Five Sigma
Insurance claims management is a complex problem. It’s highly regulated, dependent on legacy systems, and filled with manual workflows that are difficult to change. Improving it means tackling real operational challenges and delivering tools that adjusters and claims leaders not only want, but are able to use. Modernizing it requires breaking through years of outdated handling methods and fragmented processes.
Five Sigma chose to take on this challenge. With our SaaS, AI-native claims management technology, we help insurers, MGAs, TPAs, and reinsurers handle claims more efficiently by automating routine actions, presenting the right data at the right moment, and removing the manual overhead that slows teams down.
At the center of our technology is Clive™, the industry’s first AI Claims Adjuster. Clive plans and advances claims automatically, provides data-backed insights, and operates on top of any existing claims management system—bringing AI and automation to any claims operation.
