How Waypoint Market works

Waypoint Market has two kinds of account, and each login is one or the other.

• Niche submitter: agents, brokers, wholesalers and MGAs who bring a property niche to Waypoint Specialty to build into a program. Register as a submitter.
• Capacity provider: insurers, reinsurers, Lloyd's syndicates, ILS funds and other capacity providers who want to see niches that match their appetite. Register as a capacity provider.

Both need a company email address. Personal addresses such as Gmail or Outlook.com can't be accepted. If you do both, use a separate work email for each account.

Waypoint Specialty licensed brokers. Waypoint Specialty is a team of experienced, licensed specialty program brokers who build, structure and place niche property programs. Waypoint Market is the tool we built to do that work faster and in the open: it collects your niche, prepares a first read and keeps you posted as it moves.

The automated parts give you a head start. The judgment calls are ours: which markets to approach, how to structure the program, how to tell the story of your book, and when it's ready to go out. You'll be working with Waypoint Specialty licensed brokers who know niche programs, not a technology company.

Sign in. The site recognizes the account type and offers to delete that login, which takes a few seconds. Then register again on the right side with the same work email. See deleting your account for what is removed.

Markets back niches they can understand quickly and that a team clearly knows well. The submissions that move fastest have:

• A specific class. "Owner-occupied dental offices, newer construction" beats "medical."
• A clear niche name. As you type, the form may suggest a sharper name for your niche. Use it or keep yours.
• Real numbers. First-year and 5-year premium, the premium you can roll over in year one, and the maximum value at any one location.
• The states you actually write, not every state you could.
• Your expertise. What you know that most underwriters miss, the loss controls your best accounts use, and what makes the book hard to copy. A few sentences each is plenty.
• A target launch date. The more lead time we have, the more of the program we can fill as new markets join our panel.

Not sure what a strong one looks like? The three sample programs on the home page range from nearly ready to an early idea.

Just 5 to 7 minutes and your best estimates. Our technology does the heavy lifting, and you don't need documents to submit. Have handy:

• Whether you are established, with at least $2 million of property premium in the niche today to roll in, or a start-up, entering the niche or under $2 million today
• Premium estimates for year one and five years (projections are fine for start-ups) and, if you are established, how much you can bring over in year one
• The largest value (TIV) at a single location
• Whether the program needs admitted paper, non-admitted (E&S) paper, or either
• Which cat perils it needs beyond standard: named windstorm, convective storm and hail, flood, earthquake, wildfire or terrorism
• How long you have worked the niche, and names of one or two other key people on your team
• Up to two other lines, such as general liability or workers' comp, with the most opportunity to package with your property

Your answers save automatically as you type. Choose Save and finish later and we'll email you a link to pick up where you left off. Drafts also stay in your account, so you can sign in on any device and choose Continue.

Yes. Choose Start-up as your first answer. You won't be asked about premium to roll over, and your premium figures become projections. Instead we ask who serves the niche today and where they fall short, why your team has the expertise to enter it, and how you'll win your first accounts. The clearer the opportunity, the more our licensed brokers can do with it.

Property programs grow faster when the right lines are packaged with them. Tell us whether the other lines for the niche are already placed, then pick up to two, such as general liability, umbrella or workers' comp, with the most opportunity to package with your property. Packaging the right lines helps the program win and keep more accounts, which grows the property book. Choose Property only if no other lines are needed.

Waypoint Market learns from every niche, every market answer and every outcome, and our brokers use what it learns on every program they build. It learns which programs place and why, which capacity providers say yes to which kinds of niches, and what each agency, MGA and market tells us success looks like. When you share what would make a program a success for you, we use it to tailor the program, the markets we approach and how we work with you.

The result is a consultative process that fits you and your company, matches that get sharper with every answer, and a platform built to lift placement and bind rates over time. Learning happens inside Waypoint: your identity and your book stay anonymous to markets until you agree, as described in Trust and security.

Once you register, open Our view and press Show me your view. In a minute or two you'll see what our model views as potential property niches your firm has, each with a short note on why it could become an exclusive program. When demand is high, your view may wait in line for a few hours; you'll see Your view is in line, and it will appear on the same page without starting it again.

1. Confirm: mark each niche Yes or No for whether you write it today.
2. Size it: pick a premium range and roughly how many accounts each one carries. Not sure is fine. You'll see its program potential as you go.
3. Add what we missed: add any property niche that isn't on the list. Niches you add get our attention first.
4. Pick what to review: press Ask us to review this niche on the ones you want us to explore, or Send my answers to Waypoint to send them all. Our licensed brokers explore whether we can create a better solution to drive growth and increase your retention too.

Any niche can go straight to Turn this into a submission, which starts the niche form with its name and states filled in. Choose Talk to our brokers about this niche and tell us in a sentence or two why you're the right one to own it, and we'll point you to the best next step, whether that's a call with our licensed brokers or your Program Snapshot. Or choose Write it through a Waypoint program to start writing the class today through an existing Waypoint program. Refresh my review looks again for niches we may have missed, and Share my niche map gives you a link showing your niche names only. Your answers save as you go and stay with Waypoint. Our view covers property only for now.

1. Right away: you'll see your submission summary and can download your Program Snapshot, a PDF to share with your principal or partners.
2. Make it stronger (optional): about 3 minutes of extra questions that show markets why your book will outperform. Answer them on the confirmation screen or any time from My Submissions.
3. Sign our mutual NDA: it takes about a minute and covers every niche you submit. Read it through to the end, add your firm's legal name and full office address, and sign. If someone else signs agreements for your firm, send it to them from the same screen; one signature covers you both. Once it is signed you can share loss runs, values and your distribution plan securely on the site.
4. Countersigned by Waypoint: once we countersign, the fully executed copy comes to you by email.
5. Submission finalization meeting: 25 minutes with your lead advisor, a Waypoint Specialty licensed broker, one meeting per niche. Book it from My Submissions once the NDA is fully executed, and bring the people who can tell the story of the book. If the time no longer works or you miss it, we'll email you a link to pick a new one.
6. Building the program: we build the loss perspective, values and distribution case, then take it to our global market panel.
7. Terms and placement: we walk you through any terms before anything is agreed.

Nothing moves forward without your go-ahead. My Submissions shows each step as it happens, and we email you when your submission moves to a new stage.

As specific as you can make it. Waypoint is a niche specialty brokerage, not a wholesaler: the exclusive programs we build win because they are built around a clearly defined group of accounts you know better than anyone. "Self-managed condo associations under 100 units, coastal Southeast" will get much further than "national condo program".

A national or very broad program usually needs a roll-over book of $10 million or more behind it. If you have a broad book, submit the tightest slice of it first: the class, region or kind of account where your results are best.

No. Submitting a niche on Waypoint Market does not reserve or block any market, and it does not give broker-of-record or agent-of-record (BOR/AOR) protection. We approach markets for a niche only once we have agreed to build and place the program together, and that is when the program is presented on your behalf.

Waypoint Market is for niches you want us to build and place with you, not a way to register a whole book for protection.

Received	Your niche is in our queue. A member of the placement team will review it shortly.
In review	We're reviewing fit and may reach out with a question or two.
Building placement	We've met and we're building the market package with you, matching your niche to capacity on our global property panel and shaping the structure. We'll be in touch as markets respond.
Terms sent	Indicative terms are with you. Review them with your team and send us your questions.
Placed	Your program is placed. We'll be in touch about launch, reporting and rolling out Waypoint Training to your insureds’ employees.
Not a fit yet	We can't place it right now. Appetite and capacity change often, and we'll reach out if that changes.

• Loss runs: five years of carrier loss runs for the accounts in the niche
• Schedule of values: locations, TIV, construction, occupancy, year built and protection
• Distribution plan: producers, associations or franchisor ties, and premium targets by year
• Anything else that helps, such as underwriting guidelines or applications

Upload them from the submission in My Submissions once the mutual NDA is in place. Files are kept in private storage that only you and our team can open. PDF, Excel, CSV, Word and images are accepted.

An automated, indicative read of what you submitted: the strengths, the gaps to close and how a market is likely to see it. It gives our brokers and you a shared starting point. It is not an underwriting decision or a quote, and it can change as we learn more about the book.

Waypoint Training is loss prevention training for your insureds’ employees: the people working at each insured location, not you or your producers. For every program we build, we create 10 short courses around the class’s top 10 loss drivers, such as a kitchen fire, a frozen pipe or a roof left unmaintained.

The courses run on a white-labeled platform under your brand, and you can see completion at every insured location. Fewer losses mean better program results and markets that want to stay on. Ask for a 30-minute Training and Technology demo from any niche in My Submissions.

Yes. Open it in My Submissions and choose Edit. Changes are visible to our team straight away. Submissions are locked once they are Placed or marked Not a fit yet. There is a limit on how many niches each account can have open at once while demand is high, shown on your dashboard.

A capacity profile describes one appetite: the forms of capacity you offer, states, maximum value per location, program size, perils and the classes you want to see. Add one profile per line, product or syndicate, for example "US Southeast property, primary and excess" and "Cat XL, Gulf states." Each profile is reviewed, approved and matched on its own. Want a feel for the niches first? Use Test-drive on the capacity page; nothing you pick there is saved or sent.

Drafts save as you type. Choose Save and finish later and we'll email you a link back.

Our brokers read your profile the way they would read a market's appetite guide. The more precise it is, the better the niches we bring you.

• Only the states you will really write. We would rather bring you fewer niches you will quote than many you will decline.
• Admitted, non-admitted or both. If you write both, select both, so niches that need either kind of paper reach you.
• Every cat peril you'll write. Our brokers check each niche's exposures against what you've listed.
• A realistic maximum value per location and program size range. Too narrow and you'll miss good niches; too wide and you'll see noise.
• The classes you want to see. It tells our brokers where to focus for you.
• Spell out exclusions and anything that changes your appetite, such as coastal limits or inception dates.

1. Our team reviews it and reaches out to set up a short fit meeting.
2. After the meeting we approve the profile, and you get an email.
3. Matched niches appear in your portal as our team releases them.
4. On Tuesdays, in weeks when new niches are released, we email a short list of them, best fit first, with ranges only and no names. Turn it off any time under Weekly email of new niches in your account settings.

Our program brokers decide which niches reach you. They know each niche from the inside, having worked through the book and built the program with the producer who writes it, and they bring it to the capacity providers whose appetite, paper and capacity fit it best. Because they talk with you regularly, what they know about your appetite goes well beyond the form.

Strong fit means our brokers see the niche squarely in your appetite. Possible fit means it is close, and a short conversation will usually settle whether it works.

The more complete and current your profile, the sharper the niches we bring you.

Interested tells our team straight away. Add a note on line size, structure or timing if you can. We'll be in touch to talk it through. The niche stays anonymous: we share the submitter's identity and full details only when both sides agree and a confidentiality agreement is in place.

Pass simply records your answer and helps us tune future matches. You can change either answer later.

• Pause an approved profile when you need to hold and focus elsewhere. You keep the niches already matched, but new ones won't appear until you choose Resume.
• Withdraw a profile you no longer need. It leaves your portal and stops matching. Our team keeps the record, so we can reinstate it if you ask.
• Every 90 days we'll email a quick check that your appetite is still current. One click confirms it. Editing the profile counts too.

No. On the capacity side our mutual NDA is optional and available whenever it suits you: before you share appetite or documents, later, or not at all. You'll find it at the top of your portal.

If someone else signs agreements for your firm, choose Send to the person who signs. They get a secure link, sign with their own company email, and the NDA covers you both. Waypoint Specialty countersigns within minutes, and the fully executed copy comes to you both by email.

Yes. Most firms split capacity by line: open market property with one team, treaty with another, facilities or binders with a third. On the Capacity profiles tab, use Bring in the rest of your team to invite a colleague with the same company email domain, and add what they look after.

• They get an email with a link that works for 30 days, register with their own login, and join your firm's team.
• Each person keeps their own capacity profiles current, so every niche reaches the right desk. Everyone on the team can see each other's submitted profiles.
• You can resend or withdraw an invitation that hasn't been accepted yet.

Know someone at another firm? Share your personal link under Matches instead.

We add new features often, sometimes hourly. While we put an update in place, the site may briefly show a maintenance page. Maintenance usually takes less than an hour, and your submissions, documents and NDAs are safe and untouched. The page checks every minute and takes you back as soon as we're open again.

Use Forgot password? on the sign-in screen. Emails come from noreply@waypointspecialty.com, so check junk or quarantine folders, and ask IT to allow that address if needed. That address doesn't receive replies, so please use our contact form for questions.

Didn't get the confirmation email? Right after you register, the Almost done page has a Resend button. If you still haven't confirmed a day later, we send the confirmation email once more automatically. Still nothing? Contact us.

Yes. Open the menu under your name, choose Account, then Pause my account. Reminder and digest emails stop, and any active capacity profiles pause so new niches won't reach you. Nothing is deleted. Choose Resume my account any time and everything picks up where it left off.

Open the menu under your name at the top right, choose Account, then the delete option at the bottom of the page.

First, close out anything still open. The delete box lists each open submission or capacity profile with a button to withdraw it, and each draft with a button to delete it. Once the list is clear, type DELETE to confirm. This permanently removes your login and everything tied to it: submissions, drafts and documents, or capacity profiles and responses. It can't be undone.

If a submission is already being placed, contact us and we'll close it out properly. Just need a break? Pause your account instead.

Only you and the Waypoint team see your full submission or profile. On the capacity side, colleagues you invite to your own firm's team can also see each other's submitted profiles. Approved capacity providers see anonymized niche summaries, never the submitter's name or company without both sides' agreement and an NDA. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.