Stand is a San Francisco insurtech that uses physics-based simulation and AI to underwrite and insure homes in places most carriers have abandoned - the wildfire belt of California and the hurricane corridors of Florida. Instead of statistical averages, Stand builds a digital twin of each property and models how embers, wind, and water would actually attack it, pairing coverage with concrete mitigation upgrades.
Dan Preston is the co-founder and CEO of Stand Insurance, a San Francisco-based insurtech company using physics-driven AI and digital property twins to insure climate-impacted homes in wildfire and hurricane zones. A Stanford-trained computer scientist, Preston previously led Metromile as CEO from 2014 to 2022, guiding it through a SPAC IPO on NASDAQ and eventual acquisition by Lemonade. At Stand, he has raised $65 million across two rounds and grown the company to over $1 billion in insured value within its first year, with expansion into Florida's catastrophe market. His vision: insurance as an active driver of community resilience, not just a financial safety net.
Hemant Shah is a serial entrepreneur and catastrophe risk pioneer who co-founded Risk Management Solutions (RMS) in 1989 as a Stanford grad student and built it into a $300M+ global leader in catastrophe modeling over nearly 30 years. He then co-founded Archipelago in 2018, an AI-powered commercial property risk data platform that now manages over $12 trillion in insured properties and has raised $72M+ in venture funding. Shah transitioned to Executive Chairman of Archipelago in July 2023 and in 2025 joined FortressFire as Vice Chairman, continuing his mission to bring data intelligence to the most consequential risks facing the built environment.