Founder Shield vs USI Insurance Services D&O Insurance

Founder Shield is a retail insurance brokerage, described on its site as “the innovation arm of The Baldwin Group,” and places Founder Shield Directors & Officers Insurance with third-party carriers rather than underwriting the policy itself. ⁷Company-reported. About-us page; applies to Founder Shield's brokerage model generally, restated here for this line.

USI is a broker for D&O coverage. It says it helps clients identify D&O exposures, review any existing management liability policies for gaps, and place coverage, including through its own named endorsement package, ExecuSafe. ¹¹Company-reported. ExecuSafe article's "How USI Can Help" section.

Founder Shield says it places policies, including Founder Shield Directors & Officers Insurance, only with carriers rated A- or better by AM Best, chosen for the client's industry. It does not name the issuing insurer for this line; that depends on which carrier the policy is placed with. ³Company-reported. General carrier-selection FAQ, not specific to this line's placements.

USI does not name the insurer that underwrites ExecuSafe or other D&O placements on the pages reviewed; it describes ExecuSafe as an endorsement package it applies to policies placed with the market. ¹¹Not publicly disclosed. ExecuSafe article and Technology/Business Services practice pages as read on 2026-09-23.

Founder Shield targets D&O at public and private businesses, venture-backed companies (it says almost every institutional term sheet requires the coverage), and businesses owing more than $1 million to creditors. ⁶Company-reported. Directors & Officers Insurance product page.

USI targets small- and medium-sized businesses for ExecuSafe, saying many either skip D&O coverage or buy insufficient limits because their brokers do not help them identify the exposure. Its Technology practice separately places D&O for software, hardware and communications clients from seed stage through IPO. ^11,9Company-reported. ExecuSafe article eligibility framing and Technology practice client description.

Founder Shield describes a three-part structure: Side A pays individual directors/officers directly when the company cannot or will not indemnify them, Side B reimburses the company for indemnification it pays, and Side C provides entity coverage for the company itself. ⁶Company-reported. Product page; the issued policy and declarations control actual coverage.

USI says D&O insurance is meant to protect a company's leadership from personal loss in a lawsuit, since the corporate veil does not shield directors and officers from personal liability for the business's actions and debts. It lists breach of contract, breach of duty, misrepresentation, unfair competition, misappropriation of trade secrets, securities lawsuits and creditor lawsuits as common claim types the coverage responds to. ¹¹Company-reported. ExecuSafe article's description of D&O purpose and claim types; actual insuring agreements and exclusions are set by the issued policy.

Founder Shield's page describes a typical market base layer of $5 million to $10 million in combined A-B-C coverage, but does not publish a specific limit Founder Shield itself offers; actual limits are set on the quote. ⁶Company-reported. General market description on the product page, not a stated Founder Shield minimum or maximum.

USI cites a 2016 Chubb survey that found 43% of private companies carry no D&O coverage, with an average private-company D&O claim cost of $450,000, but the article does not publish USI's own placed limits, retentions or premium ranges for ExecuSafe. ¹¹Not publicly disclosed. Third-party statistic cited by USI to illustrate exposure, not USI's own placement data.

Not described in the reviewed sources.

USI's Technology practice cites a case study where its benchmarking analysis showed a software company was buying more D&O limit than peers with similar risk profiles, and says the resulting change saved the client more than $100,000 per year in D&O premium. ⁹Company-reported. Single case study on the Technology practice page; company-reported outcome, not independently verified.

You request Founder Shield Directors & Officers Insurance through Founder Shield's website or an insurance advisor rather than binding coverage directly; Founder Shield says its placement team then approaches carriers on the client's behalf. ^7,3Company-reported. About-us and carrier-selection pages describe the general placement process, not a line-specific application form.

USI directs small- and medium-sized businesses interested in ExecuSafe to email Select.Business@usi.com; its Technology and Business Services practices separately route inquiries to pcinquiries@usi.com or a local USI office. ^11,9,12Company-reported. Contact instructions on the ExecuSafe article and the Technology and Business Services pages.