When should a startup buy business insurance?

Review business insurance when you add a customer, product, lease, asset, or employee. Compare likely losses with what the startup could afford to pay itself.

List likely losses separately: visitor injury, customer property damage, service error, cyber incident, damaged equipment, or employee injury. Ask which quoted lines address each and what exclusions apply.¹

Read the Startups Insurance Buying Guide

Sources and Further Reading for Startups

1
Commercial Insurance Guide — California Department of Insurance. Commercial Insurance Guide: commercial property, business interruption, commercial general liability, and rating a commercial insurance policy; revised June 14, 2024.California guide to commercial property, general liability, business interruption, and quote-rating factors.
2
Cyber Insurance — Federal Trade Commission. What Should Your Cyber Insurance Policy Cover?; First-Party Coverage; Third-Party Coverage.FTC small-business examples for first-party and third-party cyber coverage; compare them with the actual quote.
3
Cyber Insurance Coverage & Products — Chubb. DigiTech Enterprise Risk Management; Professional Enterprise Risk Management; Cyber Insurance Coverage; First-Party Coverage.Chubb-attributed technology E&O and cyber interruption examples; product summaries are not the buyer’s policy wording.
4
Small Business ForeFront Portfolio 3.0 for Private Companies — Chubb. Coverage Highlights; Directors & Officers; Key Features.Chubb’s private-company coverage highlights include D&O; this does not establish a universal fundraising requirement.
5
Health Care Insurance Coverage for Self-Employed Individuals — HealthCare.gov, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Marketplace coverage for self-employed people; job-based coverage; spouse coverage.Current federal Marketplace guidance for founders with no employees and loss of job-based coverage.
6
Covered California for Small Business — Covered California. What You Can Do With CCSB; self-employed people with no W-2 employees; applicable large employer summary.California group-health plan choices and the individual-plan route for self-employed people with no W-2 employees.
7
Determining if an Employer Is an Applicable Large Employer — Internal Revenue Service. Basic Information; Full-Time and Full-Time Equivalent Employees; Aggregation Rules; Seasonal Workers; New Employers.IRS explanation of prior-year full-time and FTE counting, aggregation, seasonal workers, and new-employer rules.
8
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions for Employers — California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Workers’ Compensation. About Insurance Coverage; employee requirement, sole proprietors and officers; FAQ page dated March 2023.California-specific workers’ compensation employer guidance, including employee and business-structure questions.
9
Employer Information — California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Workers’ Compensation. Employer information for businesses with employees working in California, including out-of-state employers.California DWC example for out-of-state employers with employees who work in California.

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