Regina Jaslow is the co-founder and CEO of Innocuous AI, a tech startup focused on enhancing the insurance policyholder customer experience by improving claims efficiency. She is a second-time co-founder with two successful exits and has more than 20 years of experience in marketing, sales, and customer success. Previously, she served as the Chief Revenue Officer of a health-tech startup, where she tripled its market share in two years, enabling a successful exit.
What were your initial years of growing up like? Tell us about your life before starting your corporate journey/venture/initiative.
My paternal and maternal grandparents, as well as both of my parents, were entrepreneurs. My parents were Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) who started their own firms. At the dinner table, they often talked about their clients’ businesses and how they evolved over time. These discussions sparked my interest in the intricacies of running different businesses and discovering what makes one more successful than another. I aspired to become an entrepreneur when I grew up. Ultimately, I worked in eight different industries before starting my current AI tech startup.
Every industry that is now a large-scale, top-notch business once started as a small idea in the minds of entrepreneurs. What was that idea or motivation that made you start your business/initiative? What motivated you within to say, “YES, go for it!”
The push factor: After having the privilege of working in a high-paying job, I realized that a fancy title and high salary weren’t professionally fulfilling. I wanted to challenge myself to do something bigger than anything I’d tackled before, and I’d rather die trying than never try at all.
The pull factor: Can I outdo my maternal grandfather’s business accomplishments and build a unicorn company? My grandfather, who was orphaned at a young age, had only a third-grade education before he had to work as an apprentice to earn his keep. Despite such humble beginnings, he built the largest chain of optical shops in Hong Kong, which he later sold. Despite all the opportunities available to my parents’ generation and mine, none of my relatives had built businesses that rivaled his in scale. To me, this became a personal challenge—to test whether my Wharton education was worth its salt, whether my experience across eight different industries would help me problem-solve in yet another, and whether I had the drive, grit, and resilience to build something even bigger than my grandfather did.
The spark: When my co-founder and I spoke to over 100 insurance professionals to understand their pain points, we found an area that felt meaningful for us to tackle. Having filed nine insurance claims over several decades, I knew firsthand that the policyholder’s claims experience still left much to be desired. I wanted to improve that experience significantly because when you’re grieving a loss, the last thing you should have to deal with is a delayed payout—or worse, a dispute caused by unintended errors from insufficiently trained claims adjusters.
Would you like to share with our young budding women entrepreneurs the change you would like to see in the world if given an opportunity?
I would like to see the Forbes billionaire list with (1) an equal number of men and women and (2) a more balanced wealth gap between male and female billionaires. In 2024, women accounted for only about 13% of the Forbes World’s Billionaires List. The two wealthiest women in the world—Françoise Bettencourt, the heiress of L’Oréal, and Alice Walton, the heiress of Walmart—both have net worths under $100 billion, at $99.5 billion and $72.3 billion, respectively. In contrast, the top 14 male billionaires have net worths ranging from $233 billion (Bernard Arnault & family) to $102 billion (Carlos Slim Helú & family).
Women are a growing force in the workplace, standing shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts. What are your thoughts about women leadership today?
I cannot wait for the day when men and women are equally recognized as business leaders and achieve similar levels of wealth. To achieve this, more women should be encouraged to pursue entrepreneurship, particularly in technology. Currently, most self-made billionaire women are in industries such as fashion & retail, food & beverage, media & entertainment, and finance & investments. However, recent data suggests that the most lucrative opportunities lie in technology. Tech spending is nearly 10 times that of fashion spending, yet only 12% of self-made tech billionaires are women. This represents an unprecedented opportunity for female entrepreneurs to expand beyond “traditional” industries. If women do not participate in the tech sector, it will be an uphill battle to achieve equality in financial freedom and other socio-economic rights they seek.
What’s the most important thing you have learned in your personal life and professional journey? What is your personal motto in life?
My personal motto in life is to embrace the challenge, no matter how daunting. In my professional life, I’ve learned that by gravitating towards the most difficult tasks, I not only provide valuable solutions that truly benefit others, but I also experience deep gratification overcoming obstacles that others deemed impossible. It makes the “win” that much sweeter.
In my personal life, I recognize that there are areas where I’m not naturally gifted. For example, I tend to be uptight. I’ve come to realize that a person’s greatest strength—when overhoned—can also be a weakness. My high standards and exacting nature have served me well professionally, but they can make it difficult to simply relax with friends. I’ve even been told that my intensity can be exhausting to be around. This isn’t an easy trait to change, but I continue to work on it so that I can come across as more approachable and personable.
With your grit and determination, you are making a considerable impact, breaking through, and serving as a role model for many budding entrepreneurs. What would you want to say to our young women leaders/audience reading this?
Dream big! Really big. And don’t stop. I’ve noticed that the true giants in business aren’t just satisfied when they reach the top—they keep pushing forward, relentlessly, creating an ever-widening gap between themselves and the competition. And still, they don’t stop. They continue to drive ahead with unwavering determination.
That’s the kind of force needed to level the playing field. If we want to see not just an equal number of female business leaders and self-made billionaires but also women building wealth on par with their male counterparts, we have to keep pushing forward—without hesitation, without limits.
