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MGA Academy

Overview

What this is

Section titled “What this is”

A self-contained study reference that takes you from “I have never sold a policy” to “I understand the insurance producer licensing exam and how a license becomes a Managing General Agent (MGA) business.” It is built for one reader (Joe) with three priority states — Washington, California, New York — plus the state-agnostic general core that every exam shares.

It is a study aid, not legal or licensing advice. STABLE

Why licensing is Step 1

Section titled “Why licensing is Step 1”

The strategic goal is not “pass an exam.” The goal is to give Glacis underwriting capability — the ability to sell and underwrite a real insurance product (a Tech E&O policy for healthcare AI) on a carrier’s paper and earn commission. You cannot legally solicit, negotiate, sell, or bind insurance without a license. So a producer license is the legal on-ramp to the entire strategy. STABLE

Heidi (a contact, and the lead author of one of the source documents) outlined three Glacis revenue streams that all sit downstream of getting licensed:

  1. Underwriting (SaaS) — sell Glacis’s evidence layer to insurers/MGAs.
  2. Producer / MGA — create a Tech E&O policy for healthcare, sell + underwrite it via Glacis software, earn commission. (This is the one licensing unlocks.)
  3. Third-Party Administrator (TPA) — claims error-source attribution; earn claim-adjusting revenue.

See 15 Glacis strategic arc for the full mapping. GROUNDED · Glacis

The arc in one diagram

Section titled “The arc in one diagram”
STEP 1: LICENSE THE PERSON pre-licensing → exam → background check → application → carrier appointment STEP 2: LICENSE THE ENTITY business-entity license (must name a DRLP) → appointment STEP 3: GET DELEGATED AUTHORITY capacity/fronting carrier → binding authority + underwriting guidelines STEP 4: OPERATE AS AN MGA risk-select, rate, bind, (sometimes) adjust claims → earn commission + profit share STEP 5: THE GLACIS LAYER Tech E&O for healthcare AI · evidence/attestation lowers loss ratio · "underwriting capability"

What’s inside

Section titled “What’s inside”
  • Licensing 101 + the path (sections 01–02): how the US regulates insurance and the five-step process to get licensed.
  • Entity & MGA (section 03): the business-entity license, the DRLP, lines of authority, what an MGA is, surplus lines, and TPAs.
  • The exam body (sections 04–08, 12): real teaching content for the General core, Property, Casualty, Life, Health, and Ethics/Trade Practices.
  • State deep-dives (09–11): WA / CA / NY off one framework, with every volatile number flagged VERIFY.
  • Underwriting fundamentals (13): risk selection, rating, the loss ratio, reinsurance, the cycle, and Tech E&O.
  • AI insurance regulation (14): the regulatory tailwind, grounded in the Law360 article.
  • Glacis strategic arc (15) and the VERIFY hub (16).

Next

Section titled “Next”

→ 01 How to use this wiki → 02 Exam shape: the master mental model