Ryan Lapp built municipal structures before he built software. After leaving construction for a restaurant-industry tech startup and scaling it to 140 customers in two years, he found his entry point into insurance technology through TechCanary, which Applied Systems acquired in 2019. Today, he’s senior director of product management for Ivans’ commercial distribution and quoting product. But it isn’t how Lapp arrived in insurtech that’s the most telling part of his story. It’s that after stepping away in 2023, he chose to come back.
What Does Applied Systems Do?
Applied Systems is a global provider of cloud-based insurance software and agency management systems.
If You Build It, They Will Come (Back)
When Ivans President Michael Streit called Lapp asking him to return, the opportunity was clear: Come back with more ownership, more input on the roadmap and a mandate to build. Lapp had come to Applied through the TechCanary acquisition years earlier, moved into Ivans from there, and knew the platform well. For a PM whose identity is rooted in putting things together, Streit’s pitch was the only one that mattered.
"I wanted to come back and finish what I started," Lapp said. "I got to come back with more control and better input on the roadmap. It felt like home."
Home, in this case, is a platform operating at a scale some PMs never get near. The Ivans platform processes over $1.5 million transactions each day, directly serving 38,700+ agencies, carriers and MGAs while simultaneously facilitating product integration for customers who also use competitors' tools. It's a rare dual mandate: build for your own customers and for the broader ecosystem at the same time, distinguishing Ivans from a more conventional product role.
"Insurance touches every industry," Lapp said. "Working here is the opportunity to make impact you didn't think was possible."
AI-Powered and Moving Fast
Ask Lapp what excites him most about the team right now, and he doesn't hesitate: the way Applied has embedded AI into how product gets built.
Lapp and his team have redefined their ways of working, leveraging AI tools internally to significantly reduce — and in some cases eliminate — time-consuming tasks that pull focus from collaborative, strategic work: "We can spend so much more time with customers because we don't have tickets or meetings or admin taking our time."
The numbers are concrete. The team has driven a 20 to 30 percent reduction in manual work. Functionality mapping that once consumed months now takes 30 minutes. Configuration panels that previously required a three- to six-week build cycle can now be turned around by the team in a fraction of the time. AI-connected tools push edits and corrections across platforms like Confluence automatically, eliminating the manual, page-by-page overhead that used to absorb hours.
The shift has also changed how product and engineering collaborate. Lapp describes a new dynamic where PMs can hand developers code that needs iteration rather than a full spec, compressing the feedback loop and giving everyone on the team more space to think strategically.
"Access to the tools sets the tone for the environment," Lapp said. "When we use this in the right way, we can eliminate update meetings and roadblocks and enable everyone to go fast."
Critically, this isn't just about internal velocity. Applied's AI capabilities are a product imperative.
"We have to know how to use AI well because we have to think through how our customers will use it," Lapp said.
In improving their own processes and workflows with AI, Applied's product teams understand how to integrate it into products in a way that drives tangible impact for customers. By eliminating the gap between how they work and what they ship, Lapp and his team deliver better solutions faster, anticipating what customers will want next, even before they do.
The Architecture of Growth
Lapp's background in structural architecture shapes how he thinks about product. The most important decisions, in his view, happen before a single line of code gets written.
"As long as you have the architecture right, you'll be successful in what you build," Lapp said. "The art of product development is how well and how quickly you can get this thing done and approaching it from that angle is what's exciting to me."
He tracks progress with a metric that is intentionally simple: Are support cases going up, going down or staying the same? It's a direct signal of whether what the team builds is actually working for the people using it. For a PM who wants to connect their work to real outcomes — not just releases — it’s the kind of environment that rewards the right instincts.
Built for People Who Want to Build
Insurance experience isn’t a prerequisite at Applied, but product instinct is. The team is deliberate about protecting the environment that makes strong product work possible, including a flexible remote-first model that trusts people to deliver whether they’re in the office or not.
"We don't need the insurance background," Lapp said. "We want true product people who just want to build good things."
The product team prioritizes onboarding and training, ensuring that new joiners aren't overwhelmed before they even dig in. "Breathe and lean on your teammates" is Lapp's onboarding philosophy, a signal that this is a team that centers the person, not just the product.
For PMs who are drawn to complexity, ownership and work with actual stakes, that's not a caveat. It's the point: “The brand isn't flashy, but you're building something real that can make a difference," Lapp said.
"The work has a lot of meaning. There's a real appetite to solve really complex things," Lapp said. "And the people — I love the group and the relationships, and that's not something you can get everywhere."
For Lapp, coming back wasn't a second chance. It was a deliberate choice, made by someone who'd seen the alternative and knew exactly what he was returning to. If you're a builder looking for a place to do your best work, Applied and Ivans are hiring across Dallas, Atlanta and Chicago. Explore open product management roles on Built In.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Applied Systems do?
Applied Systems is a global provider of cloud-based insurance software and agency management systems. Its digital connectivity hub, the Ivans Insurance Network, connects independent agencies with insurance carriers and managing general agents, supporting product integration across the broader insurance ecosystem.
How does Applied Systems use AI in product development?
Applied Systems leverages AI to redefine how teams work, primarily by automating tedious tasks, compressing development cycle times, and changing collaboration models. For instance, AI-connected tools automatically push edits and corrections across platforms like Confluence, eliminating hours of manual, page-by-page overhead.
What qualities does Applied Systems look for in product managers?
When hiring product managers, the company's hiring managers prioritize strong product instinct over specific industry expertise. Hiring managers look for job candidates who are drawn to complexity, ownership, and building "something real that can make a difference."
