About Whatley

Mark Whatley (AKA “Whatley”) is an entrepreneur and public speaker based in San Diego, CA. He holds over a decade of leadership experience in the property restoration and InsurTech ecosystems with a claims bias. Whatley’s drive and problem-solving persona provides context for his professional projects and ambitions, as well as his eagerness to encourage meaningful discussions about the future.

Whatley’s entrepreneurial spirit first took shape in his grade school halls, where he sold bootlegged CDs and other gray market paraphernalia to his fellow classmates. When he wasn’t hocking wares in the locker room, a young Whatley worked for GPD Construction building decks and performing residential remodeling. By age 16, he had started a painting company that initially functioned as a subcontractor to GPD — an experience that triggered his passion for the trades.

Though a fledging entrepreneur at the time, Whatley also found enjoyment in tinkering with tools and hardware, learning about new software, and figuring out ways to optimize the world around him through new technology. His preference for hands-on learning gave him a keen curiosity for the world and would ultimately foreshadow his future professional endeavors and work ethic.

School never came easy to Whatley, which was evidenced by his transition from a computer science major to earning an undergraduate degree in Communications from CSU San Marcos in 2006. Ironically enough, the genesis for Sixxle was a school project that consisted of a group of four that worked together to create a podcast about — simply put — making a podcast. The podcast sold for $0.99 per unit and ended up selling enough units to warrant the creation of a business entity, Sixxle, that initially existed to exploit the burgeoning opportunity within the media distribution ecosystem.

Sixxle was never intended to be a full-time gig, and following his undergraduate studies, Whatley landed at a private equity firm, Pacific Corporate Group (PCG), where he gained valuable, hands-on business experience as the Deputy to the Chairman and CEO. Fortunately, PCG created space for post-graduate work where Whatley earned a finance certificate from UC San Diego.

After weathering the financial crisis of 2008 and PCG’s closure in 2010, Whatley started looking around for what to do next. He knew how to build, and he wanted to work in an industry that remained buoyant should the economy take a downturn. The property insurance ecosystem checked both those boxes, and shortly thereafter, he co-founded KIC Restoration Inc., a full-service restoration company headquartered in Poway, California, a suburb of San Diego. Whatley’s growing awareness of the property restoration and insurance technology ecosystems (meshed with his hands-on, entrepreneurial, and problem-solving nature) produced an onslaught of new opportunities in the industry. There were so many legacy-related inefficiencies across the board, from the adjusters’ side to the contractors’ side, and it was evident that someone needed to step up, expose the problems, and present solutions.

In 2012, Whatley founded Actionable Insights, a 501(c)(6) non-profit organization that offers educational resources and specializes in helping the Property Insurance industry standardize invoicing. While leading Actionable Insights, Whatley taught Xactimate and Matterport certification courses to thousands of restoration and insurance professionals throughout North America. In concert with Seth Harrison, he authored the Umpire’s Mitigation Manual and the Umpire’s Repair Manual, two publications that have formed the foundation of the 3000+ page Insight Sheet Database and essentially serve as the Wikipedia of Xactimate invoicing guidelines.

In 2014, Whatley co-founded Emergency Packout Company with his business partner Dan Smith.

Dan and Whatley went on to found several different companies that are all accretive to one another and essentially exist to solve problems that an adjuster or restorer might face regularly. It was that front-line bias that created space for these ventures to work from the jump. Not that it was easy or happened overnight, but mpartial, sureti, and Solidifai quickly found product-market fit and continue to grow in their respective markets.

Whatley’s passion for the property restoration and insurance technology industries perhaps shines brightest when he’s speaking in front of an audience. A prolific and captivating public speaker, he has spoken at nationally renowned events in front of thousands of attendees, including Verisk Elevate and Restoration Industry Association (RIA) engagements, to shed light on ongoing problems and potential solutions that plague our industry.

In every instance, Whatley has advocated for leveraging technology to optimize business output and reduce headaches across the board. A lifelong learner, Whatley is always questioning the norm and seeking new opportunities to push boundaries — and through facilitating conversation, networking, and teamwork building, his learnings continue to take him to new heights.

Whatley has been inadvertently writing this story since 2006. That story is Sixxle: an entrepreneurial journey encompassing 15+ years of business ventures, lessons, and stories for reflection and inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs and industry specialists. Sixxle serves as an opportunity to continue the nuanced conversations around pushing the boundaries, exposing the nonsense and creating space for those within the property insurance industry to fall in love with their jobs again.

“Sell outcomes,
not features.”

About Whatley

This is Whatley. This is Sixxle.

“Sell outcomes, not features.”

About Whatley

This is Whatley. This is Sixxle.

“Sell outcomes,
not features.”