Bolt Jolt

Executives at BOLT, a Connecticut-based insurance firm with a focus on coverage for small businesses nationwide, avoided writing policies in Florida for more than two years.

The only other states the company nixed were Alaska and Hawaii, both of which presented obvious logistic problems. Florida, of course, presented obvious underwriting hurdles, given the state's well-documented insurance regulatory morass.

But the Florida delay for Farmington, Conn.-based BOLT is now over — in a bold way. The company, which stands for Business Owners Liability Team, recently acquired two small insurance agencies on the Gulf Coast, one in Sarasota and another one Port Charlotte. The acquisitions are the first two of what will likely be several more through next year, says insurance industry veteran Robert Rizzo, who BOLT hired to lead the Florida expansion.