In 2019, Dan McKnight was half-retired from the construction industry and needed something to do. His wife Andrea was also looking to get out of the mortgage industry, so when the idea of creating a business in insurance liability limits tracing fell into their lap, they jumped on it. “We evaluated the market and said, ‘We can do that, but we can do it better.'” says Dan. It took about four months for Dan to get the newly minted company off the ground from his dining room when the checks started coming in, and Andrea quit her job to help run the business. Today, Dan is the President of Red Folder Research, running the production side of the company, while Andrea has taken the role of Vice President, running the operations.
What Red Folder Does
Red folder offers niche investigative services for personal injury attorneys who represent clients who have been injured. They help attorneys assess and determine the financial limits of case including the maximum amount the at-fault party’s insurance may be willing to pay. All insurance policies have a maximum amount they are obligated pay. Insurance companies want to pay as little as possible and attorneys want to recover the maximum their clients need to be made whole. Red Folder’s services can facilitate the resolution and compromise process and cut the length of time from injury-to-settlement by 90% or more.
“We can do that, but we can do it better.”
Dan McKnight
Red Folder revolutionized the industry by sticking to its core values of Speed, Accuracy, Service, and Development. They have a 99.8% accuracy rate compared to 80% in the rest of the industry, which has brought attorneys from around the U.S. flocking to their door. Since its founding in 2019, Red Folder has completed over 50,000 cases and recently doubled its daily caseload from the previous year. Red Folder also does very little advertising and has made no sales calls since their first day in business when Dan found an attorney willing to give him a shot. Within eleven minutes, Dan found and sent the information the attorney needed. That attorney became such an ambassador for their service Red Folder has never had to make another sales call.
Red Folder’s Massive Growth
With such a massive increase in demand for their services, Dan and Andrea had to grow their team quickly. Within the first two years, they were up to twelve employees and using garage sale office furniture. Today, they have designed and built two adjacent office buildings and have fifty-three employees, having hired twenty-six of them since May. Their original plan was to lease out one of the new buildings to another business until they realized they needed to fully occupy both new buildings.
The Vision For The Space
When Dan and Andrea started planning for their new construction office buildings, they wanted a clean, modern, and timeless environment where their employees liked to come to work. To achieve this look and feel, they chose to use floor-to-ceiling glass walls for all their private offices and bullpen-style workstations in central areas to increase the energy and collaboration of those spaces. While their branding is red, all their finishes include warm woods, leather, cool-toned fabrics, and green plant life.
With so much change in such a short time, Dan and Andrea have had to work closely with OEC Designer Jen Galloway to adapt the spaces to meet their needs. “I think in any relationship, you must go through some rough patches to figure out what you need and make that relationship harmonious. We have done that with all our vendors, but the entire time, OEC has desired to make us happy.” Andrea shares. Dan adds, “I think Jen knows me well enough now that when I say I need something, I know she is going to nail it.”
Favorite Office Spaces
Dan and Andrea’s favorite parts of the new offices are: 1.) Their large conference room that can hold all their employees for their quarterly “State of the Company” meeting, and 2.) The “Bullpen” which is a space with six workstations that helps keep the teamwork and energy high.
Sticking To Their Core Values
With so much happening so quickly, Dan and Andrea are planning for the future through the lens of their core values of Speed, Accuracy, Service, and Development. They are dedicated to consistently delivering an amazing service, but when it comes to their employees, Development is the focus. “We think everything should be getting better, not bigger, but better. Processes, techniques, equipment, personal lives, relationships, vacations, possessions. Everything in our lives should be getting better, and if it’s not, then we need to figure out what’s keeping that from happening,” says Dan.
“We think everything should be getting better, not bigger, better.”
Dan McKnight
Helping Their Employees Achieve Better
As they strive to improve everything for their team, Andrea shares, “Dan and I are striving for a more balanced life. A good life. We also want to provide a place where our employees love to come every day and work hard so they can earn an income to create the life they enjoy.” Dan adds, “Not everyone would trust a brand-new company, especially one operating from a dining room, so our goal is to invest in our people and demonstrate our commitment to them.
Andrea continues, “We’ve gone through some hard times in the last six months dealing with capacity issues, and people have sacrificed so much for this company that it makes me emotional. We couldn’t do it without that sacrifice. I want them to feel rewarded and like they are part of something that has grown into something great.”
With their new spaces meeting the needs of their staff and more business rolling in by the day, Dan and Andrea have their hands full. Regardless of what the future holds, you can count on the fact that they will continue to strive toward better, no matter what.
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