MassMutual explains how it's teaming up with digital upstarts to disrupt itself

Amanda Wallace, head of direct to consumer at MassMutual, told Business Insider that insurance companies, which are traditionally conservative, can benefit from partnering with startups.

MassMutual has teamed up with is Cake, a digital end-of-life planning tool that helps users manage legal documents like wills and share last-wishes such as funeral plans.

"[Startups] don't have the same level of constraints that we have," Wallace said."Whether it is regulatory, financial or, frankly, our own mind set. And their burst of energy and enthusiasm and thinking not even in a box — because they don't have a box — creates a lot of value for us as an organization," she said.