Inside Certa’s Enterprise Sales Playbook: Why They Completely Rebuilt Their Product After Initial Traction

Most founders would celebrate after landing Uber as an early customer. Instead, Certa’s team decided to completely rebuild their product from scratch. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, founder Jag Lamba revealed why this counterintuitive decision became the cornerstone of their enterprise success.

The Initial Validation

The early signs for Certa were promising. Through an introduction from an angel investor (who ironically passed on investing), they landed Uber as one of their first major clients. The problem they were solving—third-party risk compliance and ESG—clearly resonated with enterprise buyers.

“I could tell that the problem existed immediately,” Jag explains, “just based on the number of meetings I was getting with clients and the seniority of these meetings.” But he wasn’t satisfied with just validating the problem. He needed to know: “Did I just get lucky by talking to a few clients or is this universal?”

The Bold Decision

After confirming the problem was indeed universal, Certa made a decision that would shape their future: “We actually completely redeveloped the product,” Jag shares. “Once we fully understood the problem, then we knew, okay, what is the solution that would actually meet the need.”

This wasn’t a minor pivot or iteration. As Jag notes, “We had an initial make it mvp solution. And most companies at some point need to completely rebuild the product. So we did that, and then once we re-did the product, it really took off.”

Why Rebuild?

The decision to rebuild came from a deep understanding of enterprise needs. While competitors were building simple SaaS applications, Jag recognized that the market needed something more sophisticated: “What this needed is like a no code, low code platform which enabled multiple functions within the client to build their own ideal apps, which are all still interconnected and form the digital backbone of how companies work with their third parties.”

This insight led to a complete architectural overhaul. “We redeveloped the product from the ground up was in a very elegant layered architecture,” Jag explains. This foundation has continued paying dividends, enabling them to “easily layer on a generative AI layer on top of our platform.”

The Results

The rebuild strategy produced remarkable results. “We’ve been able to successfully deploy Certa at every single client we’ve sold Certa to,” Jag shares. This perfect deployment record became a powerful differentiator in enterprise sales conversations.

Their architectural decisions also positioned them well ahead of competitors. As Jag notes, their ability to offer “all the no code, low code features are now available via simple natural language” puts them “so far ahead of what any of our competitors are able to do.”

Lessons for Enterprise Founders

The success of Certa’s rebuild strategy offers several key insights for enterprise software founders:

1. Early traction isn’t enough. Understanding the depth and breadth of the problem matters more than quick wins.
2. MVP thinking has limits. Sometimes you need to rebuild entirely to create the right foundation for scale.
3. Architecture matters. The right technical foundation can become a lasting competitive advantage.
4. Perfect deployment records create their own momentum in enterprise sales.

Looking Forward

Today, Certa’s vision extends beyond just successful deployments. “Companies will be able to onboard and work with each other with one click,” Jag explains. Their early decision to rebuild, while risky at the time, has positioned them to pursue this ambitious goal.

For enterprise software founders, Certa’s story offers a compelling alternative to the “move fast and break things” mindset. Sometimes, the best way to move fast is to stop, rebuild, and create the right foundation for lasting success.