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Building Enterprise Software That People Love: How Supercede Raised $21.6M By Embracing the “Boring”

Most founders chase the next big thing in AI, crypto, or consumer tech. Jerad Leigh took a different path – he decided to build software for one of the most overlooked corners of enterprise technology: reinsurance.

In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Jerad Leigh shared how Supercede has raised $21.6M by bringing purpose-built software to an industry that desperately needed it, while maintaining a delicate balance between professional credibility and creative marketing.

The Power of Building in Unsexy Markets

“We build boring software,” Jerad explains. “But one of the things he loved the most about what we’re doing is we’re building something that’s unsexy. I think a lot of times if you look at a world of all the companies raising a ton of money for social stuff and now AI and different crazy consumer products, it’s all very sexy. But some very cool businesses get built in the dirty enterprise space.”

This insight gets to the heart of a crucial principle in B2B software: sometimes the biggest opportunities exist in the most overlooked places. While everyone else was focused on consumer insurtech, Supercede recognized that the reinsurance industry – where insurance companies buy their own insurance – was still running on generic enterprise software or inefficient in-house solutions.

The Challenge of Marketing to a Serious Industry

Building in a traditional industry presents unique marketing challenges. You can’t be too playful and risk losing credibility, but being too staid means getting lost in the noise. Supercede found success by striking a careful balance.

“We have a serious industry, we have serious people,” Jerad notes. “When we do things that are fun or poke fun at the industry, do sort of tongue in cheek things, we still have to do it with delicacy.”

Their solution? Focus on authentic, personalized touches that resonate with their audience. For example, they send out reinsurance meme calendars – but each one comes with a handwritten note containing personal anecdotes or inside jokes between team members and clients. This approach has proven incredibly successful because it maintains professionalism while adding a human touch.

Creating Category-Defining Content

Rather than following the standard enterprise playbook of dry whitepapers and technical documentation, Supercede took a bold step: they launched the first-ever reinsurance podcast. This move proved transformative for their brand and category leadership.

“We noticed that there wasn’t any podcast on Reinsurance at all,” Jerad shares. “Even the domain, just the reinsurance podcast was free. So we’re like, let’s scoop this up and just have interesting conversations and talk interesting stories about it.”

The podcast now attracts both industry veterans and newcomers. Senior executives want to appear as guests, while new graduates binge episodes to prepare for interviews. This demonstrates a key principle of B2B content strategy: when you create truly valuable content for your industry, it can serve multiple audiences and establish your company as a thought leader.

Take More Risks When You’re Small

One of the most valuable insights from Supercede’s journey is about timing your marketing experiments. “When you’re really early, people shouldn’t be so afraid of trying things because you don’t have any sort of audience yet,” Jerad advises. “Take advantage of the fact when you’re young and you can be more authentic because your brand has that flexibility.”

This philosophy extends to their event strategy. Instead of hosting standard cocktail receptions, they once rented a World War II ship on the Thames for their summer party. As Jerad puts it, “No one gets mad about a nice free cocktail, but no one remembers it… versus cocktails at a chic little cocktail bar – that’s nice. And no one gets mad about a nice free cocktail, but no one’s talking about it a year later.”

The Future of Enterprise Software

Supercede’s success offers a blueprint for other B2B founders: build purpose-built solutions for underserved industries, balance professionalism with creativity, and create memorable experiences that people want to talk about. Their journey shows that even in the most traditional industries, there’s room for innovation in both product and marketing.

As enterprise software continues to evolve, the winners won’t just be those who build the best technology – they’ll be the ones who understand how to make their solutions resonate with real people, even in the most “boring” industries.