Seattle , Washington is a hotbed of digital innovation and home to contract management specialists Icertis . Co-founder and CEO Samir Bodas worked at Microsoft in the 90s but when the millennium turned switched focus to start-ups - Icertis is his fifth , and most successful venture . “ To build a successful software company you either have to create a technology wave or ride one . For us , it was the latter .” In its early days Icertis was prepared to bet on cloud . “ We asked ourselves what type of enterprise software would move to the cloud and realised any that touch an external entity - customer , supplier , partner etc - would go to the cloud ,” explains Bodas , who recalls working his contacts at Microsoft before the software giant ’ s Associate General Council suggested Icertis build a contract management system . “ We got the specifications and the opportunity to develop something with Microsoft as our first customer - the only requirement was that it had to be with Microsoft ’ s cloud in the ERP surround space . We built it , they licensed it and we were off to the races !”