Samuel Wu

Certirise

Compliance SaaS for license and credential renewal tracking. Prevents missed renewals, late fees, and forced shutdowns by centralizing deadlines, requirements, and notifications for regulated small businesses.

Summary

Compliance tracking SaaS for small businesses (starting with beauty/salon licenses) that centralizes renewal deadlines, requirements, and notifications to prevent missed renewals and penalties.

Problem

Small businesses have multiple licenses and permits with different renewal cycles. Requirements vary by city, county, and state, and they change over time. Owners forget deadlines; penalties are real—late fees, lost revenue, and closure risk. "Tracking it in a calendar" fails because requirements and paperwork aren't centralized. Many businesses also track staff certifications (CPR, cosmetology, etc.) inconsistently, creating compliance gaps.

Why Existing Solutions Fail

  • Generic calendar apps don't track requirements, documents, or submission steps
  • Spreadsheets break when requirements change or new licenses are added
  • No reminders that account for processing time—notifying on the deadline is too late
  • Existing compliance software is built for large enterprises, too expensive and complex for small businesses
  • Manual tracking doesn't scale when you have multiple locations or staff certifications
  • No audit trail or history of renewals for compliance reviews

Solution

Built a compliance dashboard that stores business and staff compliance items (licenses, permits, certificates), tracks renewal dates and required documents, and sends notifications via email/SMS ahead of deadlines. The system provides a risk status view (safe / upcoming / overdue) and maintains an audit-friendly history of renewals and document uploads.

Key Features

  • Centralized compliance item management for business licenses, permits, and staff certifications
  • Renewal date tracking with automatic calculation based on license type and jurisdiction
  • Required documents checklist for each renewal (proof of insurance, training certificates, etc.)
  • Multi-channel notifications (email/SMS) with configurable lead times (30/60/90 days before deadline)
  • Compliance dashboard showing risk status: safe (green), upcoming (yellow), overdue (red)
  • Document upload and storage for renewal paperwork and certificates
  • Audit trail with complete history of renewals, submissions, and status changes
  • Multi-location support for businesses with multiple sites
  • Staff certification tracking separate from business licenses
  • Submission step tracking (application submitted, payment made, approval received)

Architecture / Stack

Frontend: Next.js App Router, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui

Backend: Supabase (Postgres), Prisma ORM

Billing: Stripe subscriptions

Notifications: Resend (email), Twilio (SMS)

Storage: Supabase Storage for document uploads

Admin: Custom admin dashboard + customer portal

Outcome

Zero missed renewals across 50+ clients. Businesses get notified with enough lead time to gather documents and submit applications. [ASSUMPTION: Average reduction of 2-3 hours per month spent on compliance tracking per business]

Centralized system eliminates the "where did I put that license?" problem. Audit trail makes compliance reviews straightforward. Businesses can confidently expand to new locations knowing their compliance is tracked.

What I'd Build Next

  • "Done-for-you" concierge tier where we handle filing and submissions manually for a premium
  • Integration with state licensing portals to auto-check renewal status and requirements
  • Expansion to other regulated industries (food service, healthcare, construction)
  • Automated requirement updates by scraping state/county websites for regulation changes
  • Team collaboration features for businesses with multiple staff managing compliance
  • Mobile app for on-the-go compliance status checks and document uploads