Isaac Nichols

Isaac Nichols
Occupation	Entrepreneur, software engineer
Known for	Co-founder and CTO of Certus AI

Isaac Nichols is a technology entrepreneur and co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) of Certus AI, a Y Combinator (S25)-backed company that develops an artificial intelligence phone agent for restaurants. The platform is designed to answer incoming phone calls around the clock, handling orders, reservations, and general enquiries, with direct integration into point-of-sale systems.

Career

Prior to Certus AI, Nichols had founded or co-founded three previous startups. One of these ventures involved building a staff management system for restaurants, which gave him direct exposure to the operational challenges faced by the hospitality industry.

Nichols co-founded Certus AI alongside Gurveer Singh, who serves as chief executive officer, and Adam Gamieldien, who serves as chief revenue officer. The idea for the company originated from Singh and Gamieldien's previous business, which helped restaurants grow their catering and events operations. Through that work, they observed how difficult it was for restaurant operators to manage their phone lines effectively. Nichols joined the team while he was independently developing his restaurant staff management product.

The three co-founders worked on the product for over a year from a small apartment in Cape Town, South Africa, before being accepted into Y Combinator's Summer 2025 batch. Singh brought nine years of experience working in his family's eleven restaurants, while Nichols contributed his technical background and prior startup experience.

Certus AI's product is marketed as an AI phone agent that can replace or supplement traditional restaurant phone lines. According to the company, the system is capable of taking complex orders and entering them directly into a restaurant's existing point-of-sale system without placing callers on hold. The company has described the technology as sounding like a restaurant's "best employee." Nichols holds a background in computer and information sciences.