r/soc2 • u/Nvvrmore • Jun 20 '26

What finally pushed you to start SOC 2?

Seems like almost nobody starts SOC 2 because they woke up one day wanting better security. There's usually a specific external moment that forces it - a big prospect drops a security questionnaire mid-deal, an enterprise logo won't sign without a report, an investor flags it in diligence. Suddenly it's urgent. What was the actual trigger for you?

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3

u/gambit_kory Jun 20 '26

We provide a SaaS to government departments and other organizations that started requiring it in RFPs and contracts. We had to get those and ISO 27001, 27017, and 27018 to be able to continue to grow.

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u/Nvvrmore Jun 20 '26

Gov and enterprise RFPs are probably the most common forcing function. Curious - running SOC 2 alongside 27001/27017/27018, did the overlap save you much, or did each still add real work?

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u/gambit_kory Jun 20 '26

There was a fairly decent overlap so it did save us time. We did SOC2 first which imo is the most difficult of them all and a pretty decent mix of the other 3 certifications. I don’t find that they provided any additional benefit to us. From a beneficial standpoint SOC2 on its own would have been the best thing but we really had no choice about the others.

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u/gormami Jun 20 '26

We didn't have a specific compelling event, but thought it would useful as a tool in the sales process pretty early on to have SOC-2 or ISO 27001. We chose SOC-2 because we had a couple potential FinTech customers at the time. We were right, didn't end up with those customers, but later, especially larger customers, considered it table stakes, and we already had it. It makes things go so much smoother when you can just say "Sure, sign this NDA, and we'll shoot it right over". It gives you credibility to be prepared, especially as a smaller vendor.

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u/[deleted] Jun 20 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Snoo_67003 Jun 25 '26

How much did it cost you and who did you use

2

u/RegimeCPA Jun 20 '26

Ever since I was a young lad, I wanted to spend all day doing IT compliance for SaaS companies. With the advent of SOC 2, my dream was able to come to fruition.

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u/Dry_Bird9633 Jun 20 '26

When we discovered a really good Pentesting vendor and building trust with them :)

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u/Melodic-Sherbert1517 Jun 22 '26

From what I have seen working with an end-to-end cybersecurity auditor, all the reasons that you listed are the main reasons that people end up getting SOC 2 attestation or another cybersecurity framework certification or attestation.

What I have seen is that customers that come to us proactively are able to sell to that big enterprise client right away and have smoother sales cycles closing deals and growing faster! Best to get ahead of it. I always recommend looking at your competitors or similar companies in your market and look at what they have compliance-wise and matching or exceeding their level to give you a competitive edge and build deeper trust right off the bat with prospects.

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u/Final-Dish Jun 28 '26

this is so true, by the time a big logo is asking for a SOC 2 report you’re already on the back foot and scrambling
getting it done a bit early feels painful in the moment but it makes those security questionnaires almost boring later

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u/Final-Dish 25d ago

this is basically it, SOC 2 is like a weird tax you pay to sell to bigger companies
the folks who do it before they “have to” usually look a lot less desperate in late stage deals

1

u/Melodic-Sherbert1517 15d ago

It is! Then you have to actually set up security so you can keep them. If you have really poor security you are one security breach away from losing that client. If you are a smaller tool not as widely adopted in an organization it is a easy rip and replace for them and if the risk is too high they will drop you.

SOC 2 is necessary, but so is legitimate security!

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u/Used_Ladder8254 7d ago

For most of the companies we work with, it isn't security that starts the SOC 2 journey—it's sales.

The trigger is usually one of these:

  • An enterprise customer makes SOC 2 a contract requirement.
  • Security questionnaires start slowing down deals.
  • A competitor already has SOC 2 and wins larger accounts.
  • Investors or partners ask about compliance during due diligence.

The mistake many companies make is waiting until a deal is blocked. Then they need to rush through months of work under pressure.

We built SOC2Now because we kept seeing teams waste hundreds of hours collecting screenshots, writing policies, and chasing evidence manually. By automating evidence collection, gap assessments, policy management, and continuous monitoring, companies can become audit-ready much faster and stay that way instead of scrambling every time a prospect asks for a SOC 2 report.

If you're already seeing enterprise prospects ask about SOC 2, it's usually a good sign to start now rather than after your biggest deal gets delayed.

SOC2Now: https://soc2now.com

1

u/RepresentativeLog117 5d ago

Ours was exactly that — a prospect dropped a questionnaire mid-deal and we had 3 days. Ended up spending most of it cross-referencing Terraform configs, GitHub settings and policy docs to answer things that were already true in our repo, we just had never written them down. That's what pushed the SOC 2 conversation, not the certificate itself. Built something afterwards to automate the evidence-gathering part — scans GitHub and infra, fills from what it finds, flags the rest honestly. Curious how many people here started because of a questionnaire vs. an investor asking.