With twelve team members, a working SaaS product, and a growing customer base, your startup is well on its way. People take security seriously, yet no one holds “compliance manager” as a job title. Soon, a prospective enterprise customer wants to see a SOC 2 report.
Where do you start?
Grabbing dozens of policies right away isn’t the answer for founders researching how to get SOC 2 certification. Instead, begin by making a few choices that determine what your company needs to document, implement, and prove.
Decide What Your First Audit Should Cover
The AICPA Trust Services Criteria are what SOC 2 assesses controls against. These include Security, Availability, Confidentiality, Processing Integrity, and Privacy. Every SOC 2 report must include Security. Whether the other categories are included depends on whether they’re relevant to the organization’s services and commitments. Provided that scope meets customer expectations, a startup with a straightforward business application may begin with Security alone.
Identify the applications, infrastructure, employees, and service providers involved prior to collecting evidence. An overly broad scope creates additional work without necessarily increasing the report’s usefulness.
Type 1 or Type 2? Let the Deadline Decide
There are two reporting options for people researching how to get SOC 2 certified. Type 1 looks at the design of controls at a specified date. Type 2 examines their design and operating effectiveness across a defined period. Type 1 may be a useful first step when an enterprise customer needs evidence quickly, provided the customer accepts it.
For businesses researching how to get SOC 2 type 2 certification, the process includes an observation period, usually three to twelve months, followed by an independent examination. Type 1 is not a mandatory prerequisite for Type 2. Make sure you know what your customer requires before you pay for either examination.
Close the Everyday Security Gaps First
When security controls are connected to ordinary business activities, SOC 2 preparation becomes more manageable. For instance, enforce multi-factor authentication for important accounts, establish a documented employee offboarding process, and review access permissions on a regular basis.
Evidence of production changes and approvals should be retained by development teams. Management should document risk assessments and relevant supplier reviews. Actual employee practice needs to be described in the policies. If nobody follows it, even a well-written procedure has limited value.
Organize Evidence Before It Becomes a Problem
SOC 2 for saas companies involves demonstrating that relevant controls exist and, for Type 2, operate consistently. You may be asked for records showing when a former employee’s access was removed or whether a production deployment received appropriate approval.
Rebuilding these records months later is far harder than gathering them as activities occur. CertAssist helps small teams organize this work through built-in controls, editable policy templates, evidence checklists, and document storage.
The platform doesn’t require direct integrations with company systems. Evidence gets uploaded by the team, and auditors can be provided with read-only access.
Why SOC 2 Requires an Independent Auditor
Technically, SOC 2 is an attestation rather than a certification. The SOC 2 report is issued by a licensed CPA firm that performs the examination. Compliance software can help prepare and organize evidence, but it can’t replace the independent auditor.
On the software side, CertAssist offers a US$225 monthly promotional subscription that covers SOC 2, ISO 27001, and its other supported frameworks. Independent audits are a separate expense. Before budgeting, get an auditor’s quote based on your business size, selected criteria, and intended reporting period.
Keep the Process Manageable After Your First Report
A completed SOC 2 examination shouldn’t mark the end of your security activities. Things keep changing: people join and leave, applications change, and new suppliers appear. Your controls need to remain relevant.
Three habits help: setting clear responsibilities, retaining evidence throughout the year, and regularly reviewing whether your documented procedures match reality. As your startup grows, keeping this up makes future examinations easier and supports the security expectations of customers who depend on your software.