With twelve employees, a functioning SaaS product, and an expanding customer base, your startup is off to a good start. Security matters, but not one person holds “compliance manager” in their job title. Then a prospective enterprise customer asks for a SOC 2 report.
Where do you begin?
Grabbing dozens of policies immediately isn’t the first step for founders researching how to get SOC 2 certification. What matters is to make a few decisions that decide what your company needs to document, put in place, and prove.
Decide What Your First Audit Should Cover
Your controls are assessed against the AICPA Trust Services Criteria in a SOC 2 examination. The criteria are organized into five areas: Security, Availability, Confidentiality, Processing Integrity, and Privacy. Security is required. Whether the other categories are included depends on whether they’re relevant to the organization’s services and commitments. A startup offering a straightforward business application may start with Security alone, so long as that scope meets customer expectations.
Map out the applications, infrastructure, employees, and service providers involved before collecting evidence. Making the scope unnecessarily broad adds extra work, and it doesn’t necessarily increase the report’s value.
Choose the Report That Matches Your Deadline
People searching for how to get SOC 2 certified often find two reporting options. The design of controls as of a specified date is what Type 1 evaluates. Over a defined period, Type 2 examines both the controls’ design and operating effectiveness. When an enterprise customer needs evidence fast, Type 1 may be a practical starting point, if the customer accepts it.
Businesses investigating how to get SOC 2 type 2 certification should expect an observation period, typically three to twelve months, followed by an independent examination. Type 2 does not require completing Type 1 first. Before paying for either examination, check your customer’s requirements.
Start With Day-to-Day Security Gaps
When security controls are linked to ordinary business activities, SOC 2 preparation gets more manageable. Good first steps include enforcing multi-factor authentication for important accounts, establishing a documented employee offboarding process, and reviewing access permissions on a regular basis.
Evidence of production changes and approvals should be retained by developers. Record risk assessments and relevant supplier reviews at the leadership level. What employees actually do needs to be reflected in your policies. A well-written procedure provides limited value if nobody follows it.
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 might be asked for records showing when a former employee’s access was removed or whether a production deployment received appropriate approval.
Collecting these records as activities occur is easier than reconstructing them months afterward. CertAssist supports small teams structure this work through built-in controls, editable policy templates, evidence checklists, and document storage.
The platform does not require direct integrations with company systems. Auditors can be given read-only access, while teams upload evidence themselves.
Why SOC 2 Requires an Independent Auditor
SOC 2 is technically an attestation, not a certification. The examination is performed by a licensed CPA firm, which then issues the SOC 2 report. Compliance software can help prepare and organize evidence, yet it can’t replace the independent auditor.
CertAssist advertises a US$225 monthly promotional subscription that includes SOC 2, ISO 27001, and its other supported frameworks. Independent audit fees are billed separately. A quote from an auditor based on your business size, selected criteria, and intended reporting period is worth getting before budgeting.
What Happens After Your First SOC 2 Report
Security work shouldn’t stop once the SOC 2 examination is finished. Your operations keep changing: employees join and leave, applications change, and new suppliers appear. It’s important that your controls stay relevant.
Three habits keep things on track: assigning clear responsibilities, retaining evidence throughout the year, and regularly reviewing whether your documented procedures match reality. For a growing startup, that discipline makes future examinations easier while supporting the security expectations of customers who depend on your software.