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SOC 2For startups and scale-ups

SOC 2 for startups and scale-ups

There is no minimum company size for SOC 2. A team of five people can get it. But that does not mean it is the right moment for every startup. This page helps you decide when to start, why you almost always begin with Type I, which tooling makes it workable, and what to realistically budget. The AICPA  does not set a threshold based on revenue or team size. What matters is the controls you have, not the number of people you employ.

Pre-revenue or pre-seed: wait. If you are not blocking enterprise deals on SOC 2 and no VC due diligence asks for it, it is too early. Use that time to get your security fundamentals in order.

When is it time to start?

The most reliable signals that you are ready to start:

An enterprise deal depends on it This is the strongest signal. A potential customer with €100,000+ ARR potential says: “We won’t sign without SOC 2.” Then SOC 2 pays for itself straight away.

Series A has closed or is imminent Investors expect a compliance programme to be underway by Series B due diligence. Starting after Series A gives you room to do it properly.

You process sensitive customer data Healthcare data, financial information, personal data of end users of enterprise customers. Once the data risk becomes real, SOC 2 is part of your liability management.

Your team has 10+ people and is growing fast In smaller teams, controls are informal and easy to check. Above ten people, oversight disappears quickly. That is the moment to formalise.

Why startups almost always start with Type I

Type I is a snapshot: the auditor checks whether your controls are set up correctly at this moment. Type II is proof that they have actually worked for six to twelve months. For a startup, there are three reasons why Type I is the logical first step.

Speed Type I: three to five months. Type II: nine to fifteen months. If a deal is blocked, you cannot wait those three months.

Spreading the cost Type I costs less. You invest once, gain experience, and then start the observation period for Type II. It is a learning process with a commercial result.

Controls mature A startup has controls that have only just been introduced. They may work well, but they have not yet been proven stable over time. Type I forces you to set everything up properly. Type II follows naturally afterwards.

If you start with Type I, begin collecting evidence straight away, as if you are already preparing for Type II. If you don’t, you must wait another six months after your Type I before you can upgrade. Everyone makes this mistake once.

Tooling makes it workable for small teams

A startup does not have a dedicated compliance officer. The CTO or a senior engineer does it on the side. Without tooling, that is hundreds of hours of manual work. With a compliance platform, it becomes manageable.

Platforms such as Vanta , Drata , or Secureframe  connect to your AWS, GitHub and Google Workspace environments and collect evidence automatically. They show per control whether you are compliant and which steps you still need to take. A full comparison of these platforms is on the compliance tooling page.

For a startup, two things are the most valuable about such a platform:

  1. Gap analysis on day one: Connect your accounts and see in ten minutes what you already have and what you are missing. That saves weeks of research.
  2. Automated evidence collection: Daily snapshots of your MFA settings, access reviews and configurations. When the auditor asks for them six months later, they are ready.

The downside is the cost. For five employees, the entry-level plans of these platforms cost €5,000 to €10,000 per year. That feels heavy. But the alternative is 200 hours of manual work, and that time also costs money.

Costs for startups: a realistic picture

The costs depend heavily on team size, the criteria you choose, and whether you hire a consultant.

Type I, first year

ItemIndication
External audit€15,000 - €25,000
Compliance tooling€5,000 - €10,000
Consultant (optional)€5,000 - €12,000
Internal time (150-250 hours)€12,000 - €22,000
Total€37,000 - €69,000

Type II, first year: expect €50,000 to €80,000.

Pre-seed or seed: wait until you have a direct business trigger. Without that trigger, this is a lot of money for a report nobody is asking for.

All amounts are indications. Always get several quotes. A detailed cost breakdown by company size is on the costs and timeline page.

What you can do before starting SOC 2

Many startups think they have to choose between “everything or nothing.” That is not true. While you prepare for SOC 2, you can already:

  • Enforce MFA on all critical systems (AWS, GitHub, email)
  • Keep a simple access matrix (who has access to what)
  • Run quarterly access reviews
  • Write a two-page incident response plan
  • Switch on vulnerability scanning for your production environment

These are controls you need for SOC 2 anyway. If you introduce them now, you get a flying start. And when a customer asks, “How is your security?”, you have concrete answers.

The most common mistake startups make

Waiting too long because it feels “too early,” and then wanting to move too fast once a deal is blocked.

Type II takes at least nine months. If your CTO says in December, “we’ll have this done in Q1,” while a customer wants Type II in March, that is impossible. Start early, even if you don’t yet know exactly when you will need it. A readiness assessment of €3,000 to €6,000 tells you precisely how far you are and what you still need to do.

More information

For cloud providersReadiness assessment