Your startup has twelve team members, a working SaaS product, and a steadily growing customer base. Everyone cares about security, but nobody has “compliance manager” as a job title. One day, a prospective enterprise customer wants to see a SOC 2 report.

Where do you begin?

For founders researching how to get SOC 2 certification, the answer isn’t to collect dozens of policies immediately. The better move is to make a few choices that define what your company needs to document, implement, and prove.

Start by Deciding What Your First Audit Will Cover

The AICPA Trust Services Criteria are what SOC 2 evaluates controls against. The criteria include Security, Availability, Confidentiality, Processing Integrity, and Privacy. Among them, only Security is required. Add the remaining areas only when they are relevant to the organization’s services and commitments. As long as that scope meets customer expectations, a startup offering a straightforward business application may begin with Security alone.

The applications, infrastructure, employees, and service providers involved should be listed before anyone starts collecting evidence. Making the scope overly broad creates additional work, but it doesn’t necessarily increase the report’s usefulness.

Choose the Report That Matches Your Deadline

People searching for how to get SOC 2 certified often discover two reporting options. Type 1 examines the design of controls at a specified date. Throughout a defined period, Type 2 evaluates both the controls’ design and operating effectiveness. When an enterprise customer needs evidence quickly, Type 1 may be a useful place to start, so long as the customer accepts it.

For businesses exploring how to get SOC 2 type 2 certification, the process includes an observation period, typically three to twelve months, followed by an independent examination. Type 2 doesn’t depend on a Type 1 report first. Check your customer’s requirements before paying for either examination.

Fix Everyday Security Gaps First

Linking security controls to ordinary business activities helps make SOC 2 preparation more manageable. A sensible place to start is requiring multi-factor authentication for important accounts, establishing a documented employee offboarding process, and reviewing access permissions on a regular basis.

Engineering teams should retain evidence of production changes and approvals. Company leadership should document risk assessments and relevant supplier reviews. What employees actually do needs to be reflected in your policies. A well-written procedure offers limited value if nobody follows it.

Organize Evidence Before It Becomes a Problem

Showing that relevant controls exist and, for Type 2, operate consistently is what lies at the core of SOC 2 for saas companies. An auditor may well ask when a former employee’s access was removed or whether a production deployment received appropriate approval.

Collecting these records as activities occur is far easier than reconstructing them months afterward. Through built-in controls, editable policy templates, evidence checklists, and document storage, CertAssist supports small teams manage this work.

No direct integrations with company systems are required. Auditors can be provided with read-only access, while teams upload evidence themselves.

Know Exactly What the Independent Audit Involves

What SOC 2 produces is formally an attestation, not a certification. A licensed CPA firm carries out the examination and issues the SOC 2 report. Compliance software can help prepare and organize evidence, but it cannot replace the independent auditor.

CertAssist offers a US$225 monthly promotional subscription that covers SOC 2, ISO 27001, and its other supported frameworks. The independent audit is a separate expense. Request an auditor’s quote that reflects your business size, selected criteria, and intended reporting period before budgeting.

Make Compliance Sustainable After the First Report

Finishing a SOC 2 examination shouldn’t be the end of your security efforts. Your operations keep changing: people join and leave, applications change, and new suppliers arrive. Your controls need to stay relevant.

Three habits keep things on track: setting clear responsibilities, retaining evidence throughout the year, and periodically reviewing whether your documented procedures match reality. That discipline makes future examinations easier for a growing startup, and it supports the security expectations of customers who depend on your software.