Security, SOC1 & SOC2 Compliance Sprint

The Enterprise Deal That Stalls on Security

You've got a pilot with a Fortune 500. The deal is ready. Then their IT security team sends the vendor questionnaire — 200 questions about SOC2, pen testing, data encryption, access controls, incident response, and vendor risk.

You don't have SOC2. You don't have a security policy. You don't have a pen test report. The deal goes cold.

This is the exact problem our Security, SOC1 & SOC2 Sprint solves. We get you to SOC2 Type I readiness in 3 weeks — with the policies, the architecture, the controls evidence, and the audit trail you need to pass vendor security reviews and close enterprise deals. If your customers are in financial services and need SOC1 (financial controls attestation), we handle that too.

What SOC1 and SOC2 Actually Are (And What They Aren't)

SOC1 (SSAE 18 / ISAE 3402) is an audit focused on controls relevant to your customers' financial reporting. If you process transactions, handle payroll data, or touch anything that flows into a customer's financial statements, SOC1 is what their auditors and finance teams will ask for.

SOC2 is a framework focused on the five Trust Service Criteria: Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy. It's what enterprise IT and procurement teams require to onboard you as a vendor.

Type I means a point-in-time audit: "as of this date, our controls exist and are designed correctly." Most enterprise procurement will accept Type I to unblock a pilot or initial contract.

Type II means a period-of-time audit (usually 6–12 months): "our controls operated effectively throughout this period." Required for larger contracts and regulated industries.

Our sprint gets you to Type I readiness — for SOC1, SOC2, or both — with a documented architecture and controls set that makes your Type II audit faster and cheaper when you're ready for it.

Our Approach: Automation-First Compliance

Most compliance consultants hand you a spreadsheet. We build you a machine.

Every sprint we run includes custom automation pipelines that eliminate the ongoing manual overhead of compliance:

Compliance checks — automated policy enforcement verified continuously, not just at audit time
Evidence collection — logs, screenshots, access reviews, and control artifacts gathered automatically and organized for your auditor
Control monitoring — real-time alerting when a control drifts out of compliance (e.g., MFA disabled, public S3 bucket created, privileged access granted without approval)
Policy enforcement — infrastructure guardrails deployed as code (SCPs, IAM boundaries, security group rules) so controls can't be bypassed accidentally

This means when your auditor shows up, you're not scrambling for evidence. It's already there. And when a control fails, you know in minutes — not at the next quarterly review.

What's in the Sprint

Week 1: Gap Analysis & Architecture Review

We start by understanding where you are. We map your current infrastructure, data flows, access controls, and third-party vendors against the SOC2 Trust Service Criteria (and SOC1 control objectives, if applicable) — and produce a gap report that shows exactly what's missing and what it'll take to close the gaps.

Infrastructure inventory (cloud, SaaS tools, data stores)
Data classification and flow mapping
Access control review (IAM, MFA, least-privilege)
Current control documentation review
Risk ranking of each gap by likelihood and impact

Week 2: Controls Implementation & Policy Documentation

We implement controls where they're missing and write the policies your auditor will review. This is the part that takes startups months to do internally — we've templated and automated most of it.

Policies we write:

Information Security Policy
Access Control Policy
Incident Response Plan
Vendor Risk Management Policy
Data Classification and Handling Policy
Business Continuity Policy
Acceptable Use Policy

Controls we configure:

MFA enforcement across your stack
Centralized logging and alerting (CloudTrail, GCP Audit Logs, or equivalent)
Automated vulnerability scanning setup
Secrets management (no hardcoded credentials)
Encryption at rest and in transit verification
Compliance automation pipeline setup (evidence collection, drift detection)

Week 3: VAPT Coordination, Vendor Risk & Monitoring

The final week focuses on evidence collection, external validation, and continuous monitoring setup — the three things auditors care about most.

VAPT scope definition and coordination (see below for full scope detail)
Vendor risk assessment for your critical SaaS dependencies
Continuous monitoring setup (alerting on anomalies, unauthorized access attempts)
Evidence collection templates for your audit trail
Remediation backlog prioritized by audit risk
SOC2 readiness report you can share with prospects and auditors

VAPT Scope & Methodology

Our Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) coordination covers the full attack surface of a modern SaaS product:

Scope areas:

Web application — OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities, authentication/authorization flaws, injection, XSS, CSRF, business logic issues
API — REST/GraphQL endpoint testing, broken object-level authorization (BOLA/IDOR), mass assignment, rate limiting, token security
Cloud infrastructure — AWS/GCP/Azure misconfiguration review, IAM privilege escalation paths, exposed services, storage bucket access, network segmentation
Mobile (iOS/Android) — where applicable: local data storage, certificate pinning, runtime manipulation, API communication security

Methodology references: We align all testing to industry-standard frameworks:

OWASP Top 10 (web and API) — the baseline for application security
NIST CSF (Cybersecurity Framework) — for overall program maturity and control mapping
SANS CWE Top 25 — most dangerous software weaknesses, used to prioritize remediation
ISO 27001 — for information security management system (ISMS) alignment, especially relevant for enterprise and international customers

Deliverable format: Every VAPT engagement produces a structured report including:

Executive Summary — business risk narrative, overall risk rating, and top 3–5 findings for leadership
Technical Findings — each finding documented with description, evidence/proof-of-concept, and severity rating: Critical / High / Medium / Low
Remediation Guidance — specific, actionable fix instructions for each finding, with code-level or config-level detail where applicable
Retest plan — guidance on verifying fixes before audit

We facilitate the testing engagement with a vetted third-party firm — you own the contract, we handle the coordination, scope review, and findings triage.

What You Get at the End

A complete SOC1/SOC2 Type I readiness package:

Gap analysis report with risk-ranked remediation items
Security architecture diagram (the one your enterprise customers will ask for)
Policy documentation suite (8–10 policies, templated and customized to your stack)
Controls evidence package (screenshots, configs, logs for your Type I audit — collected automatically by our pipelines)
VAPT brief ready to hand to any testing firm, with full scope and methodology defined
Vendor risk register covering your key dependencies
Monitoring dashboard configured in your existing stack
Compliance automation pipelines deployed and running in your environment
SOC2 Type II roadmap (and SOC1 roadmap if applicable) — so when you're ready for the full audit, you're not starting from scratch

Who This Is For

The Security, SOC1 & SOC2 Sprint is designed for pre-Series A and Series A startups that:

Are closing or pursuing enterprise customers who require SOC2 (or SOC1 for financial services)
Need to pass a vendor security questionnaire in the next 30–60 days
Have a working product but no dedicated security team or compliance function
Want to get ahead of the Series B diligence process, which always includes security

It is not designed for companies that already have a security team, are mid-way through a Type II audit, or need HIPAA, PCI-DSS, or FedRAMP (though we can discuss those as custom scope).

The Team

Every sprint is delivered by a dedicated team with hands-on enterprise security and compliance experience:

Senior Security Architect — leads the gap analysis, controls design, and architecture review. Background in cloud-native security (AWS/GCP/Azure) and enterprise security programs at scale.
Compliance Specialist — owns policy documentation, control mapping, and auditor readiness. Experienced across SOC1, SOC2, ISO 27001, and HIPAA frameworks.
VAPT Specialists — coordinate and review penetration testing across web, API, cloud, and mobile surfaces. Familiar with OWASP, NIST, and SANS methodologies and what auditors expect from a pen test report.

You get a dedicated Slack channel, weekly syncs, and a final walkthrough with your team.

Compliance Platform: Vanta vs Drata vs Secureframe

Most startups eventually need a compliance automation platform to maintain their SOC2 posture. We're tool-agnostic and have hands-on configuration experience with all three major platforms:

Vanta — best for early-stage startups moving fast. Excellent integrations, fast setup, and a clean UI. Slightly more expensive but saves significant engineering time. Strong for SOC2 Type I/II and ISO 27001.
Drata — more customizable and better for companies with complex infrastructure or multiple frameworks (SOC1 + SOC2 + HIPAA simultaneously). Slightly steeper learning curve but more control.
Secureframe — good mid-market option with strong audit support and a more hands-on customer success team. Works well for teams that want more guidance through the process.

We recommend the right platform based on your stage, budget, and framework requirements — and we configure it during the sprint. By the time we hand off, your controls are mapped, your integrations are live, and your evidence collection is running automatically.

Pricing

$4,999 · 3-week fixed sprint

Same model as our AI MVP sprint — fixed price, fixed timeline, clear deliverables. No hourly billing, no scope creep, no "we'll figure it out as we go."

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need SOC2 before Series A?

Not always — but increasingly yes. Enterprise customers are requiring it earlier, and Series A investors doing technical diligence often ask about it. Getting to Type I readiness before you raise puts you ahead of the diligence process.

What's the difference between SOC1 and SOC2? Do I need both?

SOC1 covers controls over financial reporting — your customers' auditors need it if you touch their financial data. SOC2 covers security, availability, and data handling — IT and procurement teams require it. Many fintech and payments companies need both. We scope this during the initial call.

How long does the actual SOC2 audit take after the sprint?

A Type I audit typically takes 4–6 weeks once you engage an auditor. We can recommend auditors who are startup-friendly and cost-effective (most charge $15K–$30K for Type I).

Can you help us choose a compliance automation platform?

Yes. We configure Vanta, Drata, or Secureframe during the sprint based on your needs. See the comparison section above for details on how we choose.

What if we have a more complex compliance requirement?

If you need HIPAA, PCI-DSS, FedRAMP, or GDPR compliance work, that's custom scope. ISO 27001 alignment is included in our standard methodology. Get in touch and we'll scope it specifically.

Do you offer ongoing security support after the sprint?

Yes — this is typically rolled into our Fractional CTO retainer ($9,999/mo), which includes ongoing security oversight, quarterly access reviews, and audit prep for your Type II.

How to Pass Your First SOC2 Audit: A Technical Guide — Step-by-step technical walkthrough of the SOC2 audit process
The Real Cost of SOC2 Compliance for Startups in 2026 — Honest breakdown of what you'll actually spend on SOC2
SOC2 vs ISO 27001: Which Does Your Startup Need First? — Side-by-side comparison to help you pick the right framework
The Real Cost of SOC2 Compliance for Startups (2026 Guide) — Updated cost guide covering tools, auditors, and engineering time
Why Startups Need SOC2 Before Series A — How SOC2 accelerates enterprise sales and investor due diligence
How We Automate VAPT Workflows for SOC1 and SOC2 Compliance — Automating vulnerability assessments to keep compliance costs low
Security Checklist for Series A Startups — The essential security controls investors and enterprise customers check for
How a Series A FinTech Achieved SOC2 Type II in 3 Weeks — A real sprint story from kick-off to audit-ready in 21 days
SOC2 Type II in 21 Days: How a Series A FinTech Closed a $200K Enterprise Deal — Full case study on using SOC2 as a sales accelerator
HIPAA + SOC2 Without Doing It Twice: A Healthcare SaaS Compliance Story — How a healthcare SaaS company achieved dual compliance efficiently