With twelve employees, a working SaaS product, and a growing customer base, your startup is off to a good start. Security matters to everyone, but no one has “compliance manager” as a job title. A potential enterprise customer then asks for a SOC 2 report.

What should you do first?

For founders researching how to get SOC 2 certification, the answer isn’t to collect dozens of policies right away. A handful of choices determines what your company needs to document, implement, and prove, and that is where to start.

Decide What Your First Audit Should Cover

The AICPA Trust Services Criteria are what SOC 2 evaluates controls against. Security, Availability, Confidentiality, Processing Integrity, and Privacy are the areas they cover. Only Security is mandatory. Inclusion of the other categories depends on whether they’re relevant to the organization’s services and commitments. As long as that scope meets customer expectations, a startup running a straightforward business application may start with Security alone.

List the applications, infrastructure, employees, and service providers involved prior to collecting evidence. Making the scope overly broad creates extra work, and it doesn’t necessarily increase the report’s usefulness.

Choose the Report Type Your Deadline Allows

People searching for how to get SOC 2 certified frequently find two reporting options. Type 1 examines the design of controls at a specified date. Type 2 goes further, examining design and operating effectiveness over a defined period. Where an enterprise customer needs evidence fast, Type 1 can be a practical starting point, if the customer accepts it.

The process for how to get SOC 2 type 2 certification starts with an observation period, typically three to twelve months, followed by an independent examination. You do not have to get Type 1 ahead of Type 2. Before paying for either examination, check your customer’s requirements.

Fix Everyday Security Gaps First

When security controls are connected to ordinary business activities, SOC 2 preparation gets more manageable. Think of enforcing multi-factor authentication for important accounts, setting up a documented employee offboarding process, and reviewing access permissions on a regular basis.

Retain evidence of production changes and approvals inside the development team. Management should document risk assessments and relevant supplier reviews. Write policies so they describe what employees actually do. When nobody follows it, even a well-written procedure has limited value.

Collect Evidence as You Go

SOC 2 for saas companies involves demonstrating that relevant controls exist and, for Type 2, operate consistently. You could be asked for records showing when a former employee’s access was removed or whether a production deployment received appropriate approval.

Reconstructing these records months later is much harder than gathering them as activities occur. Small teams can manage this work with CertAssist’s built-in controls, editable policy templates, evidence checklists, and document storage.

There is no need for direct integrations with company systems. Evidence is uploaded by the team, and auditors can be given read-only access.

Understand the Independent Audit Requirement

What SOC 2 produces is formally an attestation, not a certification. The SOC 2 report is issued by a licensed CPA firm that conducts the examination. The independent auditor cannot be replaced by compliance software, which can help prepare and organize evidence.

On the software side, CertAssist offers a US$225 monthly promotional subscription covering SOC 2, ISO 27001, and its other supported frameworks. Independent audit fees are separate. A quote from an auditor based on your business size, selected criteria, and intended reporting period should come first.

Make Compliance Sustainable After the First Report

Security work shouldn’t stop when the SOC 2 examination is done. Your operations keep changing: employees join and leave, applications change, and new suppliers appear. Your controls must stay relevant.

Three habits help: setting clear responsibilities, retaining evidence throughout the year, and regularly reviewing whether your documented procedures match reality. This discipline makes future examinations easier for a growing startup, while also supporting the security expectations of customers who depend on your software.