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What We Learned Getting SOC 2 (and Why It’s More Than Just a Checkbox)
When you’re building a SaaS product, there are two kinds of projects:
- The fun ones that make your product better.
- The ones that make you legit.
SOC 2 lives squarely in the second camp.
We just wrapped ours at Masset, and while we’re thrilled to have that shiny new compliance badge, this process taught us far more than we expected about growth, focus, and what “maturity” really means for a startup.
So here’s the unfiltered version — what we learned, what hurt, and what made us laugh along the way.
What SOC 2 Actually Is (And Isn’t)
Before we went through it, we thought SOC 2 was just about security. Turns out, that’s only half the story.
It’s really about how your business runs: your processes, your accountability, your “what happens if the server catches fire” plan.
It’s a system check for your entire company. Can you prove you actually follow the things you wrote in your policies, or did you just have ChatGPT write them?
The audit doesn’t just ask if you’re secure. It asks if you’re operationally mature. And that’s a whole different muscle.
Why We Did It
Let’s be honest: sales.
SOC 2 is the magic phrase that makes enterprise buyers stop asking 1,000 questions.
Our product was already secure, but that certification opens doors. It says:
“We’re not just a clever startup. We’re a company with systems and standards.”
Is it a bit ironic that SOC 2 doesn’t actually guarantee security? Absolutely.
But it’s a signal of trust and accountability, and in B2B, that signal matters.
How We Approached It
We didn’t want to just tick boxes. We wanted to use the process to make Masset stronger.
We started with an off-the-shelf framework using Drata (you could use Vanta, Secureframe, whatever), but customized everything to fit our size and culture.
If a standard control didn’t make sense for a company our size, we rewrote it — not to cheat the system, but to make it realistic and sustainable.
We also automated as much as we could. But there’s a limit. Some things are just better left manual once a year than over-engineered forever.
The Hard Parts
Time.
This thing eats time like a buffet. Especially founder time. You can’t delegate your way out of SOC 2. It requires senior people who actually know how the company runs.
Cost.
Between readiness software, the audit, pen testing, and the hidden “SSO tax” every vendor hits you with, the yearly cost lands somewhere between $20K and $30K. And that’s before counting the hours spent doing it.
Balance.
Every startup preaches “move fast.” SOC 2 says “prove it carefully.” Finding that balance was tough. We wanted compliance without killing creativity — structure without bureaucracy.
The Funniest Part
One of our audit controls required “leak detection.”
We assumed it meant data loss protection. Nope. The auditor meant water leaks.
We’re a fully remote, cloud-first company. So technically, that meant we needed leak detectors under our home office sinks.
For a moment, we imagined shipping smart sensors to every team member and taking screenshots of dry floors as audit evidence.
Thankfully, we just reworded the control.
How Long It Took
From kickoff to certification: about a year.
But the heavy lifting — the documentation, automation, and testing — took 4 to 6 weeks of deep focus.
Anyone who tells you they can do it in 2 to 4 weeks is technically right, but it’s a half-truth. You can get the report fast, but not the foundation that makes it meaningful.
Our Biggest Takeaway
SOC 2 isn’t about compliance. It’s about clarity.
It forces you to define how your company actually works. Who owns what, how you recover, how you prove it.
And weirdly enough, we came out the other side not just more secure, but more organized. More intentional.
It gave us a shared language for maturity. We now know what “good” looks like operationally, not just technically.
Final Thoughts
If you’re thinking about SOC 2, here’s our advice:
- Don’t do it too early. Wait until you’ve got real deals depending on it.
- Don’t overdo it. Automate what matters, but don’t build bureaucracy.
- Make it count. Use it to build real structure, not fake compliance.
- Laugh at the leaks. Seriously. You’ll need the humor.
We’ll keep sharing what we learn as we grow.
Have a good one,
Ben & Tyler
