SOC 2 for startups with a deal waiting on it
An enterprise buyer just asked for your SOC 2 report, and nobody on the team owns compliance. Complies turns that into a work plan an engineer can run part-time, starting today.
For most startups, the fastest path to SOC 2 is a compliance platform that maps the controls, assigns evidence to named owners, and tracks readiness, so an existing engineer can run audit prep part-time. You do not need a compliance hire at $120,000+ a year, and you do not need a $15,000 to $40,000 consultant engagement to get moving. Complies connects to the stack you already run, AWS, GitHub, Google Workspace, Slack, and Jira, builds your SOC 2 control map, and flags gaps in plain language before the auditor finds them. Evidence collection, the part that usually eats around 120 engineer-hours per audit cycle, becomes a calendar of owned tasks instead of a screenshot scramble the week before fieldwork. Teams starting from a reasonable security baseline commonly reach SOC 2 Type 1 readiness in 6 to 12 weeks of part-time work. Pricing is published, plans start at $79 a month, monthly billing is available, and there is no sales call, which matters when the deal asking for SOC 2 is waiting on you and not the other way around.
The heavy lifting is done by audit readiness score and compliance evidence collection, with soc 2 compliance software built in.
What this looks like from where you sit
The deal is blocked on SOC 2
A prospect worth six or seven figures asked for your SOC 2 report during procurement. Every week spent figuring out where to start is a week that deal sits in security review.
Nobody actually owns compliance
Compliance is split between a founder, a senior engineer, and a shared doc named final-v3. Requirements have no owners, no due dates, and no honest status anyone can check.
Evidence lives in fourteen places
Access logs sit in AWS, reviews in Jira, policies in someone's drive, screenshots in Slack threads. Assembling all of that by hand burns roughly 120 engineer-hours per audit cycle.
What changes in the first month
A control map in minutes, not months
Connect your stack, pick SOC 2, and Complies builds the obligation tracker and control map from what it finds, with every control coded, owned, and statused.
Evidence on a calendar, not in a panic
Each evidence item gets an owner and a due date, and the compliance calendar chases people automatically, so the founder does not have to.
A readiness score you can send the buyer
One live number with the gap list behind it. When the prospect asks how far along you are, you answer with a current screenshot instead of a promise.
Type 1 readiness on a startup timeline
Teams with a reasonable security baseline commonly reach SOC 2 Type 1 readiness in 6 to 12 weeks of part-time work, with the plan visible from day one.
Asked by teams like yours
Most startups start with Type 1, which attests that your controls are designed correctly at a point in time, then run Type 2 over an observation window of three to twelve months. Type 1 is faster and often enough to unblock a deal while Type 2 is in progress. Complies tracks the same control set for both, so nothing you do for Type 1 is wasted when Type 2 begins.
Budget two lines: the audit itself, paid to an accredited CPA firm, and getting ready for it. Consultants typically charge $15,000 to $40,000 per audit for readiness work, and a compliance hire runs $120,000+ a year. Complies replaces the readiness line with software from $79 a month, and your team keeps the knowledge instead of renting it for one cycle.
Yes, and that is the design goal. Complies does the coordination work a dedicated person would otherwise do: it tracks every obligation, assigns evidence to owners, sends reminders from the compliance calendar, and keeps the readiness score current. Your engineer makes the technical calls and approves policies; the software makes sure nothing is forgotten and nothing is late.
SOC 2 Type 1 vs Type 2: Differences, Costs, and Which to Do First
SOC 2How Long Does SOC 2 Take? Honest Timelines by Phase
Audit-ready without the hire
Growth covers every framework at $199 a month, billed yearly.