March 27, 2024

Here’s Why Continuous Compliance Is a Must-Have for Startups

Devon Lane
Content writer
at Flowbase

In the fast-paced world of startups, the focus often lies on innovation, growth, and staying ahead of the competition. This tends to mean two things.

First, amidst the hustle and bustle, it can be easy to forget building in some of the business elements that become crucial down the line. This includes security and compliance. 

Second, when startup teams don’t build this foundation early, they often find themselves having to force fit these important capabilities once they already have a number of systems and operational processes in place. This isn’t easy. In fact it can be cumbersome and expensive. 

When it comes to compliance and abiding by key security regulations, the best thing you can do is start early. This doesn’t just mean running a one-off compliance program. It means establishing a culture of continuous compliance that sets your business up for success. 

With that in mind, here are three reasons why it’s important for startups to adopt continuous compliance practices early on in their journey.

1. It Helps You Avoid Cultural Barriers Down the Line

As a compliance or security lead in a startup, you're familiar with the uphill battle of introducing new security measures and ensuring that your colleagues are compliant. In fact, there are a number of cultural barriers that can get in the way, including: 

  • The belief that compliance is just a one-and-done project where you tick a bunch of boxes
  • The understanding that compliance is just a necessary evil, rather than a strategic boon for the business
  • Teams believing that security mandates and compliance don’t apply to them
  • The notion that speed, productivity, and revenue come first — even if it’s at the cost of security and compliance

Again, this is why it’s worth starting your compliance journey early. The sooner you start building in compliance, the more you can prevent team members becoming entrenched in what they know and resistant to change. 

2. It Reduces Your Company’s Exposure to Threats

In today's digital landscape, threats to data security are ever-present. Startups, often viewed as lucrative targets by cybercriminals, have to introduce continuous compliance in order to stay ahead of these risks. By adhering to industry standards and regulations, teams can significantly reduce their exposure to threats such as data breaches, ensuring the safety and confidentiality of sensitive information that could propel their business forward.

3. It Supports the Creation of a Security-First Culture

Building a culture that prioritizes security and compliance doesn’t have to be boring. Instead, it can ensure that your business quickly becomes a reputable and reliable entity as it grows.

Establishing a security-first culture can also position startups as reliable vendors to enterprise clients with stringent security requirements. By ingraining the importance of security measures into the company culture, startups can inspire confidence in their clients, fostering long-term partnerships based on trust and reliability.

What Does It Take to Establish Continuous Compliance?

Achieving continuous compliance requires a concerted effort and strategic approach that covers multiple bases, early. If you’re looking to build a culture of continuous compliance, consider the following steps:

‍Align compliance with your broader business goals: Integrate compliance efforts seamlessly into your startup's overarching objectives, emphasizing the role of compliance in achieving long-term success.

Address the risks of non-compliance: Highlight the potential consequences of non-compliance, including financial penalties, reputational damage, and loss of customer trust, to underscore the importance of adherence to regulatory standards.

Keep your team engaged: Educate and engage your team members on the significance of compliance, demonstrating how it directly impacts their roles and responsibilities within the organization.

Make champions of your executives: Secure buy-in from company executives by illustrating how compliance initiatives align with their business objectives, encouraging their active support and involvement in fostering a culture of compliance.

Invest in the right tools: Leverage tools and technologies to streamline compliance processes, freeing up valuable time and resources for your team to focus on core business activities while ensuring ongoing compliance.

Solidify Continuous Compliance in Your Startup

For startups looking to establish a solid foundation for growth and success, continuous compliance is not merely a checkbox to tick but a strategic imperative. Embracing continuous compliance isn't just about meeting regulatory requirements—it's about safeguarding the future of your startup and building enduring relationships with clients and stakeholders.

‍At Marana, we take a comprehensive approach to helping startups like yours achieve SOC 2 compliance. Keen to learn more about how we do it? Let’s chat.

‍

We’re here to help.

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Frequently Asked
Questions

What type of compliance standard can you help with?

We help our clients based on their needs. The majority of our contracts involve SOC-2, HIPAA, and most recently GDPR. Feel free to ask us if we can help with your particular case. If we aren't able to, we can most likely recommend you to someone who can.

How long does a SOC 2 engagement usually take?

We move as fast as our clients are able to make progress. Our fastest client to date got their SOC-2 Type I four months after signing our engagement letter. That record is up for grab if you are up for it.

In our experience however, it takes 6-9 months to achieve a SOC-2 Type I,  and 3-6 additional months to obtain a SOC-2 Type II report.

Which standard do you follow for your security policies?

All of our security policies follow the ISO-27001 standard. The Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability standards cover the range of standards we like to work with for SOC 2.

Why do we have to become SOC 2 compliant if we are relying on AWS which is already compliant?

SOC 2 stands for Service Organization Control, meaning your clients are interested in understanding your controls, not your hosting provider’s control. As part of your vendor assessment we recommend reviewing AWS’ SOC 2 report, but relying on their report is not enough to become SOC 2 compliant.

Who is behind SOC 2?

The American Institute of CPAs. The AICPA is an established and respected organization that provides two forms of audits to companies that demonstrate evidence of a secure data-protection infrastructure. A Type I is a point in time audit that addresses the company’s description of its system, the suitability of the system’s design, and the effectiveness of its internal data controls. A Type II report happens over a period of time and emphasizes design and also focuses on the validity of the company’s controls.

Are SOC 2 reports a legal obligation?

No, but most enterprise level organizations that engage with sensitive data (again, almost all of them) have an obligation to their stakeholders to prove due diligence regarding data security, which means they’ll want to vet their service providers using this tool. SOC 2 can help these prospective service providers set themselves apart from the competition. Just as important, a SOC 2 report represents a meaningful and respected signifier of trust.

What can happen to a company without a SOC 2 report?

A lack of a SOC 2 report won’t result in legal problems, but it can and will limit outside assessments of the company’s commitment to data security. When large-scale clients look for providers, or large-scale backers look for a likely return on their investment, they don’t want concerns about security to stand in the way. Trust is a chain made of links that have each been put the test and have proven their ability to withstand pressure and scrutiny. Company leaders are wise to let SOC 2 auditors apply this pressure so their clients and backers don’t have to.

When is it too late for a SOC 2 audit?

Never. Even companies that have been in business for years but have never obtained a SOC 2 report can—and should—take steps in this direction now. Being compliant with SOC 2 can open the door to a broader base of more significant clients and larger contract opportunities. That being said, startups in the threshold of the marketplace, and new business owners who hope for an eventual public offering, should obtain a SOC 2 report during the development and financing process. By the time the company approaches Series B and C fundraising rounds, a report should be in hand.

How complicated is the auditing process?

The auditing process can be easy, or complicated depending on your level of preparation.

Preparing for the audit can take some time, attention, and the guidance of reliable data security experts. Don’t leave any part of this process to chance. Approach SOC 2 compliance one step at a time, and start by contacting a consulting firm with track record of experience in your area of the marketplace.

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