Startups & Early-Stage Companies

You're moving fast, burning runway, and trying to close enterprise deals. Security feels like overhead - until a prospect asks for your SOC 2 report, an investor asks about your security posture, or you realize you need to hire a security person but aren't sure what to look for.

How We Work with Startups

Our Fractional CISO Approach for Startups

Most startups engage a Fractional CISO to provide strategic security leadership without full-time overhead. We work with you through a three-phase approach - assessing where you are, designing what you need, and building security that supports your growth goals.

What This Looks Like:

We start by understanding your business - target customers, regulatory environment, technology stack, and growth plans. Then we assess your current security posture, identify gaps, and design a security program appropriate for your stage and resources.

Implementation focuses on what matters most for your situation: SOC 2 certification if enterprise sales require it, secure cloud architecture if you're handling sensitive data, vendor security program if customers are asking about your supply chain. We help you prioritize investments and avoid over-engineering for requirements you don't have.

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Security by Startup Stage

Different Stages Need Different Security

Seed / Pre-Seed: Security at this stage is about not making costly mistakes. Focus on secure cloud fundamentals (AWS/GCP/Azure configuration, access management, secrets handling), basic policies that demonstrate security awareness, and avoiding common pitfalls that require expensive remediation later. A few hours of security assessment can prevent months of rework.

Series A: Enterprise customers are asking questions, and you need answers. Focus on SOC 2 readiness (typically achieved before Series B), security policies that satisfy customer questionnaires, basic vulnerability management, and documented incident response. Your security program should support enterprise sales without creating friction.

Series B and Beyond: Security becomes a competitive differentiator and organizational function. Focus on formal compliance certifications (SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001), security team building (we help you hire right), mature security operations and monitoring, and advanced requirements (penetration testing, vendor risk management). Your security program should scale with the business.

Get Personalized Recommendations

Our Security Program Simulator provides detailed, stage-specific recommendations based on your company's revenue stage, data handling, regulatory requirements, and customer type.

Try the Security Program Simulator

When Should You Start?

Here are signs you should engage security leadership now rather than later:

Sales & Revenue Signals:

Enterprise customers asking for SOC 2 or security questionnaires
Lost deals where security was cited as a concern
Sales cycles extending due to security diligence
Customers asking about data protection or compliance

Investment & Board Signals:

Investors asking about security posture during diligence
Board members raising security governance questions
Preparing for Series A/B and expect security scrutiny
Strategic acquirer interest requiring security assessment

Technical & Operational Signals:

Handling customer data without clear security controls
No one owns security decisions or compliance timeline
Planning to hire first security engineer (assess before hiring)
Recent incident or close call revealed gaps

Compliance Signals:

Customers requiring specific compliance certifications
Industry regulations applying to your product (HIPAA, PCI, etc.)
Data protection requirements (GDPR, CCPA) unclear
Cyber insurance application rejected or premiums concerning

If a few or more of these apply, you're past the point where you can figure it out later. The cost of delay increases faster than most founders expect - each quarter without proper security means more enterprise deals at risk, higher remediation costs when you do address it, and increased liability exposure.

Common Questions About Startup Security

When should a startup hire a full-time security person?

Most startups don't need full-time security until they're past product-market fit, typically Series B or later. Before that, fractional security leadership provides strategic guidance without the overhead of a full-time hire. When you do hire, we help you define the role, evaluate candidates, and ensure your first security hire is set up for success.

How much should a startup spend on security?

There's no universal answer, but security spending should align with your risk profile and customer requirements. Early-stage startups might spend 2-5% of engineering budget on security tooling and assessments. As you grow and face more compliance requirements, security investment scales. We help you prioritize spending on what actually reduces risk vs. checkbox compliance.

Do we need SOC 2 to sell to enterprises?

Increasingly, yes. While some enterprises will accept alternative evidence of security maturity, SOC 2 has become the standard expectation for B2B SaaS companies. The question isn't whether to get SOC 2, but when. If enterprise customers are consistently asking for it, start the process. It takes 6-12 months to achieve Type II certification.

What's the difference between SOC 2 Type I and Type II?

Type I evaluates control design at a single point in time. Type II evaluates both design and operating effectiveness over a period (typically 6-12 months). Enterprise customers almost always require Type II because it demonstrates controls work consistently over time, not just on audit day. Type I can be useful as a stepping stone but won't satisfy most enterprise requirements.