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Comment by ammaramehdghani | Hacker News Reader

Not Yet. Its an MVP right now. Even to get a demo call with enterprise, do I need that certification?

Do you want to pitch demos, or do you want to sell software? I'll repeat myself, enterprises don't buy stuff unless it's certified to the standard they promise to their customers. SOC2 isn't the only compliance you'll need but it's definitely not the last. Enterprises have much higher standards than the small-time customers you might have imagined dealing with. If you're not already thinking about getting a security audit, you're not prepared for enterprise customers.

Actually I would go into that thing once I demo it to enterprises and they want the software. If I am able to lock one deal, I would get into this certification thingy as it is costly and time consuming. Do you have an enterprise software or did you go through the same path as I am right now? If yes, I would really want to know how you landed your first customer as it would be super helpful for me. Appreciate your insights.

SOC2 is not a certification, it is a report. Here's soc2 explained in simple terms: https://medium.com/@confusedcyberwarrior/what-is-soc2-how-to...

Thank You for sharing this. Appreciate it.

There are several parts of that article that are wrong.. that's not what the acronym SOC[0] stands for, for example. And while, the result of a SOC2 audit is a report, and it's primarily from the financial industry (not the security industry) - SOC2 is an audit and not a report.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_and_Organization_Contro...

The link you provided for Wikipedia, even that says SOC means System and Organization, and also in brackets it is also known as Service Organization.

Regarding the rest of your comment:

- SOC2 Report: While it is true that SOC2 audits result in a report, it's important to clarify that the SOC2 framework was indeed developed by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and is primarily focused on the security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy of a service organization’s systems. This makes it highly relevant to the security industry, even if it has roots in the financial industry.

- Audit vs. Report: The SOC2 process involves an audit where an external auditor assesses the controls in place. The outcome of this audit is a detailed report that evaluates how well an organization meets the trust service criteria. So, saying "SOC2 is an audit and not a report" is somewhat misleading, as the audit process culminates in the generation of the SOC2 report.

I hope this clarifies any confusion.

Could you please guide if I need SOC 2 audit before I lock a customer? Right now I don't have any. It doesn't feel right to spend this much money and time on something without having the surety that someone one would become a customer after it is SOC 2 compliant. Thanks

If just having a customer is the goal, before being in talks with a customer who really want you to be SOC2 compliant, its definitely a waste of your resources- time and money. I would suggest, when you find such customers, and they really like your product and an audit like SOC2 is what is behaving like a deal breaker, only then go for SOC2

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