SOC 2 has become table stakes for selling B2B SaaS to mid-market and enterprise buyers in both the US and UK. The traditional path — buy a compliance automation platform, hire a vCISO, run a six-month readiness program — works, but it is slower and more expensive than it has to be. Engineering-led teams can reach a SOC 2 Type I attestation in 90 days by treating controls as code, not policies.
What you actually need for Type I
Type I is a point-in-time attestation — an auditor confirms your controls exist and are designed correctly on the audit date. Type II proves they ran continuously for 3–12 months. Most enterprise buyers will accept a Type I plus a credible Type II timeline. Optimizing for Type I in 90 days gets you through procurement; the next 9 months earn the Type II evidence in the background.
The 90-day shape
- Days 1–15: scoping. Identify the systems in scope (production, build, deploy, observability), the data classifications, and which Trust Service Criteria you are claiming (Security at minimum; Confidentiality and Availability if buyers ask).
- Days 16–45: controls implementation. SSO with MFA, centralized logging, vulnerability scanning, secrets management, change-management workflow, employee onboarding/offboarding automation. All of this should be in your IaC repo, not a binder.
- Days 46–75: policies and evidence. Policies are easy and last. Evidence collection is the actual work — automated screenshots, ticket trails, log retention proof, access reviews on a defined cadence.
- Days 76–90: pre-audit and remediation. Run a dry-run audit against your own controls. Fix the gaps. Schedule the auditor.
Compliance as code, not policy theatre
A policy that says 'access reviews are performed quarterly' is auditor bait if you do not have a script that pulls IAM principals, files a ticket, requires sign-off, and writes the result to immutable storage. Build the script. The auditor will ask for evidence; produce it from the script. The same applies to vulnerability scans, secrets rotation, backup restore tests, and offboarding. If a control cannot be triggered by a cron job or a CI step, it will fail in year two.
Where teams get stuck
- Trying to cover too many Trust Service Criteria. Start with Security. Add Confidentiality only if a buyer demands it.
- Buying a compliance platform before defining controls. The platform encodes your decisions; make the decisions first.
- Ignoring the build and deploy pipeline. Auditors care more about who can push to production than who can SSH to the database.
- Treating vendors as out-of-scope. Sub-processor management is in scope. Get your DPA template ready and your vendor inventory current.
Cost expectations
An engineering-led SOC 2 Type I, done in 90 days with a senior team and an external auditor, lands at roughly $40–80K in audit and consulting fees for a typical growth-stage SaaS. Type II adds the audit period plus another $25–45K depending on scope. Adding a compliance platform on top of that adds $10–30K annually; useful at year two when the evidence volume explodes, premature in year one.
How Infiniti Tech Partners runs this
We have walked growth-stage SaaS companies through SOC 2 Type I as a 90-day engagement: scope, build controls in IaC, automate evidence collection, run the dry-run audit, and hand off to the auditor. The deliverable is a working system, not a binder. If you are staring at an enterprise deal with a SOC 2 prerequisite and a Q3 close date, this is the shape of engagement to start now.
Frequently asked questions
Can you really get SOC 2 in 90 days?
Yes, an engineering-led team can reach a SOC 2 Type I attestation in 90 days by treating controls as code rather than policies. The shape is roughly days 1-15 for scoping, days 16-45 for controls implementation, days 46-75 for policies and evidence collection, and days 76-90 for a dry-run audit and remediation before scheduling the auditor. This avoids the traditional six-month readiness program built around buying a compliance platform and hiring a vCISO.
What's the difference between SOC 2 Type I and Type II?
Type I is a point-in-time attestation where an auditor confirms your controls exist and are designed correctly on the audit date, while Type II proves those controls ran continuously for 3-12 months. Most enterprise buyers will accept a Type I plus a credible Type II timeline, so optimizing for Type I in 90 days gets you through procurement. The next nine months then earn the Type II evidence in the background.
How much does SOC 2 compliance cost for a SaaS company?
An engineering-led SOC 2 Type I done in 90 days with a senior team and an external auditor lands at roughly $40-80K in audit and consulting fees for a typical growth-stage SaaS. Type II adds the audit period plus another $25-45K depending on scope. A compliance platform on top adds $10-30K annually, which is useful at year two when evidence volume explodes but premature in year one.
Related reading
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