AI app founders ask: how do you survive enterprise security questionnaires?
Selling software to big companies means filling out lengthy security questionnaires — sometimes hundreds of questions. Small teams and solo builders are sharing how they cope with this time-consuming hurdle.
When a large company considers buying your software, their IT and security team sends a document packed with detailed questions: how you store data, who has access, how you handle breaches, and more. Answering these questionnaires can take days and requires knowledge most small teams don't have. This Reddit thread captures the frustration and the workarounds founders use. Tools like Vanta, Drata, and Conveyor can automate much of the process by keeping a library of pre-written answers. Getting a SOC 2 certification in advance is another common strategy — it signals credibility and makes questionnaire responses much faster since the audit evidence is already documented.
Key points
- Enterprise customers often require detailed security questionnaires before signing any contract.
- Tools like Vanta and Drata automate questionnaire responses by storing pre-approved answers.
- Earning a SOC 2 certification early makes it much easier to answer repeated security questions.
- Solo founders and small teams may struggle without legal or security expertise on hand.
- If you plan to sell to businesses, start preparing your security documentation early.
Quick term guide
- security questionnaire
- A long checklist of security-related questions that a big company sends to a software vendor before agreeing to buy.
- build
- A chosen set of in-game abilities or items a player equips for their character.
- workaround
- An alternative way to get something done when the normal way doesn't work.
- SOC 2 certification
- An official audit certificate that proves your company handles customer data safely, issued by an independent third party.
- responses
- An OpenAI API feature for creating and handling model answers.
- audit
- A thorough check of code to find mistakes or ways to make it better.
- enterprise
- A large business or company, which usually buys special software plans for better security and privacy guarantees.
- business
- An activity where you provide value to others in exchange for money.