Every startup founder has had this moment. A promising deal is going well, and then the prospect’s security team sends over a questionnaire. Somewhere on page two: “Please provide your SOC 2 report or ISO 27001 certificate.” Somewhere on page four: “Describe your PDPA compliance measures.”
Three acronyms, one small team, and no clear idea which one actually matters most. Let’s untangle them.
They aren’t the same kind of thing
The first source of confusion is that these three aren’t interchangeable.
ISO 27001 is an international standard for running an information security management system. You work toward it, and an accredited certification body audits you and issues a certificate.
SOC 2 is different. It’s an attestation report written by an independent auditor about your controls. A Type I report looks at how those controls are designed at a point in time, while a Type II looks at whether they worked over a period.
PDPA is different again. It’s not a certification at all, it’s law. Several countries have their own personal data protection acts, and Indonesia has its own data protection law. You don’t earn a PDPA badge. You either comply with the rules that apply to you, or you don’t.
Start with the one that isn’t optional
Because privacy laws are laws, they apply whether or not a customer ever asks about them. If you handle personal data of people covered by a data protection law, that’s your baseline. Think of it as the floor you build everything else on.
Then let your customers choose for you
For certifications and reports, the most reliable guide isn’t a framework comparison chart. It’s your sales pipeline. Which one keeps coming up in questionnaires and procurement calls? If you’re selling to US software buyers, SOC 2 will likely come up first. If your customers are larger enterprises across Europe, Asia, or the Middle East, ISO 27001 tends to carry weight. If you process card payments, PCI DSS enters the picture. And if you’re selling to banks or financial institutions, there may be sector-specific requirements, like MAS TRM in Singapore, that take priority.
If three deals have stalled on the same question, you’ve found your answer.
Don’t try to do everything at once
The instinct to collect every certification at once is understandable, and it usually backfires. Small teams spread thin end up doing several frameworks badly instead of one well.
A more sensible path is to meet your legal privacy obligations first, pick the single certification your target market demands most, and get it done properly. Because these frameworks share a lot of underlying controls, adding a second one later is much faster than the first.
You don’t need to be compliant with everything. You need to be compliant with what your customers and your regulators actually require, in the right order. Start where the pressure is greatest, build good habits, and expand from there.
Not sure where to begin? Talk to a FEHA compliance expert