Persona AI is a co-pilot for user research. When enterprise prospects showed interest, they hit an unexpected wall: SOC 2 compliance was required before moving forward.

The Problem

"Not being SOC 2 compliant was blocking $500,000 of urgent enterprise contracts," explains Sravanthi, Persona's co-founder. For a fast-growing startup, this was a critical revenue blocker.

The team had already invested months working with Vanta, but progress was slow. They found themselves stuck at only 30-40% completion with no clear path forward.

"We were at maybe 30-40% of the way through with Vanta," recalls Daniel, Co-founder & CTO, "and the challenge was that we were still a couple months away from being at 100%."

Every engineering hour spent on compliance meant less time for product development. Yet without SOC 2, those enterprise deals would remain blocked.

The Solution

When Persona discovered Comp AI, they found a different approach to compliance. Instead of generic checklists, Comp AI offered guided workflows tailored to their specific infrastructure.

The decision to switch platforms mid-process wasn't easy. They'd already invested significant time and money.

"We were willing to pay a second time for Comp AI because the speed they unlocked was huge for us—and it mattered to our customers," Sravanthi explains.

Comp AI integrated directly with Persona's existing tools and began continuously monitoring their controls. The platform provided clear, actionable guidance specific to their environment rather than generic requirements.

The Result

The transformation was dramatic. Within two weeks of starting with Comp AI, Persona had everything ready for their observation period—a critical milestone for SOC 2 certification.

"In less than two weeks we had everything set up for the observation period," Daniel emphasizes. This rapid progress unblocked their sales pipeline.

With SOC 2 Type I achieved, those $500,000 in enterprise contracts could finally move forward. But the benefits extended beyond immediate revenue.

"We had maybe five or six enterprises just pinging us every week saying, 'Hey, you SOC 2 Type I compliant yet?'" Sravanthi recalls. Being able to say yes opened doors that had been firmly shut.

Today, Persona is working toward SOC 2 Type II. What started as a compliance blocker has become part of their standard operations.

Conclusion

For other startups facing similar challenges, the Persona team's experience offers valuable lessons about the importance of choosing the right compliance approach.

"If you do it early on as a seed-stage startup, by the time your customers ask, you'll have it ready," Sravanthi advises. "Don't wait for your customers to bug you about it."

As she summarizes: "The speed they unlocked was huge for us—and it mattered to our customers."