ISO 27001 as a Growth-Stage Startup: Why I'd Do It Again (But Not Earlier)

ISO 27001 Experience

You're scaling, enterprise clients are asking for security questionnaires, your team doubled, someone's laptop got stolen, and you realize your "security policy" is a Google Doc from 2022 nobody reads.

Sound familiar?

The Right Time to Do It

Don't do it pre-PMF. Do it when:

• You have paying enterprise customers who actually ask for it

• Your team is 15-30+ people and processes are breaking

• You're handling sensitive data (manufacturing defects, customer IP, etc.)

• You want to force yourself to professionalize

For us, the trigger was clear: German automotive OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers don't mess around. Security questionnaires were getting longer. Due diligence was getting harder. ISO became a business enabler, not a checkbox.

What It Actually Fixes

Device Management

Before: "Just use your laptop, install whatever." After: Intune policies, encrypted drives, remote wipe capability. Sounds boring until someone loses a device with customer data.

Secure Development

Forces you to document your SDLC. Code reviews, access controls, secrets management — stuff you should do anyway but now you have to.

Information Classification

You realize half your team doesn't know what's confidential. Now there's a system.

Onboarding/Offboarding

New hire? Checklist. Someone leaves? Access revoked same day. No more "wait, does he still have AWS access?"

Vendor Management

Using 15 SaaS tools? Now you actually know which ones have your data and what their security posture is.

The Honest Downsides

It's not all upside. Stage 1 audit alone took weeks of prep. Documentation is brutal.

Engineers hate bureaucracy. You'll hear "this slows us down" a lot. And it's never really done — annual audits, continuous improvement, evidence collection. It becomes part of how you operate.

Why It's Still Worth It

It's an enterprise sales accelerator. Cuts procurement cycles in half.

It forces operational maturity. You'd build these processes eventually — ISO gives you a framework.

Security becomes everyone's job, not "IT's problem." And for investors, it signals you're building a real company, not a prototype.

My Advice If You're Considering It

Wait until you have PMF and at least 5-10 enterprise customers. Start with a gap analysis — know what you're missing before committing. Hire a pragmatic consultant, not a compliance robot. Use it as a forcing function to fix the chaos, not just pass an audit.

Final Thoughts

ISO 27001 isn't sexy. It's spreadsheets, policies, and audit trails. But if you're building a B2B company that handles sensitive data and wants enterprise clients, it's table stakes.

We just passed Stage 1. Stage 2 is coming. Ask me again in 6 months if I still think it's worth it.

Spoiler: I will.