Why the sheet comes first
A questionnaire of 250 rows has been reported to take a founder an entire weekend. A comment in a SOC 2 thread advises keeping a master spreadsheet of questions paired with your answers, so the next questionnaire starts from something. Build that sheet once and keep it current.
- One row per question.
- The approved answer in your own words.
- The policy page or named person that supports it.
- An owner and a review-by date.
Count the rows with no source
Take ten questions from your last questionnaire and find the support for each. The ones you cannot support are the rows to leave blank. They show which policies you need to write down.
A blank is a valid answer
Leave unsupported rows blank and send them to a named person. Do not say yes to a certificate, test or control you cannot show. If the customer will accept a completed standard questionnaire or a short summary, ask before filling in their own form.
Who signs
Whoever drafts the answers, a person, a script or a tool, the signature is yours. Name one reviewer, have them read every filled row beside its source, and keep the signed copy.
Sources and limits
- Hacker News: "Need feedback please alternative to Vanta/Conveyor because I hate subscriptions" Checked 2026-10-12.
- A founder of a small B2B SaaS describes a security questionnaire sent as an Excel file of 250 rows at the late stage of an enterprise deal, which took their entire weekend.
- The poster says competing tools cost US$5,000 or more a year and asks what would make AI-written security answers trustworthy enough to send to a buyer.
- Hacker News comment on SOC 2 for a solo founder (17 May 2026) Checked 2026-10-12.
- The comment advises writing documentation instead of a formal audit report and keeping a "master spreadsheet" of SOC 2-style questions of your choosing paired with your answers, to send to companies that keep pressing for compliance.
- Hacker News comment on SOC 2 for a solo founder (15 May 2026) Checked 2026-10-12.
- The comment says prospective customers often let you answer their own security questionnaires in place of handing over a SOC 2 report.