CASE STUDY
ÉTUDE DE CAS
How Techstars centralized processes and improved efficiency with Vanta
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By centralizing compliance efforts for SOC 2 and NIST CSF, Vanta eliminated duplicative tasks and benefited from a streamlined audit process.
Vanta saved the team a significant amount of time so they could focus on other security initiatives. The Techstars team estimates that it saved the cost of multiple tools and the time of a full-time employee.
Vanta helped Techstars maintain high security standards and simplify compliance reporting, ultimately saving significant time and improving overall efficiency.
“Vanta was really important for us as a way to prove to our founders how seriously we take security. It allows us to centralize our compliance and ensure that we can report our security progress to founders in a simple and easy way.”
The company
Funding and mentorship for startups and founders
Techstars is a startup accelerator that provides mentorship, funding, and resources to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses. When founders apply to and join the program, they receive mentorship, capital investment, and are introduced to an extensive network of other startups to support them on their journey.
The company was growing rapidly, especially in the technology and engineering sectors. With the overarching goal of creating a top-tier accelerator program for founders, the Techstars team saw security and compliance as a top priority. After all, Techstars collects sensitive financial information and other data about their founders and startups. This led to Techstars hiring Stanislaw Malec in 2021, as their first Information Security hire. His top priority upon joining was to manage and enhance the company's security programs and ensure compliance with frameworks like SOC 2 and NIST CSF.
The challenge
Duplicate efforts, decentralized task tracking, and time-consuming audits
When Stanislaw first joined the organization, Techstars faced challenges in managing and centralizing compliance efforts for SOC 2 and NIST CSF, vendor risk management, and conducting access reviews. They also struggled with duplicative tasks, time-consuming audits, and maintaining high security standards efficiently.
The company planned to pursue SOC 2 compliance, but found the task daunting, especially with a small team. They began looking for a solution that could help them gain compliance with a specific eye on platforms that offered integrations to the tools they were using. The company CTO had heard about Vanta and recommended that the team look into it.
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As the team explored Vanta further, they saw that its features could easily replace existing tools, streamlining their overall approach and saving costs. These features coupled with industry-leading integrations set Vanta apart from other options on the market.
“The additions of vendor and identity risk management were attractive, as well. We were able to justify the cost of Vanta very easily because it directly replaced multiple tools.”
The solution
Instant visibility into compliance in pursuit of SOC 2
Vanta provided Techstars with a comprehensive trust management solution that addressed their key challenges and allowed them to easily seek SOC 2 compliance.
When it came to SOC 2 compliance, the team could easily understand what updates they needed to make, as real-time compliance dashboards offered instant visibility into compliance status, allowing for quick identification and remediation of potential issues. “Because we had Vanta, we knew specifically what we needed to change,” said Stanislaw. “There are great templates available so you can ensure you're aligning with baseline minimum standards.”
Vanta helped the team cut down on manual efforts in other ways. Vanta’s extensive integrations enabled seamless data synchronization, reducing manual effort and ensuring consistency. Additionally, AI-powered document reviews simplified the audit process by extracting key information and providing insights without extensive manual review.
“Vanta implemented AI extremely well so that it simplified our review process," says Stanislaw. "We were able to upload docs relevant to the review, such as reports and questionnaires, and the AI model would parse those documents so that we did not have to review in depth.”
Stanislaw mentioned that Vanta’s development team has been super responsive, as well. “Vanta’s development team is great,” he said. “They reach out to their customers to find out what is relevant to them and implement good solutions directly into the tool.”
The impact
Streamlined compliance processes, reduction in manual efforts, and substantial time saved
By using Vanta, Techstars saved a significant amount of time, equivalent to the work of a full-time employee, by streamlining compliance processes and reducing manual efforts. The platform's integrations and tools eliminated the need for separate vendor risk management and identity audit solutions, leading to substantial cost savings.
Real-time dashboards and AI-powered document reviews improved efficiency and accuracy, allowing Techstars to quickly identify and address compliance issues. Overall, Vanta's comprehensive solution enhanced Techstars' security programs, simplified compliance reporting, and resulted in both time and monetary savings. Additionally, Techstars saw added value and a streamlined audit by working with Insight Assurance, one of Vanta's audit partners. "The audit has included a well-defined timeline, regular check-ins, and an organized approach," said Stanislaw. As a result of the time savings, Stanislaw is now allowed to get back to his roots and spend his time focusing on the overall improvement of Techstars’ security programs.
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