The B2B SaaS scaling stack
Every enterprise deal over $50k gets blocked by one of four things: weak marketing/sales ops, slow banking, missing network security, or no SOC 2. Pick your blocker; we'll route you to the right tool.
Free tool: SOC 2 readiness self-checker → 12 questions, 2 minutes, scores how close you are to passing an audit and which gaps to close first.
The 4-blocker matrix
| Blocker | Best fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing / sales ops | HubSpot | One platform for CRM, nurture, attribution. Highest ROI when sales is the bottleneck. |
| Banking + treasury | Mercury | Free business checking + treasury yield + faster wires than legacy banks. Built for VC-backed startups. |
| Network security | NordLayer | Cloud VPN with zero-trust controls. Closes the network-access section of vendor questionnaires in a week. |
| SOC 2 audit | Vanta (manual flagship) | Industry-standard SOC 2 platform. We route your info to a Vanta partner manager - they'll set up your demo and your audit timeline. |
How the SOC 2 route is different: The Vanta path is sales-led and requires a 4-8 week procurement cycle. We route you to a partner manager, not a self-serve signup. The other three (HubSpot, Mercury, NordLayer) are signup-now and self-serve.
FAQ
- Why HubSpot if I'm a 5-person startup?
- HubSpot Free + Sales Starter handles a 5-person team for ~$45/mo. The recurring pricing scales with you. The reason it's the marketing/sales-ops anchor here is consolidation - one platform vs duct-taping email + CRM + landing pages.
- Mercury vs Brex?
- Mercury for treasury-and-checking. Brex for spend cards as the primary need. Most growth-stage companies run both.
- What if I need all four blockers fixed?
- Sequence: HubSpot first (revenue-impacting), Mercury second (operational hygiene), NordLayer third (security questionnaire), Vanta fourth (audit). Don't try to do them in parallel; engineering bandwidth dictates.