[bob1029]

"Innovation projects" is how we got past the gatekeeper at our very first client (banking industry). We pitched it as an experimental technology that we wanted to partner with them to build out. No guarantees type of deal made it a lot easier to sell to the board, because we weren't proposing to put any line-of-business on top of it (at first).

Once you have 1 client in your target industry using your product, it is infinitely easier to get a 2nd client (assuming you can use the 1st as a positive reference).

SOC2 seems like an interview-time item if I were to try to put an analogy around it. Once you have a certain reputation and key players trust you, its a lot easier to navigate around regardless of your specific credentials.