1–2 weeks
Deal sprint
A deal is waiting on you. We answer the questionnaire, assemble a security packet, and prepare you for the diligence call.
You leave with: answers the buyer accepts, and a reusable library.
AI implementation & compliance automation
Pass the security review. Then make it automatic.
We take SaaS companies through SOC 2, GovRAMP and FedRAMP from the first gap to the final report. Then we build the AI agents and automation that collect evidence, answer questionnaires and watch your controls, so the next buyer’s security review takes days, not a quarter.
- Frameworks
- SOC 2 · GovRAMP · FedRAMP 20x · ISO 42001
- Track record
- SOC 2 Type II and a 100% GovRAMP Snapshot
- Credential
- ISO/IEC 42001 Lead Auditor
- Delivery
- Senior-led, agent-accelerated
We get B2B SaaS through security reviews, then make compliance run itself.
- what
- Philipos Advisory is an AI implementation and compliance automation consultancy. SOC 2, GovRAMP and FedRAMP 20x, end to end.
- for
- Founders, CTOs and security leads at seed to Series B SaaS companies whose enterprise or public-sector deal is waiting on a security review.
- how
- One senior lead, accountable from the first gap to the final report. An AI compliance system maps each control once across frameworks and drafts the policies, narratives and evidence. A credentialed human reviews and signs.
- after
- AI agents keep evidence collection and security questionnaires running, so the next review starts from current evidence.
- proof
- SOC 2 Type II and a 100% GovRAMP Progressing Snapshot for SaltyCloud. ISO/IEC 42001 Lead Auditor.
What did your buyer ask for?
Pick one answer per row and you get the route we’d take, what we’d automate, and an honest read on your deadline.
Three practices, one accountable lead
Compliance is the core of what we do. AI and automation are how we deliver it faster and how it keeps running after we’re done.
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Compliance programs, end to end
SOC 2 Type I and II, GovRAMP from Progressing Snapshot to Core, and FedRAMP 20x readiness. Scoping, risk assessment, policies, control narratives, evidence, auditor selection and fieldwork. One lead from the first gap assessment to the report your buyer accepts.
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Compliance automation
AI agents that pull evidence from your cloud, identity provider and ticketing, draft control narratives, answer questionnaires from an approved answer library, and flag drift before your auditor does. Wired into the tools you already pay for.
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AI implementation & governance
Put AI to work inside your company in a way you can defend. We pick the workflows worth automating, build them, and stand up the governance buyers now ask about: AI policy, model and vendor risk, impact assessments and ISO/IEC 42001 readiness.
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Questionnaires & customer trust
The 300-row spreadsheet, the SIG, the CAIQ, the diligence call. We answer them, build your trust center, and join the call when the buyer’s security lead pushes back.
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Fractional GRC lead
After the report: continuous compliance, the annual audit, vendor reviews, customer calls and board updates, on a monthly retainer instead of a full-time salary.
Ways to work with us
One framework, through the report
Program build
SOC 2, GovRAMP or FedRAMP 20x, end to end. Fixed scope, dated plan, weekly status your board can read.
You leave with: the report or authorization status your buyer asked for.
4–8 weeks
Automation build
We stand up the agents and integrations that keep evidence, questionnaires and monitoring running without a person chasing them.
You leave with: compliance operations that run on their own, reviewed by a human.
Monthly
Retainer
A fractional security and compliance lead for audits, buyers, vendors and the board, at a fraction of a full-time hire.
You leave with: someone accountable, every month.
The review-ready method
- 01 · Diagnose
Start from the buyer
What the buyer asked for, the deadline, and the gap. A dated plan you can show them on day one.
- 02 · Build
Controls that are real
Policies, controls and narratives that match how your team actually works, so they survive an auditor’s questions.
- 03 · Automate
Evidence without chasing
Agents collect and package evidence continuously. People review and sign; nothing reaches an auditor unreviewed.
- 04 · Prove
The independent report
An independent assessor issues the report. We prepare you, manage requests and sit through fieldwork with you.
- 05 · Sustain
Ready for the next buyer
Monitoring, renewals and the next questionnaire, handled before they become a fire drill.
Customer story: SaltyCloud
SaltyCloud is a bootstrapped GovTech SaaS selling to enterprise and public-sector buyers. They had no security team and deals waiting on proof. Here’s what changed.
- Type II
- SaltyCloud’s first SOC 2 attestation, ready for enterprise buyers
- 100%
- GovRAMP Progressing Snapshot control score
- <1 week
- For a new GRC hire to learn the SaltyCloud environment
A GRC program from zero
Built as the sole compliance owner, advising executives directly on governance, risk and compliance strategy.
Evidence buyers could rely on
SOC 2 and GovRAMP evidence packaged so enterprise and public-sector buyers could use it in their own reviews.
A program a new hire could pick up
Documented well enough that a new member of the GRC team understood the SaltyCloud environment in less than a week.
Ongoing compliance support
SaltyCloud keeps us on for any compliance need as it comes up.
The AI system behind the work
Every engagement runs on an AI compliance system we built and use in production. It reads evidence where it already lives, maps each control once across SOC 2, GovRAMP and FedRAMP (NIST 800-53), ISO 27001 and 42001, and CMMC 2.0, then drafts the policies, control narratives and evidence packages each framework expects. Add a framework later and most of the work is already done.
The AI drafts. A credentialed human reviews and signs. That’s the AI implementation pattern we bring to clients: models on the repetitive work, accountable people on the judgment calls.
$ /gap-analysis CC6.1 --framework soc2
reading evidence index … 214 artifacts
✓ MFA enforced (IdP policy export, 2026-10-02)
✓ Quarterly access review (Q3 sign-off)
✗ Offboarding: 2 accounts active >24h after exit
✗ No evidence for prod DB break-glass review
mapped → NIST AC-2 · ISO 27001 A.5.18 · GovRAMP
$ /populate-narrative CC6.1
draft written → narratives/CC6.1.md
status: awaiting human reviewLeadership
Nathanim Philipos
Founder & Principal
- ISO/IEC 42001 Lead Auditor
- Former SOC auditor, Copeland Buhl
- Third-party risk, World Wide Technology
- B.S. Information Technology, Cybersecurity, Missouri State
- STEM MBA candidate, Purdy Emerging Leaders Scholar (2027)
- Member, Institute of Internal Auditors
Nathanim has worked every seat at the vendor-security table: the auditor testing controls, the buyer deciding whether to trust a vendor, and the company trying to get approved.
On the buyer’s side, he leads diligence calls with vendors’ security leads, reads SOC 2 reports line by line, pushes back on questionnaire answers and compensating controls, and flags vendors whose posture doesn’t hold up. He knows which answers close a review and which ones start a second round.
On the company’s side, he built SaltyCloud’s first GRC program and took it through a SOC 2 Type II and a perfect GovRAMP Snapshot score. Before that he tested SOC 2 controls from the auditor’s chair.
So we build your program to pass the review we’d give it.
Field notes
What’s changing for SaaS companies selling to enterprise and government, as of November 2026.
FedRAMP
The federal on-ramp is being rebuilt
FedRAMP 20x replaces the old baselines with classes (Class B for Low, Class C for Moderate) and leans on automated, machine-readable evidence. Current estimates put the end of new Rev. 5 applications at June 11, 2027. If federal is on your roadmap, build your evidence to be automated from the start.
Source: A-LIGN, FedRAMP 20x statusGovRAMP
Standing still now costs you the listing
Since January 1, 2026, GovRAMP Progressing Snapshot participants have to show improvement with each quarterly Snapshot. Identical or declining scores can trigger escalation and, eventually, removal from the list state buyers shop from.
Source: GovRAMPAI governance
Your SOC 2 doesn’t answer the AI questions
Buyers are adding AI sections to their reviews: does our data train your model, which model runs in production, who reviews its output. A SOC 2 report doesn’t cover those. A short, documented AI governance program does, and ISO/IEC 42001 is the standard to build it on.
Questions founders ask first
Do we need SOC 2 Type I or Type II?
Type I shows your controls are designed well on a single date and can unblock a deal quickly. Type II shows they ran over a period, usually 3 to 12 months, and it’s what most enterprise buyers ask for. A common path is Type I now with the Type II window already running.
GovRAMP or FedRAMP: which one do we need?
GovRAMP is for state and local government and education buyers; FedRAMP is for federal agencies. Many state buyers accept FedRAMP, but FedRAMP is the heavier lift. We start with the buyers in your pipeline and pick the smallest path that gets them to sign.
What does “AI implementation” mean here?
Two things. We build AI agents and automation into your compliance operations, so evidence, questionnaires and monitoring stop eating your engineers’ time. And we help you adopt AI elsewhere in the business with governance you can show a buyer.
Are you the auditor?
No, and that separation is the point. An independent CPA firm issues your SOC 2 report, and an independent assessor handles government assessments. We get you ready, help you choose a firm that fits, and manage the audit with you.
How much of my team’s time does this take?
Less than you’d expect. We need an engineering contact for technical controls and a few hours from leadership for policy and risk decisions. Our team and our agents do the writing, chasing and packaging.
A customer just sent a security questionnaire due Friday. Can you help?
Yes. Book the intro call and mention the deadline. Questionnaires are often the fastest place to start, and the answers become your library for the next one.
Book a 30-minute intro
Pick a time that works. Bring the deal, the deadline and whatever the buyer sent you. You’ll leave with a straight answer on what it takes, even if the answer is “you don’t need us yet.”