Security reviews are one of the least discussed revenue blockers in SaaS.
They do not show up as churn. They do not look like lost demand. They appear as delays, silence, and deals that never quite close.
For many SaaS companies, especially those selling to mid-market and enterprise buyers, security reviews have become unavoidable. The problem is not the review itself. The problem is how unprepared most teams are when it happens.
When a buyer requests a security questionnaire or asks about SOC 2 or ISO 27001, the sales process slows immediately. Engineering is pulled in. Documents are missing. Answers are inconsistent. Weeks pass.
According to recent industry benchmarks, over half of mid-market SaaS deals now require a formal security review. Nearly one-third of those deals are lost purely due to compliance friction.
This is revenue that does not appear in churn reports or pipeline dashboards. It disappears quietly.
The root issue is not tooling. It is structure.
Most teams jump straight to templates, policies, or compliance platforms without first defining scope, risks, and ownership. This leads to rework, delays, and misalignment between what auditors expect and what the company can actually demonstrate.
The fix is not faster paperwork. The fix is building a clear security foundation that sales, engineering, and compliance can rely on.
When security programs are designed around real product risk and buyer expectations, reviews move faster. Deals close sooner. Revenue stops leaking.
Security should not be a tax on growth. It should be infrastructure that supports it.
