START: Emma Lawler, Product Lead, Rippling "Rippling Automated Compliance"

START: Emma Lawler, Product Lead, Rippling "Rippling Automated Compliance"

From START by Fondo

July 17, 2026 · 25 min · Episode 120

About this episode

Emma Lawler discusses her experience with SOC 2 compliance and how it influenced the development of Rippling's automated compliance product.

As a founder, Emma Lawler felt like SOC 2 was a major distraction from building. But when she started selling to enterprise logos, it became something that was impossible to ignore. Now, as Product Lead at Rippling , she channeled her first-hand experience of getting SOC 2 compliant to rethink how all automated compliance frameworks are run. It started with a retro. Every other SOC 2 vendor works the same way: Detect a problem Alert your team Fix it...somewhere else The problem with this checklist is that "somewhere else" requires dozens of additional integrations. Because these vendors are just reporting layers on top of your stack. Rippling is your stack. Which means most of your compliance evidence is collected before you start AND when there's a gap in compliance, Rippling fixes it. Unencrypted device --> encrypt it. Wrong app access --> de-provision automatically Incomplete security training --> gate system access until its done. Because compliance really isn't about the report. It's about operating your company securely -- and proving it without a yearly fire drill. Emma shares more about how her own founder journey influenced building Rippling's powerful new…

People in this episode

Guest: Emma Lawler

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Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Rippling

Products: Rippling Automated Compliance

Books & works: SOC 2

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