How to answer a vendor security questionnaire when you have no security team

You run a company of 15 people, a big customer has sent a 200-row security questionnaire, and nobody's job title contains the word "security". This is the normal situation for a growing B2B company, and reviewers know it. They are not expecting a security department. They are checking that you know what you do, that it is reasonable for your size, and that you answer honestly.

This is a plan for getting through it with the people you have. For the general method, see how to answer a security questionnaire.

Step 1: Pick one owner and a few helpers

Choose one person to own the file and approve every answer. Usually this is the founder, the CTO or the head of engineering. Everyone else supplies facts for their own area: whoever runs your cloud setup, whoever handles hiring and offboarding, whoever signs contracts. Who should answer security questionnaires goes into the trade-offs.

One owner matters more than an expert. Two people editing at once is how answers contradict each other.

Step 2: Write down what you actually do

Most small companies do more than they have written down. Spend an hour listing the real practices, in plain sentences, under these headings:

• **Access:** who gets accounts, how people are removed when they leave, whether you use a password manager or single sign-on for your own tools.
• **Data:** where customer data is stored, what is encrypted, who can see production data.
• **Software:** how code is reviewed and deployed, how you track vulnerabilities in dependencies.
• **Incidents:** what you would do if something went wrong, and who you would tell and when.
• **Vendors:** which services touch customer data (your subprocessors).
• **People:** background checks, security training, confidentiality terms.

That list is the source for your answers. If something is only in someone's head, write it into a short policy first. Two pages is fine. A questionnaire answer that says "documented in our access control policy" needs a policy to exist.

Step 3: Answer in three parts

A reliable answer pattern for a small team is: what is true today, how you do it, and (if it is a partial answer) what comes next. For example:

Q: Do you have a formal information security policy? A: "Yes. We maintain a written information security policy, owned by [role] and reviewed [annually]. It covers access control, acceptable use, incident response and vendor management. We can share it under NDA."

Q: Do you have a dedicated security team? A: "No. Security is owned by [role], supported by [engineering lead]. We [use managed cloud services and automated dependency scanning] and plan to [add X] as we grow."

Note what the second answer does: it says "No" in the first word. Reviewers read hundreds of these, and a clear no with the compensating controls reads better than a vague yes. Replace every bracket with your own facts, and don't copy an example for something you don't do. The 50 common questions with example answers give wording you can adapt.

Step 4: Handle the questions you can't say yes to

Almost every small company hits the same ones: no SOC 2 report, no independent penetration test, no 24/7 monitoring, no formal disaster-recovery test. Don't skip them and don't stretch the truth. State the fact, what you do instead, and, only if you really control the timing, what is planned.

Guides for the usual suspects: Do you have a SOC 2 report?, Have you had a penetration test? and incident response plan questions. If you say you follow a framework such as the [NIST Cybersecurity Framework](https://www.nist.gov/cyberframework) or the [AICPA Trust Services Criteria](https://www.aicpa-cima.com/resources/download/2017-trust-services-criteria-with-revised-points-of-focus-2022), say which parts, not that you are "compliant".

A wrong yes can come back during a contract dispute or an audit, while a truthful no with a plan rarely costs the deal by itself. See answers that invite follow-up for wording to avoid.

Step 5: Check, send in their file, and save the answers

Before sending: the same fact stated the same way everywhere, no blank rows (write "Not applicable" and why), dropdowns filled with allowed values only, and nothing that claims a certification or test you can't show. Return the buyer's own file, not a rewritten one.

Then save the approved answers somewhere central. The next questionnaire from another customer will repeat most of them, and that is where the time comes back. See building an answer library. The free starter kit (50 common security questions with how to answer each, as an Excel file) is a useful seed.

Where Rendro helps

Rendro is built for companies without a security team. You upload your policies and past questionnaires, then upload the customer's questionnaire. Rendro drafts each answer only from your documents, shows the source, and marks what it can't support as Needs review, and it exports the buyer's original file filled in. You review and approve; it doesn't invent facts for you.

To judge it on your own questionnaire first: send us the blank file and we'll fill in the first 25 questions free within 48 hours. Get the free 25-answer sample, with only the blank questionnaire, never confidential documents. To finish the whole file, start the 14-day free trial (work email, no card). Rendro doesn't work inside web portals, so it fits best when the buyer sends a file.