Startups and GDPR

For those of us working in the start-up environment, one of the things (at least for me) that appeals to most is that start-ups are not, by definition, CORPORATE. That is, one of the allures of working for a young, dynamic – and hopefully, expanding – enterprise is that the traditional restrictions of “corporate America,” with its rigid workplace environment and internal politics, are not to found. Working for a start-up is exhilarating, challenging and in many cases, all-consuming.

However, it is also important to remember an old adage – “you can’t fight City Hall.” By this, I am referring to the idea that while most of us joined a start-up in order to create something new and be part of a vision, the cold, hard reality of doing business in 2018 is that there are still many things that both start-ups and “corporate America” have in common. We both have to pay the rent, compensate our employees, and yes, adhere to regulation such as GDPR!

I am the Director of Sales with Clarip, an AI based data, privacy and consent management platform that is revolutionizing the relationship between data and privacy, both for consumers and companies. Thus, it was with great interest that I read an article earlier — http://elitebusinessmagazine.co.uk/legal/item/almost-two-thirds-of-startups-collecting-personal-data-aren-t-ready-for-gdpr – noting that nearly 2/3 of all start-ups that collect customer data are not adhering to the upcoming regulation. According to the article, the vast majority of start-ups do not encrypt customer data, do not have a breach response plan in place, nor have proper customer consent requirements.

Most of us can be forgiven for not worrying about something – GDPR – that does not come into effect for four months, when we want to make sure that we will still be in operation in four weeks! Yet, the reality is that even though we likely joined a start-up to get away from the grind of all those faceless and bland “big companies,” the law makes no such differentiation. That is why it is important that you begin your GDPR preparation NOW. For assistance, please visit us at www.clarip.com. We can help you with consent management and GDPR.

Sure, we at Clarip are also a start-up, but it is OUR job to make sure you are in compliance. That way, you can go back to bigger worries – like closing that next big deal and growing your business!

More from Clarip:

Are you ready for the new CA privacy law? Start preparing compliance efforts with Clarip for the California Consumer Privacy Act. Enforcement starts January 1, 2020 so better start planning funding in your 2019 budget now.

Read the most recent posts on the Clarip Privacy Blog.

Learn more about the Clarip consent management solution.

Find more resources about GDPR, data privacy and the future ePrivacy Regulation.