How Sandbox Wealth Engineered Enterprise-Grade Security from Day One

Sandbox Wealth is building the next generation of digital infrastructure for private wealth management and financial advisory services. Focused on automating complex financial data flows between high-net-worth clients, financial advisors, and institutional lenders, Sandbox Wealth is redefining how sensitive financial data is aggregated, analyzed, and shared.

In this highly regulated environment—where data privacy laws, institutional security reviews, and high-stakes financial transactions intersect—security isn’t a secondary concern. It’s a prerequisite for doing business.

The Challenge: Meeting Enterprise Security Standards Before Product and Team

Sandbox Wealth faced a problem unique to founders operating at the intersection of fintech and private wealth: how to build an institution-ready platform capable of passing rigorous security reviews from day one.

Founder Ray Denis, drawing on prior experience at Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and J.P. Morgan, knew that landing enterprise partnerships without a credible security posture backed by SOC 2 certification would be nearly impossible. But starting a company before hiring a full team presented immediate challenges:

• How do you implement a complete security and compliance program without in-house GRC or security resources?
• How do you architect cloud infrastructure with compliance controls built in from the start?
• How do you develop audit-ready policies and evidence before your first line of production code goes live?

Sandbox Wealth needed to make strategic decisions early—ones that wouldn’t just check a box for compliance, but that would establish scalable, secure foundations for future growth.

The VioletX Approach: Security as a Core Engineering Discipline

Rather than take a piecemeal approach, Sandbox Wealth engaged VioletX to fully embed security into the company’s technical architecture and business operations from inception.

• SOC 2 Framework Design Grounded in Real Infrastructure Decisions:
  VioletX worked directly with Ray Denis to design a SOC 2 program that wasn’t theoretical. Controls were mapped to the company’s actual technology stack and future-state architecture. This included defining secure defaults for cloud environments, encryption strategies for financial data in transit and at rest, and identity and access management aligned to least privilege principles from day one.
• Audit-Ready Policy and Control Development:
  With no internal resources dedicated to GRC, VioletX took ownership of developing audit-ready policies and procedural controls tailored to Sandbox Wealth’s specific business model. These weren’t generic templates—they reflected real decisions about data flows, vendor management practices, and infrastructure governance.
• Direct Execution Support:
  Beyond advisory, VioletX worked hands-on to implement critical controls and prepare the company for audit readiness, including walkthrough preparation and evidence gathering. This ensured Sandbox Wealth could demonstrate real operational security to external auditors, even before the product was fully launched.

The Outcome: SOC 2 Certification Before First Customer Engagement

With VioletX’s leadership, Sandbox Wealth achieved SOC 2 Type I certification prior to launching its product or onboarding a single customer. This enabled the company to enter strategic conversations with large financial institutions immediately, backed by real security credentials and a clear commitment to data protection.

Key outcomes included:

• Established a scalable, secure cloud architecture with embedded compliance controls.
• Accelerated go-to-market readiness by clearing security and procurement hurdles before engaging enterprise buyers.
• Built a foundation to support future regulatory compliance frameworks as the company grows.

“Working with VioletX was worth its weight in gold. They didn’t just help us meet a requirement—they fundamentally shaped how we built our company around security from the start. That’s the difference between just passing an audit and being prepared to scale in a highly regulated industry.”
— Ray Denis, Founder and CEO, Sandbox Wealth

For fintech startups operating in high-trust environments like private wealth management, security is no longer a late-stage priority—it’s the foundation for market access and long-term viability. Sandbox Wealth’s experience demonstrates how getting security right from day one creates lasting advantages in even the most demanding industries.