Personal & Institutional Data Access

This question asks whether your software will handle any sensitive information belonging to your customers or their users. 'Personal data' includes things like names, emails, addresses, or any information that identifies individuals. 'Institutional data' refers to your customer's business information - financial records, proprietary documents, strategic plans, or operational data. Essentially, they want to know if you'll be touching any data they care about protecting.

How you answer this question determines the entire security conversation that follows. If you handle sensitive data, you'll face stricter security requirements, need robust data protection measures, and must demonstrate compliance with privacy regulations. This directly impacts your ability to close enterprise deals - customers won't sign if they don't trust you with their data. However, proper data handling also becomes a competitive advantage, enabling you to serve security-conscious enterprises and command premium pricing. Mishandling this question can lead to failed audits, lost deals, or worse - data breaches that destroy your reputation.

The biggest mistake is underestimating what counts as 'access.' Even if data is encrypted or you claim not to look at it, if it passes through your servers, you have access. Another common error is forgetting about metadata, logs, or analytics data - these often contain personal information too. Companies also mistakenly think that using third-party services absolves them of responsibility, but customers will still hold you accountable for any data you process, regardless of your subprocessors.