Meet Jones! 👋🏾

Tell us about your role at Vanta.

I’m Seth Jones and everyone, except for my family, calls me Jones! I’m a Manager on the Customer Success team and I’ve been at Vanta for a year as of March of 2021.

I was one of Vanta’s first Customer Success Managers, so I had the pleasure of meeting some of our team in-person before quarantine shut down the Bay Area. I work directly with customers on all sorts of asks, whether about Vanta or compliance standards as a whole. During our weekly check-ins, I assess their challenges, support by providing solutions, and help customers move through the SOC 2 process with ease. Internally at Vanta, my work is extremely cross-functional! This quarter, I’ve been partnering with our Product, Engineering, and Design teams on beta programs for new standards and integrations.

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What made you realize this was the right career field for you? 

I’m a typical Type A personality — I’m one of those people who deeply enjoys creating and executing on a to-do list. Customer Success at Vanta really touched on a bunch of things that were important to me in my career, specifically working for an innovative company and working with customers in a more proactive sense.

My time at Vanta has been an absolute dream come true. Based on where the product is today and the high level of collaboration amongst internal teams, I get the chance to make a lasting impact on the direction of the tool. Additionally, I get to deepen my understanding of the customer lifecycle and how compliance plays a part in the success of a business as a whole. Oh, and did I mention that Vanta has an excellent Tasks page? It was a match made in organizational heaven.

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Why did you choose Vanta over other companies?

I previously worked at Lyft before Vanta, and I was really missing the excitement of working at a startup. There’s nothing like getting your team in a Zoom room to solve a complex problem, arriving at a working solution, putting it into practice, and iterating over time. Working at a startup also allows me to wear many hats and learn more about business functions that exist outside of my job title. 

I also chose Vanta due to my experience chatting with Christina, our CEO. I think she’s an outstanding leader, and I felt that almost instantaneously in my first conversation with her. Her excitement about Vanta and the security space is palpable — once I got off the phone with her, I knew that Vanta was a place I wanted to be. 

Finally, what has kept me here over the last year is the people — I have an extremely inspiring, empowering boss in Caitlin, and each day I feel so thankful to be working with such an intelligent, humble, kind, and driven team. Vanta has created a space for me to do my best work day in and day out!

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Why are you excited about Vanta’s mission?

I just got off a call with a customer who said to me that ten years ago, there was no way that a company of their size would have been able to get a SOC 2. The main thing I pulled from that conversation was the concept of accessibility. Our mission, to secure the internet and protect consumer data, gives us an opportunity to rebuild the trust that has been broken between software companies and consumers. Prior to Vanta’s existence, obtaining a SOC 2 was only a viable option for companies with deep pockets, which meant that smaller companies didn't get the opportunity to put security first.

Vanta supports what I believe software should be doing — making it more accessible for companies to complete their best work and to build trust with the consumers they create for.

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What’s your favorite quarantine activity?

Surfing! I go surfing before work and I’ll also surf throughout the weekends. I started surfing about a year and a half ago and it changed my life. Getting a chance to be in the water so often feels like the best gift. It has taught me how to stay grounded, work hard, and always make time to play. If it were up to me, I’d take about a month off to go on a surf vacation around the South China Sea, eating good food and surfing clean, empty breaks.

If I’m not surfing, I’m reading sci-fi or fantasy novels! If you’re in the market for a recommendation, I’d suggest The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin — excellent storytelling, lots of twists and turns, all centered by a powerful protagonist.

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What do you like best about working from home?

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I’m sort of a new plant dad — I got my first plant a few years ago! Working from home means that I get to watch all of my plants grow and notice their subtle changes throughout the day. One of my Alocasia plants has a new leaf that is about to unfurl as I type!