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CFOs as Agents of Change with Aneal Vallurupalli, CFO at Airbase
This episode features an interview with Aneal Vallurupalli, CFO at Airbase, the only truly comprehensive spend management platform available to small and midsize companies.
Aneal has spent more than five years in executive-level finance running companies such as Mattermost and Mapbox. He received his Bachelor of Science in Finance from Santa Clara University and is a member of the Forbes Finance Council.
On this episode, Aneal addresses the impact that the pandemic had on the finance world, the importance of holistic data in finance, as well as how the current role of the CFO is changing.
Quotes
*“The really awesome part that I love, and something that I've kind of just embraced... is you know, we've all worked at businesses where we end up needing to build the support functions, FP&A, accounting, capital markets, stock administration, all these things for a company for which we may not be the ideal customer or the product for which the company builds. Well, at Airbase, we are fortunate enough to be a part of a business where we do have input into the product that's being built because we are the number one users. We are the groups that you're selling to at other businesses. And so that has been probably one of my biggest joys of being here.”
*“A few things changed right when the pandemic hit. Number one, you saw a big shift in the financial markets. You saw a big shift in terms of folks trying to understand, 'Is this here to stay? How long is this thing here to stay? Do we need to reconsider our operating plans that we had put in place?' Keep in mind, I think COVID hit around the March timeframe, right in 2020. Right around March, the majority of companies are already done with their annual planning and into their Q1. So, having to replan and retune their model and ultimately their plan for the year, many companies did that. And I don't claim to be an expert as a CFO, but I do claim to have really good people around me that I've seen a lot, that I can call upon, and that was one consistent thing that was occurring across my network was folks were double-clicking on the models that they had built on the assumptions that they had made for growth, for burn, and ensuring that the company could downside protect itself.”
*“Do I have conviction that being data-driven is a good investment for a company? I do have conviction about that. I think that there's a lot of merit to it. Because I think what it instills is the idea that from an early stage of a company you start paying attention to the metrics that drive success for your company. And in the long run, that means that you're able to build a higher predictability around your business. The managers around the company are paying attention to that data consistently and making decisions off of it. So that last part there is the most important piece.”
*“I think that the first thing finance needs to accept is the idea that they can be that agent of change, that catalyst for change at a business... And so I think one of the biggest things that finance leaders need to have conviction about is that they can help the company get to a better place when it comes to being data-driven. And it's not just a finance issue. Everyone else around the company is feeling it, but finance is in a unique position to actually steward that change and be a catalyst for it. And I think that once you accept that, then we become truly a strategic partner to the rest of the business in ways that a sales leader or a marketing leader, our go to market leader, a product leader will embrace finance versus just being the budget stewards.”
Time Stamps
*[01:32] Why Aneal got into finance
*[03:19] How the role of the CFO is changing
*[05:04] Operations at Airbase
*[08:34] Segment: Cash Crossroads
*[11:20] Adjusting business for the pandemic
*[14:58] Segment: The Playbook
*[17:25] The importance of holistic data in finance
*[20:04] Segment: Report From the Future
*[22:18] CFOs are agents of change for the future
*[26:19] Segment: Quick Hits
Sponsor
The Invisible Vault is powered by the team at Kyriba, the global leader in cloud treasury and finance solutions, empowering CFOs and their teams to transform how they activate liquidity as a dynamic, real-time vehicle for growth and value creation. To learn more visit www.kyriba.com
Links
Connect with Aneal on LinkedIn
Follow Aneal on Twitter
Follow Daniel on Twitter
View all episodes
By Kyriba
5
1616 ratings
This episode features an interview with Aneal Vallurupalli, CFO at Airbase, the only truly comprehensive spend management platform available to small and midsize companies.
Aneal has spent more than five years in executive-level finance running companies such as Mattermost and Mapbox. He received his Bachelor of Science in Finance from Santa Clara University and is a member of the Forbes Finance Council.
On this episode, Aneal addresses the impact that the pandemic had on the finance world, the importance of holistic data in finance, as well as how the current role of the CFO is changing.
Quotes
*“The really awesome part that I love, and something that I've kind of just embraced... is you know, we've all worked at businesses where we end up needing to build the support functions, FP&A, accounting, capital markets, stock administration, all these things for a company for which we may not be the ideal customer or the product for which the company builds. Well, at Airbase, we are fortunate enough to be a part of a business where we do have input into the product that's being built because we are the number one users. We are the groups that you're selling to at other businesses. And so that has been probably one of my biggest joys of being here.”
*“A few things changed right when the pandemic hit. Number one, you saw a big shift in the financial markets. You saw a big shift in terms of folks trying to understand, 'Is this here to stay? How long is this thing here to stay? Do we need to reconsider our operating plans that we had put in place?' Keep in mind, I think COVID hit around the March timeframe, right in 2020. Right around March, the majority of companies are already done with their annual planning and into their Q1. So, having to replan and retune their model and ultimately their plan for the year, many companies did that. And I don't claim to be an expert as a CFO, but I do claim to have really good people around me that I've seen a lot, that I can call upon, and that was one consistent thing that was occurring across my network was folks were double-clicking on the models that they had built on the assumptions that they had made for growth, for burn, and ensuring that the company could downside protect itself.”
*“Do I have conviction that being data-driven is a good investment for a company? I do have conviction about that. I think that there's a lot of merit to it. Because I think what it instills is the idea that from an early stage of a company you start paying attention to the metrics that drive success for your company. And in the long run, that means that you're able to build a higher predictability around your business. The managers around the company are paying attention to that data consistently and making decisions off of it. So that last part there is the most important piece.”
*“I think that the first thing finance needs to accept is the idea that they can be that agent of change, that catalyst for change at a business... And so I think one of the biggest things that finance leaders need to have conviction about is that they can help the company get to a better place when it comes to being data-driven. And it's not just a finance issue. Everyone else around the company is feeling it, but finance is in a unique position to actually steward that change and be a catalyst for it. And I think that once you accept that, then we become truly a strategic partner to the rest of the business in ways that a sales leader or a marketing leader, our go to market leader, a product leader will embrace finance versus just being the budget stewards.”
Time Stamps
*[01:32] Why Aneal got into finance
*[03:19] How the role of the CFO is changing
*[05:04] Operations at Airbase
*[08:34] Segment: Cash Crossroads
*[11:20] Adjusting business for the pandemic
*[14:58] Segment: The Playbook
*[17:25] The importance of holistic data in finance
*[20:04] Segment: Report From the Future
*[22:18] CFOs are agents of change for the future
*[26:19] Segment: Quick Hits
Sponsor
The Invisible Vault is powered by the team at Kyriba, the global leader in cloud treasury and finance solutions, empowering CFOs and their teams to transform how they activate liquidity as a dynamic, real-time vehicle for growth and value creation. To learn more visit www.kyriba.com
Links
Connect with Aneal on LinkedIn
Follow Aneal on Twitter
Follow Daniel on Twitter