E28: Airbase CFO Aneal Vallurupalli on Acquisitions, the Chief “Friction” Officer, and Spend Management

In this episode, Sasha Orloff is joined by Aneal Vallurupalli, CFO at Airbase, who drops insights on modern spend management and his journey from M&A to leading finance at a Paylocity acquisition target. Aneal discusses his career trajectory, the impactful role of a CFO in spend management, and how Airbase revolutionizes non-payroll spends in the AI era. Aneal also offers essential advice to CFOs navigating today’s dynamic financial landscape. 🔥 Apply to join over 400 Founders and Execs in the Turpentine Network: https://www.turpentinenetwork.co/ -- SPONSORS: ANROK is the enterprise-grade solution that automates sales tax compliance worldwide. Anrok tracks your exposure, calculates tax, and handles filings—all in one platform. Trusted by Notion, Anthropic, and Vanta. Visit https://www.anrok.com/turpentine to claim your free nexus study and take control of your SaaS tax strategy. -- LINKS: Airbase: https://www.airbase.com/ -- X/SOCIAL: @sashaorloff @AVallurupalli -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Preview (01:16) Intro (01:43) Meet Aneal Vallurupalli, CFO of Airbase (02:28) Understanding Airbase's spend management (04:33) Aneal’s journey to Airbase (08:08) Evolution and impact of Airbase (09:43) Role and strategy as CFO (17:34) Sponsor: Anrok (18:59) Balancing flexibility and control in spend management (21:36) Importance of change management (23:58) Memorable customer success stories (27:35) Evolution of software in the CFO's office (31:21) Trends in selling to different industries (37:08) Future of Airbase and business spend management (39:36) Insights on M&A and career journey (43:37) Reflections on buy-side and sell-side experiences (45:39) Wrap