Interview with Yana Fridman, SVP Finance at VI Labs

We sat down with Yana Fridman, SVP Finance at VI Labs, to learn how her team transitioned from spreadsheet-based billing to scalable, automated revenue operations using Vayu. Yana shared candid insights into the challenges of managing high-value contracts, the pain of manual work, and the importance of flexibility when building for scale.

Before Vayu: The billing burden

What was your revenue workflow like before Vayu?

Honestly? Very manual. We had hundreds of contracts-some simple, some really complex-and we were tracking them all in Excel. Each month, I’d go back into those spreadsheets, read through contracts again, figure out who to invoice, and when. We were issuing invoices by hand and copying details across systems. It was error-prone, exhausting, and just not scalable.

NetSuite, which we use for accounting, wasn’t solving it either. It’s not the most user-friendly platform when it comes to contract logic or dynamic billing. There were delays, mistakes, and a lot of duplication of effort between tools.

“Billing and revenue management used to be a manual maze. With Vayu, it’s a system we can trust and grow with.”

The turning point: Why Vayu

What made you decide to look for something new?

We were growing fast, and the manual work was becoming a real bottleneck. I didn’t want to keep doing things in Excel-especially not at scale. I tried looking for a proper solution. We looked into Maxio, for example, but their pricing model didn’t make sense for us. It’s based on total revenue, which penalizes companies like ours that have fewer-but larger-contracts.

And to be honest, a lot of the mature tools in the market felt too rigid. I needed a platform that understood where we were in our journey-and could adapt with us.

That’s when I reconnected with Erez from Vayu. His timing was good, and the approach made sense.

Getting started: Implementation and early wins

What was the experience like getting up and running with Vayu?

It was pretty smooth. The setup was quick, they connected everything to NetSuite right away, and the Vayu team was incredibly responsive throughout. Ophir, especially, was amazing - supportive, available, and always on top of our needs.

The value came fast. From the moment we went live, I could just hit “approve” and invoices would go out. That replaced a huge chunk of my monthly workload.

What kind of impact did that have on your day-to-day?

It freed up time and mental load. At the end of each month, I used to spend full days preparing invoices and checking details. Now, it’s minutes. That’s a huge shift-not just in time saved, but in peace of mind.

Looking under the hood: What made the difference?

What were the specific features or qualities that made Vayu stand out?

A few things stood out. First, flexibility. Our contracts don’t all follow the same structure-some are usage-based, some change mid-year, some have variable billing cycles. Vayu let us handle all of that without needing to rebuild our logic every time.

Second, visibility. Before, we had no central place to track invoice status, approvals, or payments unless we cross-checked between Excel and NetSuite. Now we can see everything clearly-and not just finance. People from other teams can follow along without needing access to NetSuite.

Third, the team. The product is strong, but the responsiveness and willingness to build with us is what made it work. We’re not a typical SaaS company with small, monthly contracts. We needed a partner that could grow with us.

Where AI comes in

You mentioned contracts earlier-how do you see AI helping in this process?

If I’m being honest, I hate reading contracts. And the truth is, I find myself doing it every month-rereading the same ones just to confirm billing dates or amounts. That’s a huge waste of time.

Automating that-extract start dates, payment terms, end dates, amounts-that’s a game-changer. Let the system surface what I need, and I’ll just approve it. That’s the dream.

What’s next?

We’re already seeing major time savings, but there’s still room to optimize. I see us moving from several days of billing work to just two focused sessions a month. That’s valuable time we can reinvest in strategic planning, not chasing numbers.

Final thoughts

If you had to summarise the ROI of Vayu in one word?

Time. It's not just about hours saved, it’s the quality of those hours. Vayu lets us focus on growth-not grunt work.