There’s no straight line to the CFO seat.

Some deputies spend years as the senior-most finance leader without the title. Others get pulled up unexpectedly when circumstances change. And plenty wrestle with the question: am I really ready for this step?

That was the focus of a live event for members of The F Suite called Forging the Path to CFO: Visibility & Readiness, featuring Jayson Noland (CFO, HackerOne), Charlotte Beard (CFO, Form Energy), and Kapil Agrawal (CFO, Outschool, Inc.).

What became clear is that there’s no single playbook. Each panelist described a different route into the role — from Wall Street to Silicon Valley, from Tesla’s energy division to a grid-scale battery startup, from FP&A leader to public company CFO.

Yet their experiences all point to the same idea. The leap to CFO isn’t about checking every box in advance, but about how you build visibility, embrace imperfect readiness, and invest in relationships along the way.

Start by Making Yourself Visible

For many senior finance leaders, the hardest part of stepping up to that CFO role is being seen. Those roles have heavy responsibilities, but often lack recognition. You might own the forecast, manage board prep, or even run point on fundraising—and still be seen as a “number two.” That’s why visibility isn’t something you wait for or that’s just given to you. It’s something you build.

That starts with owning your lane so completely that the organization can’t function without you. Recalling his time leading FP&A at Poshmark, Kapil Agrawal said “You should be the shining star of running that function…even more so than your CFO. Your CEO and the rest of the leadership team should lean on you more than anyone.”

But technical mastery alone won’t get you seen as a future CFO. Visibility also means stepping into arenas where no one has explicitly asked you to contribute: sitting with the board, shaping investor messaging, building cross-functional credibility.

Charlotte Beard did this by drafting her own development plan and asking for introductions to directors. Jayson Noland made it a practice to prepare earnings scripts and engage directly with investors. Each found ways to make themselves present in the conversations that defined the company’s trajectory.

The common thread is that visibility has two dimensions: depth (your technical excellence) and reach (your ability to show up in the rooms that shape the company’s trajectory). When both are taken care of, you’ll start to shift from dependable deputy to emerging CFO.

Rethink What It Means To Be “Ready” for the Role

We see this in The F Suite community all the time—aspiring CFOs thinking about readiness as a checklist. They seek advice from peers as they try to master every aspect of the finance function, thinking that will finally make them feel prepared for the top seat.

But real paths to the CFO role rarely work out that way. Readiness can show up in unpredictable ways, often before you feel completely confident. Here are a few examples.

• Being thrust into the role. Sometimes the opportunity arrives without warning. When Poshmark’s CFO departed shortly after its IPO, Kapil Agrawal suddenly had to lead functions he’d never touched before. The market was volatile, COVID was muddying the data, and he had to learn in real time.

• Making your own declaration. Other times, readiness is about staking your claim. Charlotte Beard recalled telling her CEO: “2023 is the year I’m going to be a CFO. I sure hope it’s here.” That declaration — both to herself and to the company — created momentum.

• Trying the seat on for size. In high-growth companies, deputies can get a preview of CFO responsibility. For Jayson Noland, representing his company at investor conferences and drafting earnings scripts gave him confidence long before the title was official.

What these experiences reveal is that readiness isn’t something you prove on paper. It’s something you build by stepping into uncomfortable moments, taking on responsibility that stretches you, and letting the role shape you as much as you shape it.

Invest in Relationships Before You Need Them

The leap from deputy to CFO isn’t a solo climb. Technical skills and sharp analysis can carry you a long way, but the final step often comes down to people — the mentors who coach you, the peers who open doors, and the board members who put their weight behind your promotion. These relationships don’t appear overnight. They have to be cultivated long before the opportunity arises.

Here’s how future CFOs can approach it.

Make relationship-building a weekly discipline

Networks aren’t built in sudden bursts around a job search or fundraising cycle. They come from steady effort over years. Charlotte Beard described setting aside time each week to reach out—sometimes to a former colleague, sometimes to a board member, sometimes just to check in with someone she hadn’t spoken to in a while.

Many of those conversations didn’t have a specific purpose, but later became invaluable. One board member she met through this practice became a trusted sponsor who helped accelerate her move into the CFO seat.

Treat networking like a standing meeting. A small, consistent habit compounds into allies who are ready when you need them.

Let Shared Challenges Create the Strongest Bonds

Some of the most meaningful professional bonds are forged in the hardest moments. Beard told the story of stepping into a financial crisis at Tile, where accounting errors left the company exposed and her team was struggling under pressure.

She stayed, rolled up her sleeves, and fought through the turnaround alongside the leadership team and board. Her audit chair saw that grit up close, and the relationship that grew out of that crucible turned into a lasting mentorship.

That story shows that when you show up in the toughest situations, you not only prove yourself technically, you create relationships built on trust that outlast the company itself.

Build Credibility Before You Need Advocacy

At some point, relationships have to translate into someone speaking up for you when you’re not in the room. That only happens if your work has earned respect.

Jayson Noland shared that even CFOs who weren’t always happy with his Wall Street coverage later referred him to opportunities: “Sometimes they weren’t happy with what I wrote, sometimes they were. But even then, they respected the work.” For deputies eyeing the CFO seat, that’s the reminder — credibility is the currency of advocacy. If you deliver consistently, people will put their name behind you when it counts.

Forge Your Path—and Then Clear the Way for Others

The climb to CFO is intensely personal, but it doesn’t end once you claim the seat. The best leaders are the ones who turn their hard-won lessons into opportunities for others.

That might mean giving deputies exposure to investor meetings, sharing credit publicly while absorbing blame privately, or connecting rising leaders to mentors who can broaden their perspective. Each approach reflects the same belief that part of forging your own path is leaving the trail clearer for those behind you.

“We’re a teaching hospital: see one, do one, teach one.” — Charlotte Beard

This mindset turns personal advancement into institutional strength. A deputy who gains confidence through real exposure will one day bring that same readiness to their own team. A junior leader who sees their CFO deflect praise to them learns what advocacy looks like. A manager introduced to a mentor early in their career will pay that investment forward.

That ripple effect is the true legacy of a finance leader.

If you want to learn from peers who are forging and sharing those paths in real time, apply for The F Suite membership.