Fundraising cycles are lengthening, investor scrutiny is intensifying, and for nearly every CFO, macroeconomic threats ranging from tariffs to trade instability have become a built-in reality of the operating model.
There’s no playbook for this moment. Growth still matters. But with runway under pressure and external risks compounding, companies can’t afford to default to business as usual—or retreat into pure conservation mode.
That balancing act was at the heart of a recent F Suite panel on managing growth and financials in uncertain times. The discussion featured Lisa Mogensen (Primary Venture Partners and CFO at ZenGRC), Hunter Bergschneider (CFO at Global Ultrasound Institute), Kristen Craft (VP, Business Partner Manager, Fidelity Private Shares), and Mark Truchan (Partner at PwC), who offered perspectives spanning early-stage scrappiness and later-stage rigor.
Their message was clear: in today’s climate, the CFO has to be more than a steward of cash. They’re the steady hand—aligning growth strategy with investor expectations, managing risk without paralyzing the business, and preparing for outcomes no one can predict.
The Tightrope Act of Balancing Growth and Runway
CFOs don’t have the luxury of choosing between growth and preservation—they’re responsible for both. Yet how that balance plays out varies by stage, strategy, and the fundraising environment.
At the early stage, longer fundraising timelines aren’t just a hurdle—they’re an opportunity. The more traction a company can build before going out to market, the stronger its valuation story becomes. That makes timing a fundraise as much a financial decision as a strategic one. Push too early and you give up more equity than necessary, wait too long and risk burning through the runway before capital materializes.
That kind of calibration is only possible with a clear view of both cash flow and growth levers. For early-stage CFOs, the focus is on maximizing efficiency while demonstrating momentum—using time to grow top-line revenue without overextending the cost base.
Later-stage companies face a different kind of scrutiny. Growth is still a priority, but investors are increasingly emphasizing profitability and operational discipline. EBITDA multiples are back in focus. As a result, the CFO’s role shifts toward proving not only that the business can grow, but that it can sustain itself without continued dependence on external capital.
The specifics change, but the throughline remains the same: the CFO sets the pace. That means knowing which levers to pull,and when to maintain investor confidence while keeping the company on solid financial footing.
Communication With External Stakeholders is Key
CFOs spend much of their time aligning internal teams around budget trade-offs and forecasting assumptions. But in uncertain times, communication can’t stop at the operational level. What often makes or breaks a strategy is how well it’s understood by your investors, board members, and financing partners.
“First-time founders, first-time CFOs, I've observed tend to under-communicate. And I think that’s because they believe they should only be sharing the positive things. That is not what your investors want. They want to know the good, the bad, the ugly—they ideally want to know before you need help.” — Kristen Craft, Vice President & Business Partner Manager, Fidelity Private Shares
That’s where experienced CFOs distinguish themselves. Communication isn’t just about keeping people informed, it’s how you create predictability in an unpredictable environment.
The strongest leaders make external communication a core part of the job, not an afterthought. Here’s how:
They set the cadence. Weekly updates with PE or debt partners. Pre-meeting walkthroughs with key board members. These touchpoints create space to ask questions, resolve friction, and build alignment before decisions hit the table.
They lead with clarity, not spin. Investors don’t expect perfection, but they do expect transparency. Flagging risks early gives you more control over the narrative and more credibility when plans evolve.
They match the message to the moment. A Series A investor is looking for momentum and vision. A Series C board wants benchmarks and proof points. Effective CFOs tailor communication to the audience and the kind of support they need.
The numbers matter, but they don’t speak for themselves. Especially in times of uncertainty, it’s on the CFO to make the story make sense and connect financial results to the broader strategy..
Preparing for and Proactively Addressing Market Headwinds
Even the most careful financial plan can collapse under pressure. External shocks such as tariffs, supply chain breakdowns, investor pullback have become part of the operating environment, not rare events.
Boards know it, which is why the questions to CFOs have shifted. They’re less focused on growth curves and more focused on exposure: How will tariffs affect gross margins? What steps have you taken to secure alternate suppliers? How quickly can you adapt if capital markets tighten?
As PwC’s Mark Truchan put it: “Please tell us what the impact is and what steps you've taken to mitigate—just so we understand what the risk is and what the plan is as well.”
On the panel, speakers shared examples of how companies are already adapting:
A healthcare company established parallel operations in Southeast Asia to hedge against China tariffs, well before policy changes were finalized.
Others are prioritizing hyper-local supplier relationships to avoid being caught in global shipping disruptions.
Finance leaders are also rebalancing revenue models, placing greater emphasis on recurring revenue streams to offset unpredictable deal cycles.These moves work because they create room to maneuver. They don’t eliminate the shock, but they prevent it from dictating the outcome.
Resilience isn’t about predicting the next disruption. It’s about building flexibility into the business so the CFO can steer, no matter where the pressure comes from.
5 Ways for CFOs To Stay Future-Ready
Market headwinds aren’t the only source of uncertainty for CFOs.. Shifting expectations through each stage of growth play just as big a role. What convinces investors at one stage can look insufficient at the next.. A future-ready CFO stays ahead of that curve by building systems, narratives, and relationships before they’re required.
1. Anticipate the Next Stage of Scrutiny
Many CFOs fall into the trap of pitching with the mindset of their last raise.
Kristen Craft noted,founders will still be explaining product–market fit when Series B investors have moved on to churn, LTV/CAC, and retention metrics. Later-stage leaders sometimes stay focused on topline growth when private equity investors want EBITDA discipline.
The result is a mismatch between what the CFO is selling and what stakeholders are buying. Future-readiness means staying one stage ahead—understanding the next layer of scrutiny and shaping the story to meet it.
2. Keep Your Data Room Ready To Go
Lisa Mogensen drew a sharp line here: later-stage companies can’t afford to scramble. Investors expect immediate access to KPIs, unit economics, and comparables. If it takes more than 24 hours to deliver, credibility starts to erode.
CFOs should treat the data room as a living system, not a one-time project. Regularly refreshing files, validating metrics, and ensuring consistency across decks and reports turns diligence from a bottleneck into a formality.
3. Sharpen Your Revenue Story
At earlier stages, CFOs may get leeway on imperfect systems, but not on understanding revenue quality. Hunter Bergschneider described working with founders who came from medicine, not finance, and needed coaching on why investors value recurring revenue over one-time contracts.
Segmentation—separating subscription from services, repeatable from one-off—translates directly into investor confidence. It shows you understand the difference between momentum and durability, and that you can tell the story in their language.
4. Have a Stance on AI
AI has become a default diligence question. How are you using it internally to drive efficiency? How does it strengthen the product? Panelists noted that even if adoption is early, not having a clear point of view signals unpreparedness..
CFOs don’t need to present a sweeping transformation, but they do need to show awareness—whether that means automating routine finance processes, testing AI tools in forecasting, or explaining how AI fits into the company’s competitive moat.
5. Invest in Relationships Before You Need Them
When Hunter Bergschneider talked about future-readiness, he emphasized relationships.
His approach isn’t waiting until the raise is live to build a network. He stays in touch with prior board members and executives by sharing updates on milestones, reaching out for informal advice, and keeping conversations warm even when there’s no immediate ask. That way, when timing matters, he’s not starting from zero.
For CFOs, those small, consistent touchpoints create a bench of allies who can be mobilized when the window opens.
Be the Steady Hand in Unsteady Situations
Uncertainty isn’t going away. Fundraising will remain unpredictable. External shocks will keep surfacing. Investor expectations will continue to evolve.
What matters most is how the company responds. A steady CFO doesn’t promise perfect foresight or control. They provide something rarer: confidence that the business is prepared, credible, and resilient no matter the conditions.
That steadiness is redefining finance leadership. It’s no longer just about protecting cash or producing forecasts. It’s about giving the company options when the environment shifts and guiding stakeholders with clarity when others are tempted to panic.
In volatile times, that’s what makes the CFO indispensable—not the ability to predict the storm, but the ability to keep the ship moving through it.