Joe Blunda of Forager: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became a CEO

Nothing replaces experience: you can ‘fake it till you make it” for a while in many ways, but ultimately you have to build a full understanding of the business of your customers to be successful.

As part of my series about the leadership lessons of accomplished business leaders, I had the pleasure of interviewing Joe Blunda, CEO of Forager

Joe Blunda has been in the food business since 2016, most recently joining local food pioneer Forager as CEO at the request of its founder, David Stone. Joe got his first experience in the food business as a child selling native blueberries at a farm stand in Maine, and has had a passion for local food ever since. Before coming to food, Joe was an aerospace and defense consultant for private equity firms. He earned his undergraduate degree from Bowdoin and completed his graduate business studies at Fletcher/Tufts University.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us the story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I was raised by two entrepreneurial parents and had early experiences with business as a young man, including establishing and operating a…