Food for Thought: CEOs of Misfits Market, Box, Okta as Economy Shifts

Abhi Ramesh of Misfits Market, Aaron Levie of Box, Todd McKinnon of Okta

Sep 12, 2022

Last week brought one of the most interesting acquisitions I’ve seen in a long time: Misfits Market buying Imperfect Foods.

I find it fascinating for multiple reasons, including the slowing economy, inflation, the challenges in local delivery and the pressure on feel-good companies to prove they’re really doing good things.

Misfits/Imperfect sits at the intersection of all these. In brief: Both companies have missions to provide value from food that otherwise would be discarded or degraded — think funny-looking but otherwise great-tasting fruits and vegetables, and healthy meats and fish that are left over after the most marketable cuts are packaged. With food prices soaring, there’s more incentive to bring these items to market at a reasonable price. But with investment capital drying up, there’s also pressure on food-industry startups to show a path to profitability, which led Imperfect’s investors to seek a combination with Misfits, a younger company.

I spoke with Misfits CEO Abhi Ramesh about the deal and what’s next. I also spoke with enterprise software founder/CEOs Aaron Levie and Todd McKinnon this week, both of them Fortt Knox alums:

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I spoke with him in a Fortt Knox 1:1 back in July:

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