July 08, 2025

Leading and Hiring at Rapidly Evolving CPG Brand Deep Indian Kitchen

34 minutes

Kiernan Laughlin is the General Manager and co-creator of Deep Indian Kitchen, a growing CPG brand whose mission is to bring a modern, high-quality Indian food experience to consumers worldwide. Kiernan previously held senior brand management roles at large CPG companies like Johnson & Johnson and Unilever, and he spent his early career in marketing, promotions, and partnership leadership at Gorton’s Seafood.

Highlights from our conversation include:

Core business and leadership lessons from Kiernan’s career in multi-stage CPG (1:26)

Useful skills Kiernan picked up outside of work that have percolated into his leadership style (5:27)

Going from a structured corporate environment to leading an emerging brand (8:01)

The challenges and opportunities of building a team through rebranding (11:22)

Elements that make a successful relationship between CEO and Founder (19:36)

Keeping his team aligned and agile as the company evolves (21:48)

Hiring for qualities that go beyond the resume (22:49)

How Deep connects their mission to action through their foundation (27:08)

Advice for the next generation of CPG leaders (30:13)

Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more on this episode.

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