Laura Keir is CEO at Protein Works, a Cheshire-based protein shakes business that is growing rapidly, with a turnover of £42.8m in the year to August 31, 2023, up from £30.7m.
We caught up with Keir to find out about her typical day in this fast-evolving market, what the step up from CMO to CEO entailed, her advice on growing an ecommerce brand, and how she approaches management and hiring.
Laura Keir: I’m unsure I could use the word ‘average’ to describe my days! Protein Works is a high-growth, private-equity backed functional foods business with ambitious goals and a positively impatient team; each day is demanding and can also be extremely varied. A lot of that variety is fed by the fact we do everything in-house. So, whilst we’re a functional foods brand, we’re also a retailer – running our own websites and shipping all orders from our fulfilment centre. Adding to that, we create and innovate all recipes for our shakes, foods and snacks, that’s before we also make them in our manufacturing facility. This vertically integrated business model means I can be in our factory one minute and the next, in a meeting with Google or Amazon. It’s full of opportunity and challenge.
From the very beginning, I’ve been commercially focused. Many years ago, I sat with Theo Pathitis ahead of taking a job at his retail group, and he told me bluntly that “marketing doesn’t exist”. Sales & Marketing does. That’s the first time I’d heard someone share that belief – a lot of companies try to split the two things – be that in departments or roles. My brain doesn’t work like that. I need to see the challenge end-to-end to create the best solution and hopefully, the best result. That concept is in the DNA of what we do at Protein Works.
The journey from CMO to MD to CEO has been a natural evolution using that philosophy – let me get under the hood, in the detail and build out from that. Using that approach led me into every area of our business, from Operations to Supply Chain, to Customer Experience, Finance and Tech, in my journey with Protein Works I’d taken on projects in all those areas. That’s given me a deep understanding of our business and eased the step to CEO.
The whole concept of founder mode vs manager mode is very interesting to me. It’s complicated and complex and I’m not sure it will ever be figured out in a textbook. ‘Founder mode’ sounds to me like the way people talk about ‘authenticity’ – if you have to use the word ‘authentic’ – by default, you’re not. I think the great founders don’t think of themselves as ‘founders’, whilst the outside world might need that label to describe them, in the meantime, ‘Founders’ are just ‘doing it’. It’s pretty pure.
For me, on paper, I am not a founder. But in reality, I’ve always felt like I’ve ‘owned’ the challenges at any business I’ve been in. By owned, I mean that I think about it from multiple perspectives and simultaneously feel 110% accountable for the solution. I don’t think about titles, I think about responsibility. If you make that subtle shift in your mind then to a large extent, the constructs of ‘management mode’ go away. You just do it. So until I read about the concept of skip-level meetings, I didn’t know it existed, however, apparently, I’ve been having skip meetings all my career and would say around 50 per cent of my meetings at Protein Works are ‘skip meetings’ – I just didn’t know it!
A few years ago, the only people who regularly consumed protein were gym goers and athletes adding supplements for recovery. There was a real focus on function and performance. The shift that we’re seeing is that protein is for everybody – and this has been growing in intensity over the last eight years.
We believe that the best way to be healthy is to build healthy habits, and the best way to help customers with that is with a product they enjoy. To enable that at scale, we’ve honed our expertise in innovating flavour, taste and texture when working with protein. In over a decade’s worth of work in this area, we’ve curated a range of protein-based shakes, meal replacements and foods that have phenomenal nutrient profiles and exceptional taste to boot. This is evidenced by our industry standard-setting 4.7/5 Trustpilot score and consumer research that sets Protein Works as #1 for taste in the market.
I’m not sure it’s fair to share the hard-earned lessons from my team, you never know who’s listening! But if you look at history it’s filled with larger FMCG businesses buying or investing in smaller, noble start-ups or entrepreneurial-led businesses – pace and agility are everything.
My interview process is known throughout the company for being quite intensive. I take part in the majority of interviews personally. I want to know what makes a person tick and understand their drive and motivations. These things are more important to me than most of the information on the average CV. I like to think, because of this, we’re a company that gives people opportunities to build a career here, and this plays into the tight-knit mentality that runs through the team.
A great example of this is our Product Marketing Director Oliver Chissell, who travelled over five hours for his interview, arrived in the early hours of the morning and slept in his car – just so he wasn’t late. You can’t beat that. Irrespective of his work experience to that point, he got the job. He’s now worked his way all the way from Marketing Assistant to Director in the space of seven years. So whilst experience is key, and skill sets add value, the real difference is character.
It’s important to understand the market, and how your offering fits in. Once you have that, don’t be afraid to change your products, and shift your mentality. Ecommerce is fast-paced and trends can shift in an instant so flexibility is key. Having an air-tight supply chain, procurement and manufacturing process will be the enabler.
While I’d be lying if I said it was easy for me to switch off, I do make time for my family which is something we all have to balance, but even more so as a CEO. My family helps keep me grounded outside of my workplace responsibilities.
When I do get time to myself (which is mainly my commute!), I consume literature and thought leadership – through books, articles and podcasts. I‘m someone who likes to learn from others, and there are a lot of business leaders out there with experience that I can draw from. In fact, I’ve always called my drive into work “my mobile university” as it’s a great time to expand my learning beyond the day-to-day.
If I had to pick out a couple of authors who have influenced my leadership style, I’d say Brené Brown, whose approach to brave leadership and tough-open conversations are a big part of how I try to work with my team. Jeff Sutherland’s The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time is another one that I often come back to for its insights on work processes and managing time for effectiveness – which is a vital string in the bow of CEOs everywhere!