Episode 157 - No More Guesswork: Scaling CPG and Food and Beverage with Sabeen Abbas

In this episode, we're joined by Sabeen Abbas, founder of Hatch Line Consulting, to unpack what it really means to turn product strategy into action in the CPG and food and beverage world.

Sabeen shares how she transitioned from corporate America to entrepreneurship just one year ago, why she chose to focus on CPG, and how she uses decision frameworks and stakeholder clarity to help founders and leadership teams stop stalling and start moving.

They dig into the reality that “strategy” is often misunderstood, and that what leaders call “too tactical” is sometimes the exact mechanism required to execute.

Sabeen explains her approach to fractional product and commercial leadership, why the shelf is where the truth lives in CPG, and how a company’s packaging decision is never just design, it is context, category dynamics, and buyer and consumer behavior.

Key takeaways and insights

1. Entrepreneurship is not always a side hustle story. For some people, it starts when they are ready to own their own hamster wheel instead of running on someone else’s.
2. In CPG, product strategy is inseparable from retail reality. The shelf context and category are part of the strategy, not an afterthought.
3. Decision-making is a leadership skill. Delaying decisions creates momentum and focus problems across the organization.
4. Stakeholder management drives execution. Many “contradictions” in meetings are actually stakeholder pressure playing out in real time.
5. A useful rule of thumb for options: if you only have two, you have not thought hard enough. If you have a hundred, you have not filtered. Aim for a strong option C.
6. “Strategy” is getting a bad reputation because some leaders have never learned how to connect strategy to action. Good strategy is operational, not performative.

Follow Sabeen Abbas

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabeenabbas/

Company: Hatch Line Consulting https://www.hatchline.co/

Follow Monique Mills

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moniquemills/

Bio Website: https://moniquemills.biz/

TPM Focus - Strategy Firm for Startups and SMBs: https://tpmfocus.com/

Become an Unpolished MBA Guest: https://unpolishedmba.com