Commercial Infrastructure

We build the systems
that make growth hold.

heartland builds the commercial infrastructure that makes growth hold for PE-backed companies. The technology, sales, go-to-market, and operations systems that turn a growth mandate into a result that survives an exit.

Let's Talk → How We Work
What We Do

Most growth problems aren't strategy problems.

They're systems problems. The tech stack that can't scale. The sales process that leaks at every stage. The post-acquisition integration stuck because no one owns the commercial transformation.

That's what we fix. Technology, sales development, go-to-market, operations, AI. Integrated and compounding. Not a strategy deck. A working system with an owner.

The vertical changes. The problems don't.

  • 01 Diagnose what's broken. Usually everything touches everything.
  • 02 Design the system that fixes it. Process, technology, org structure, metrics.
  • 03 Install it alongside your team. We work with you, not at you.
  • 04 Ensure it holds. Training, accountability, continuous performance.
How We Work Together

Three ways in.
One standard of work.

Every engagement begins with understanding the system. The right depth becomes clear in the first conversation. We don't take every engagement. Fit matters.

01 The Audit

A focused diagnostic of your commercial infrastructure across technology, sales, go-to-market, and operations. We surface the real break points, not the symptoms. You leave with a prioritized roadmap and a clear picture of what needs to change.

Entry Point
02 Advisory

Ongoing strategic counsel for organizations with teams in place who need senior-level direction and accountability. Strategy set, assumptions challenged, performance held to standard. Month-to-month. No overhead theater.

Ongoing
03 Embedded

We operate inside your org, owning the commercial transformation: technology, sales development, systems, team performance, and results. The deep work of rebuilding the commercial engine alongside you with full accountability for outcomes.

Anchor
Proof

The work, in numbers.

Twenty-five years building commercial engines for companies moving through transformation, integration, and scale. Different verticals, the same underlying problem, and the same operator accountable for the outcome.

A track record across the full cycle
25 yrs GTM leadership within healthcare, professional services, and consumer markets
$350M From $50m - $350m+ where I've built and rebuilt the GTM engine
6+ Acquisitions and exits operated through, as executive or owner
$35M+ Growth capital raised on the strength of the commercial story
Embedded engagements — clients held in confidence, the pattern is the point
Multi-Site Healthcare Franchise
Reverseda multi-year new-patient decline and rebuilt patient acquisition end to end
600+person commercial org led through a full performance rebuild
NewSales channel built from concept to pilot with complete ai infrastructure
$50M+ Professional Services Firm
Rebuiltsales and marketing from the ground up under new ownership
Pipelinematerial lift in qualified volume after the systems rebuild
Marginmeaningful net-margin expansion alongside acquisition-cost reduction
Consumer / Manufacturing
Growthrevenue turned around through transformation and global expansion
3international markets opened, manufacturing consolidated
Exitclean licensing and royalty deal after a deliberate build
Thinking

Original perspective on commercial infrastructure.

A monthly dispatch on what it actually takes to build and operate the systems that make PE-backed companies scale. No lead magnets. No funnels. No marketing theater.

Published monthly. Written by an operator, for operators. Unsubscribe any time.

Next Up in Ground Work
  1. 01 Growth infrastructure breaks before strategy does
  2. 02 The commercial engine is not the sales team
  3. 03 Post-acquisition integration starts with the revenue system
  4. 04 AI in regulated environments is an operator problem
  5. 05 The audit is the engagement
Who We Work With

We're selective.
Fit matters to us.

PE-backed companies where growth complexity requires systems-level thinking, not more tactics. Post-acquisition integration, digital transformation, multi-location scale, AI implementation where precision isn't optional.

Right fit
  • →Growth problems that recur despite tactical fixes
  • →Leaders who make decisions and hold teams accountable
  • →Organizations that value systems over heroics
  • →PE-backed companies with a real growth mandate
  • →Operators who want someone who builds, not observes
Not a fit
  • +Looking for ad management, content, or social media
  • +Hiring a consultant to validate decisions already made
  • +Seeking the cheapest option
  • +Unwilling to make hard calls on team or process
  • +Want a report, not a rebuilt system
Justin Knechtel
Justin Knechtel

The operator
behind heartland.

I'm the operator you bring in when commercial infrastructure is broken and needs to be rebuilt, not a consultant hired to document it.

Twenty-five years in commercial leadership. I've taken companies from $50M to $200M+ through transformation, integration, and scale, and I've done it from the inside, as an embedded operator, as a CMO and CGO, and as a CEO who owned the P&L and answered to the board. The work spans healthcare, professional services, consumer, and technology, including regulated environments where mistakes are expensive and M&A integration and exit where the commercial story has to hold up to a buyer.

I've sat on the reporting side of the boardroom through PE entry, transformation, and exit, translating what's happening in the commercial engine into terms sponsors and directors can act on.

The vertical changes. The problems don't.

heartland is built around one senior operator by design. You work with the principal, accountable for the outcome, not a bench you'll never meet. When the work calls for more hands, I bring in a vetted network, but the ownership stays with me.

I don't advise from a distance. I build alongside your team, lead the transformation, and develop the internal capability to sustain it after I'm gone.

The endgame is always my exit and your success.

When I'm not working, I'm coaching hockey, fishing, or somewhere outdoors with my wife, our horses, and four kids.

LinkedIn → jk@htlnd.co

Let's talk.

No proposals. No committees. 45-90 minutes to determine if there's a fit. If we're aligned, we move. If not, maybe I've got a referral for you.

Schedule a Discovery Call →