Strategic Executive Leadership for Growth-Stage Businesses

Grit got you here. The right team gets you further.

Work Heartily helps founder-led businesses grow by embedding fractional executive leaders—COOs, CROs, CMOs, and CIOs—directly into your team.

We don’t just advise. We integrate and execute to help you move forward with clarity.

WHO WE WORK WITH

We support founder-led companies and growth-stage businesses, typically between $5M–$20M in revenue, across healthcare, SaaS, arts & entertainment, services, construction, ag-tech, logistics, and other industries.

Based in Nashville and rooted in the Southeast, we bring regional insight and national-caliber leadership to every engagement.

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OUR MISSION

To help growing businesses overcome leadership gaps, unlock opportunities, and build lasting capability through experienced, embedded executive support—when and where it’s needed.

OUR STORY

Work Heartily was born from a simple, recurring challenge: Founders were building something great but struggling to scale.

They couldn’t afford (or didn’t need) full-time executives, yet the pressure to deliver, decide, and do it all alone was unsustainable.

At the same time, we knew incredible operators: people who had assembled and led teams, solved real problems, and were ready to contribute again on their own terms.

We built a bridge between the two.

Today, Work Heartily is a trusted partner to businesses navigating critical inflection points. We place the right executive talent inside growing companies quickly, flexibly, and with a complete commitment to outcomes.

How We’re Different

We Don’t Drop In. We Plug In.

90-Day Trial Period

You don’t have to take a leap of faith. We offer a trial period to ensure mutual fit and immediate traction.

Focused on the $5M–$20M Growth Stage

We know this space well. We’ve seen where founders get stuck and what it takes to move past it. We provide the right help, at the right time.

Embedded Ownership

Our executives join your team, not your inbox. They own outcomes, align with your culture, and work alongside you.

Ideal Team Players

We rigorously screen for leaders who are hungry, humble, and smart. No egos. No theorists. Just people who get in and get it done.

Built for Lasting Impact

We help you prepare for today and tomorrow by building systems, tools, and teams that keep working after we’ve stepped out.

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Our Values

We Call It “Working Heartily” for a Reason

Excellence Without Ego

We bring deep expertise but lead with curiosity. Our outcomes speak for themselves.

Resilience Yields Results

Challenges invite us to grow. We don’t balk. We get it done.

Embedded Ownership

We are not consultants. We are on your team, owning the work that yields results.

Build Lasting Capabilities

Our engagements are focused. We build systems and people that drive success after we are gone.

Work in Your Genius

Work is a gift. We make it energizing and meaningful by living out of our strengths and passions.

Our Team

We’re a collective of proven leaders with deep operating experience.

Our fractional executives have led teams, driven growth, and built scalable systems at startups, private equity-backed firms, and Fortune 500 companies.

Every member of our network is:

Carefully vetted for industry experience and executional ability
Matched for chemistry, communication style, and cultural alignment
Committed to doing the work, not just talking about it

When you work with one of us, you access all of us. Behind every Work Heartily executive is a team of peers, sounding boards, and specialists ready to support your success.

Meet Our Executives

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For Founders & CEOs

If you’re feeling stretched, stuck, or unsure what’s next, let’s talk. You don’t need to do it all. You just need the right support.

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For Executives

Our robust team is comprised of seasoned leaders doing meaningful work in a way that fits their goals and lifestyles. If you possess a track record of leadership success in CXO roles and can offer experience-driven insights to our clients, let’s connect.

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