HeartLandJoin

Partnership & Succession

A conversation, not a transaction.

Most founders talk to us for a year before anything happens. The right partnership starts with the right relationship.

Our Promise

What "Join Us. Stay You." actually means.

People first · Purpose second · Details always

  • We don't change the name on the truck.
  • We don't fire your people. We invest in them.
  • You stay involved as long as you want — and not a day longer.
  • Every partner company gets upgraded to Aspire — the operating system the best in the industry run on.
  • We share what we're learning across our operating partners.
  • You'll talk to operators who've done this before signing anything.

1. Listen

We meet, we talk about where you see the business going, how you want to invest in your people, and what you'd protect.

2. Diligence

We share our process openly. You talk to founders we've already partnered with.

3. Structure

We design a deal that fits — rollover equity, transition, ongoing role.

4. Stewardship

Day one and year ten: same name, same crew, more support.

From the Founder

Our founder is a landscaper.

Ed Schatz Jr. founded HeartLand in 2016 with a single conviction: great companies are built by great people — and the right way to grow this industry is alongside the operators who built it.

Before HeartLand, Ed started Austin Outdoor in Florida in 1994 and spent the next three decades in the green industry. He's an operator first. He partners with founders the way he'd want to be partnered with.