Operator & Owner Sports Culture Brand Growth

Brands people feel.
Businesses that scale.

The strongest companies don’t just market to culture — they build around it. HartWave partners from inside the business to turn relevance into durable, compounding growth.

Culture is gravity.
The Thesis

Culture opens the door.
Building the business walks you through it.

Culture pulls people toward the companies that matter to them. But relevance only opens the door. Capturing it means building the business behind it: the growth strategy, the product, the partnerships, the team. That’s where HartWave is different — it doesn’t advise from the sidelines; it operates inside the company to make it happen.

Culture

Understand what genuinely moves people, and meet them where their passion already lives.

Connection

Turn that relevance into momentum — across brand, product, and the relationships that scale a company.

Compounding value

Momentum compounds into lasting enterprise value — a business built to endure.

Anyone can build long-term equity. Anyone can drive short-term sales. The discipline is doing both — building enterprise value that future-proofs the business while driving performance today.

What HartWave Is

Built to own, not to bill.

HartWave isn’t a consultancy. Rather than billing for advice, it takes ownership and builds value alongside the companies it partners with — going deeper as the relationship grows: from advising and operating, to building and owning.

What I Do
Operate

Inside the business, not beside it

Most advisors hand over a deck and leave. I embed with your team — building, deciding, and executing — so strategy becomes results.

Partnerships

Doors most people can’t open

Partnerships are where I’m different. Decades of relationships across sports, media, and consumer culture become the alliances, access, and deals that unlock a company’s next stage of growth.

Advisory

Counsel at the highest level

A strategic advisor to founders, CEOs, and boards — bringing enterprise-level perspective to the decisions that set a company’s trajectory.

How We Evolve Together
01

Advise

Strategic guidance and access at the moments that shape a company’s direction.

02

Operate

Embedded, hands-on leadership that drives enterprise value from the inside.

03

Build

Building alongside founders — from the idea to the execution that scales it.

04

Own

A durable, long-term ownership stake in the businesses built together.

How HartWave Engages

Aligned through ownership, by design.

Every engagement is structured around ownership. Three modes of partnership, each scaling commitment alongside the value created.

Advisor
Guidance & access

Strategic guidance and network access for teams that need direction at key inflection points.

  • Positioning & growth strategy
  • Network and partnership access
  • Board-adjacent counsel
Operator
Embedded execution

Hands-on, embedded leadership — driving growth as part of the team.

  • Embedded growth execution
  • Go-to-market & partnerships
  • Ownership of key outcomes
Partner
Full alignment

Deep, long-term alignment focused on building durable enterprise value together.

  • Board-level partnership
  • Enterprise-value strategy
  • Ecosystem & network leverage
Clients & Partners

The companies I build with.

A growing roster of brands and platforms I partner with to turn cultural relevance into compounding growth.

Redefining What Energy Can Be

GURU delivers clean, certified-organic energy powered by real plants — proving a genuine lift doesn’t have to come at the expense of your health.

Unlocking the Digital Layer of the Physical World

Digital Rights Network gives property owners command of their digital airspace, connecting real estate and creators to license and monetize the AR layer of every building.

Turning Real Fans Into a Marketing Engine

PromoShare helps teams and events grow ticket and merchandise sales through the authentic voices of real fans — the kind of word-of-mouth advertising can’t buy.

Putting Data Behind Every Athlete Partnership

Out2Win helps brands and universities build smarter athlete deals, measuring real marketability and influence across 250,000+ athletes so every partnership is driven by data, not guesswork.

Empowering Superfans to Keep Doing What They Love

Fave celebrates and supports fans, shining the spotlight on them through unique experiences, exclusive access and fan-driven events.

Adam Harter
Adam Harter
Founder & Principal
The Founder

I’ve spent my career at the intersection of human passion and commercial growth.

For more than 20 years, I’ve built some of the world’s most recognized brands — across snacks, beverages, and consumer goods — and connected them to culture through music, gaming, and partnerships spanning every major sports league.

Most advisors see channels. Most agencies see campaigns. Most consultants see business models. I see the emotional forces that make people care, belong, advocate, and stay — and I build growth around them.

HartWave is where that experience meets the next generation of companies — approached with the humility to learn every business from the inside, and the hunger to build something that lasts.

Growth isn’t created by transactions. It’s created by connection.
What I Bring

A full operating toolkit — not a single lever.

01

Growth Strategy & Go-to-Market

The plan for how the business grows — and the execution to make it real.

02

Partnerships & Business Development

Alliances, access, and deals that open a company’s next stage of growth.

03

Product & Innovation

Shaping the offering itself — not just how it’s taken to market.

04

Talent, Org & Leadership

Building the team and the way it’s led as the company scales.

05

Board & Governance

Operating at the board level on the decisions that set trajectory.

06

Brand & Cultural Relevance

The signature edge — making a company matter to the people it serves.

Experience Across

Two decades building at the highest levels of brand, sports, and culture.

Leagues
NFLNBAMLBNHLUEFAMLSPGA of AmericaLIV GolfNASCARNCAA
Teams
Dallas CowboysNew York YankeesNew York GiantsPhiladelphia 76ersGolden State WarriorsBoston Red SoxLos Angeles LakersNew York KnicksChicago BullsLos Angeles DodgersNew York RangersBuffalo Bills
Brands
PepsiMountain DewGatoradeDoritosRufflesLay’sStarbucksMattelFisher-PriceQuakerTropicanaLipton
Gaming
Xbox / Microsoft Game StudiosActivision BlizzardEA SportsTwitch2K SportsESL
Music
Live NationAEGCoachellaSXSWLollapaloozaSpotifyApple MusiciHeart
Operating Principles

How HartWave creates value.

01

Relevance over attention

HartWave doesn’t chase attention. It builds relevance — the kind that earns a lasting place in people’s lives.

02

Culture is gravity

The strongest brands harness culture instead of fighting it. HartWave finds where passion lives and meets people there.

03

Feeling outlasts the campaign

Consumers forget campaigns. They remember how a brand made them feel — so HartWave builds for emotion, not just impressions.

04

Equity and performance

Long-term brand equity that future-proofs the business, built while driving measurable performance today.

05

Connection is the engine

The most powerful growth engine in business isn’t advertising — it’s human connection.

06

Platform, not consultancy

A durable vehicle that builds and owns — never a service business trading deliverables.

Let’s build relevance that lasts.

If you’re building a company in sports, culture, or consumer brands — and you want growth rooted in connection, not just spend — let’s talk.

Start a conversation →