Justin Wheelock is the founder of Wheelock Companies, an operator-led investment firm focused on acquiring and growing established businesses, with an emphasis on professional services and SaaS.

Raised in Minnesota in a family of entrepreneurs, farmers, tradespeople, and truck drivers, Justin grew up with an appreciation for the work, risk, and responsibility that comes with building a business. Those roots shaped an approach he still carries to this day: understand the work, listen to the people closest to it, keep your word, and leave things better than you found them.

Justin earned his business degree from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, where he studied marketing and finance, with additional coursework in psychology. He began his career at Anheuser-Busch, where he was selected for the company’s highly regarded management training program and, within a year of graduating, was leading a team of 10+ direct reports and a $20+ million book of business.

Since then, Justin led market expansion for a venture-backed SaaS company through its acquisition, helped build and grow a founder-led marketing agency, built and led sales teams for a global IT consulting firm, and advised growing businesses as a fractional CMO and growth executive. His experience spans sales, marketing, operations, team building, and P&L leadership, with work supporting organizations and brands including Anheuser-Busch, Red Bull, Polaris, RBC, and Target.

Wheelock Companies was built to take the next step from advising and operating businesses to owning them. Justin invests his own capital alongside investment partners, bringing the operating discipline of large organizations, the resourcefulness of entrepreneurial businesses, and hands-on growth experience to the companies Wheelock acquires.

Outside of work, Justin enjoys summers fishing and boating on the lake, winters on the beach or skiing in the mountains, and weekends exploring new cities, restaurants, and live music. In between, he’s typically learning a new song on the piano or guitar, reading about the latest advances in business, technology, and psychology, or hanging out at the park with his rescue pups, Beau and Stella.