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Rod Jimenez

Background

Rodrigo "Rod" Jimenez is CEO of SHR Group, a hospitality technology company that provides a unified suite of distribution (CRS), revenue management (RMS), and guest profile and loyalty (CRM) applications for the hotel industry, along with services including digital marketing, web delivery, and revenue management for hire. Prior to SHR, Rod co-founded iHotelier, which was acquired by TravelClick. He then co-founded what became SHR — originally called Whiteboard Labs, later renamed Scepter Hospitality Resources after a joint venture with a Singapore-based real estate company, and eventually rebranded to "SHR" for practical marketing reasons. SHR subsequently partnered with Serent Capital for growth equity (closing in March 2020) and was acquired by The Access Group, where Rod is leading the integration of SHR into Access's hospitality division alongside GuestLine. (Ep. 4)

Appearances

Key Views & Frameworks

  • On Value-First Outreach: Inaccurate information about a target company is the fastest way to lose a founder's attention. Rod advises PE professionals to either demonstrate genuine knowledge of the space or lead with honest curiosity — never stretch thin credentials into false conviction. He prefers "we're very curious about your space and we just want to learn more about it" over forced claims of sector expertise. (Ep. 4)

  • On Breaking Through the Noise: Rod describes filtering a steady flow of PE outreach (two to three per month, spiking around announcements) by immediately deleting messages with wrong facts about SHR, deprioritizing outreach from very junior people with only surface-level questions, and engaging with firms that had relevant portfolio companies or demonstrated real familiarity with the hospitality tech space. (Ep. 4)

  • On relationship building and timing: The eighteen-month relationship with Dan Herr at Serent — built through industry conferences, in-person visits, and progressively deeper conversations — meant that when the transaction window opened, they could move from conversation to LOI in days. Rod emphasizes that trust and character assessment cannot be "pressure cooked" and require sustained time. (Ep. 4)

  • On PE governance: Rod calls Serent's board a "game changer" — the rigor, challenge, and collective wisdom it brought were more valuable to him than the growth team, and represented a sharp upgrade from his prior strategic partner who was supportive but too large and distant to be operationally present. (Ep. 4)

  • On PE in one word: "Optionality." From a founder's perspective, private equity provides optionality for growth, governance, and eventual exit. (Ep. 4)

Notable Quotes

"It wasn't because you guys were so amazing that you could take a company you knew nothing about and then have an LOI three days later. It's because you had invested a year and a half of relationship building." — Ep. 4

"Who you're partnering with and their character, in my mind, just trumps everything." — Ep. 4

"If you had to sum up private equity in one word, what would it be? From a founder's perspective, I would say optionality." — Ep. 4

"I just immediately rejected the idea of I'm willing to put up with not liking somebody or not picturing my ability to work with them day in and day out because they're a more well-known firm or because maybe their valuation is going to be better." — Ep. 4