Meet Marc Heyneker, CEO of Revinate. Revinate is the leading omnichannel direct booking platform for the hospitality industry, integrating direct marketing, customer feedback, and revenue tracking. We sat down with Marc to learn more about his experience working with Serent Capital. 

A chance meeting with a friend led to the founding of Revinate. “He said, you know, there’s this huge opportunity to build the next core operating system for this industry,” Marc remembers. “Having a platform that is really customer centric and based on being able to serve customers better and deliver an elevated personal experience is a huge opportunity.” 

“We originally started by bootstrapping our business, so founder money and some angel money. That was in the early days and we got profitable. And we did our Series A round in 2012, Series B in 2015, Series C in 2016,” Marc recalls. “Those were great years.” 

Building a Collaborative Relationship 

As Revinate continued to grow, Marc and his co-founder considered working with a growth partner. “To use a baseball analogy, venture capital is all about slugging percentage and trying to hit home runs. But you’re gonna strike out sometimes doing that and it balances out. Private equity is more about on-base percentage, so ideally no strikeouts and ideally a lot of hits – getting on first and second and third base and sometimes a home run. 

“I was very attracted to Serent for a number of reasons, but on the capital side, you know, they were very clear up front that the goal was 3X to 5X returns in 3 to 5 years. And let’s build a high quality business with operational excellence. Let’s do it the right way. And that really turned out to be the right path for us. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very growth oriented, but I want to grow responsibly and I just want to build an even better business. And I think Serent’s the perfect partner to be able to make that happen. 

Marc and the Revinate team were impressed by Serent’s focus on building trust. “This is a relationship game, right? And when it comes to private equity, where you’re in a partnership in a business, you gotta get to know each other. Serent does an amazing job getting to know founders early, building relationships in a way that’s helpful and collaborative, that’s not pushy, that’s value-added and compelling. 

“Credit to Lance Dexter and the Serent team for having built a relationship well before it was time to go. The value that we’ve created from our first investment in the middle of COVID to where we are now would not have been possible. We’ve come a long way and Serent deserves a lot of credit for the partnership and the value that’s been created, and we’re looking forward to creating a lot more.” 

Finding Opportunities In The Midst of COVID 

When COVID-19 unexpectedly upended the hospitality industry, Serent helped Revinate weather the storm. “It was not on my list of risks for the world of hotels to be shut down for a couple of years,” Marc laughs. “But Lance and Dexter had been operating in hospitality for 10 years, and they could see the forest for the trees. They had seen the good times and, you know, now we were certainly in a strange time, but I think they also were very in tune with what the quality companies are and where the biggest opportunities were, and how this industry would evolve. 

“We did a Series D round of funding in May 2020, and then really used that as an opportunity to get to know each other and work together. That was a minority investment. And then they really worked closely with me to open my eyes to the bigger possibilities out there, leveraging both, organic growth and operational excellence and tuning those dials to get to the vision faster and in a smarter way. 

Unlocking More Revenue Through Pricing 

Marc and the leadership team also developed an aggressive plan to scale Revinate in partnership with Serent. “The Growth Team is a really unique benefit. There aren’t many firms that have growth teams that are fully funded by the firm as a value add to their portfolio companies. We don’t get charged back for that. That’s what Serent is all about – being collaborative and helpful, not tell ‘em what to do and how to do it, but being helpful and helping us learn and elevate. And we’ve taken immediate advantage of that opportunity. 

“The go-to-market team came in and did about a three month deep dive across sales and marketing operations on a global scale,” Marc recalls. “And resulting from that was a prescription of probably six or seven different areas prioritized in terms of impact – things that we should address and try to improve to help us scale and drive better results. And we’re off and running building and implementing all the things they’ve recommended. 

“The second program we took advantage of is pricing and packaging. We have so much opportunity to better monetize our platform. And we believe that the recommendations that have been made by Joe and the team will yield north of a million dollars worth of incremental ARR. 

Developing a Growth Strategy Through M&A 

Serent’s Growth team opened Marc’s eyes to the power of M&A as a growth strategy for Revinate. “We’ve got a really big vision and we can’t build it all. And I’m a big believer that, hey, if it exists in the market and there are quality companies that can be additive and are creative you’re better off buying those businesses. You’ve gotta go with your eyes wide open. You’ve gotta do a lot of due diligence. And Serent really helped us do that. 

Working closely with the Serent team led to two key acquisitions for Revinate. “That really triggered our acquisitions of Navis and Go Moment. And I’m very grateful that Serent made that possible. I don’t think those would have been possible with any other private equity firm given that there really are not any other firms that deeply understand this vertical,” Marc observes. 

“When we got into doing M&A, you don’t know what you don’t know. And I certainly didn’t have what we’ll call it M&A expertise at the level Serent is performing. We probably could have gotten stuff done on our own, but I can tell you it was night and day to be able to work with Serent and the pros there. Let me call it financial engineering. And it was good to be on the same side of the table with them. 

“That fluency, that know-how, that understanding of the landscape, the relationships with all the same CEOs that I know. And so being partnered and walking in the door together and talking about a bright future together is just a huge advantage for Revinate and a lot of fun. We did two great deals as a result, and that was transformative for Revinate.” 

Working With A Growth-Focused Team 

For Marc, what sets Serent apart is their commitment to making a real impact. “That’s the hallmark of Serent – let’s do our homework, let’s place our bets and then let’s make sure that those bets paid off. Serent’s quite good at that. Throughout their business, you see that that runs pretty deep. And they’re making us better at doing that throughout our business as well. 

“I think the people are the product at Revinate. And I think the people are also the product at Serent. The people are exceptional, incredibly talented, but just good humans, good people that really want to do good. They want to be the best private equity firm. I think they’re really getting there, but they’re still very humble. They’re hard working. They’re values driven. And there is no ego anywhere to be found at Serent.”