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Sam Shank

Board Member at Operto Guest Technologies

San Francisco, California

Overview 

Sam Shank is a seasoned entrepreneur and investor, known for his successful tenure as the former CEO of HotelTonight and current role as a Board Member at Operto Guest Technologies. Highlights of his career include founding DealBase.com and holding key leadership positions at Airbnb and Runkeeper. Sam Shank's career achievements include leading HotelTonight as CEO and making strategic investments in various startups like Gametime and Getaround, while also serving as a Board Member at Operto Guest Technologies and Runkeeper.

Work Experience 

  • Visiting Partner

    2025 - Current

  • Advisor

    2024

Gametime sells last-minute tickets to the most popular events in sports, music, and theater.

Raised $71,599,983.00 from Accel, Blitzscaling Ventures, Palapa Ventures, Bolt Ventures, Next Play Capital, Maven Ventures, University Growth Fund, Tenere Capital, Alumni Ventures and Google Ventures.

  • Co-Founder

    2023

  • Head of Commercial Team

    2022 - 2022

    Included the functions of enterprise account management, sales enablement, revenue management, business development and commercial strategy.

  • Head of Guest Experience

    2020 - 2022

    Led a team of product managers, data scientists, engineers and designers responsible for Airbnb's guest-facing websites and mobile apps. Launched category-based home search. Increased conversion by simplifying and optimizing various guest flows.

  • Head of Hotels

    2019 - 2020

    Led an initiative to add boutique hotel inventory to Airbnb, which was put on hold during Covid.

Lake Swan Properties is a holiday home rental company.

  • CEO

    2010 - 2022

    Co-founder and CEO of the leading last minute hotel booking app. Raised over $100m and built a team of 350 people. Grew the business to profitability with revenues in excess of $150m. Successfully sold the business to Airbnb in 2019. Continued to run HotelTonight inside Airbnb as an independent business unit.

HotelTonight is a mobile hotel booking application that allows users to find and reserve same-day hotel rooms from their smartphones.

Raised $126,885,000.00 from Notable Capital.

  • Board Member

    2013 - 2016

    Independent Board Member for this fitness tracking app. Worked closely with CEO to determine strategy, budget, product roadmap and helped position the company for its successful sale to ASICS.

  • Founder & CEO

    2008 - 2010

    Travel deals search engine.

  • VP, Business Development

    2006 - 2007

    Led the company's partnership distribution efforts including partners such as Forbes and Washington Post. Also involved with inbound and outbound M&A activities. Also, as General Manager of TravelPost.com, managed all operations of the TravelPost.com website, including P&L responsibility, product strategy and international expansion.

SideStep is a travel search engine that generates revenue via advertising and referral fees.

Raised $32,000,000.00 from Norwest Venture Partners, Saints Capital, Leader Ventures and Trident Capital.

  • CEO and Founder

    2004 - 2006

    Raised angel and venture capital funding, hired team, secured key alliances and set product strategy to build the largest independently-owned hotel review and research site with over 250,000 user-generated reviews and 700,000 unique monthly visitors. Successfully sold the business to SideStep in October 2006.

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