Your practice legacy deserves the right partner

A direct offer feels concrete, but it's built on one buyer's math - and that buyer has every incentive to keep the number low. The most common thing we hear from dentists who came to us after engaging a buyer directly is that they had no idea what their practice was actually worth until they saw what competition produced. We typically achieve 10-40% improvements over direct offers, net of our fee, by running a process that puts multiple qualified buyers at the table.

That skepticism is earned. Early DSO deals left a lot of sellers with less autonomy than promised and equity that didn't perform. The difference between a good partnership and a bad one rarely shows up in a pitch meeting - it shows up in how much clinical control you actually retain, what happens to your staff, and whether the equity structure delivers real value at a future liquidity event. We don't introduce buyers to your practice until we've vetted their deal history, current portfolio, and financing track record - so the conversations you're having are with buyers who have actually done what they're claiming.

The headline number on an offer is rarely what you actually take home. Cash at close, equity, and earnouts all carry different levels of certainty - and understanding what you're netting means knowing your real EBITDA, what the equity component is realistically worth, and how your post-sale compensation as an employed doctor compares to what you're making today.

When you sell to a PE-backed group, you'll typically have the option to roll a portion of your proceeds back into the acquiring organization rather than taking everything in cash at close. That rolled equity becomes your stake in a group that's actively acquiring other practices - and when that group sells, your share pays out at a multiple that's generally higher than what a single practice commands. It's often called the "second bite." Whether it's worth taking depends on the group's track record, their current portfolio, and how realistic their timeline to a liquidity event actually is. We help you evaluate that before you commit.

We charge a success fee that is only paid when your practice sells - there are no upfront costs or retainers. The fee is calculated on total enterprise value, and in the deals we run, the improvement in offer value through a competitive process consistently covers that cost.

Generally, no - and this is one of the hardest parts of the process for most practice owners. Staff who have been with you for years deserve to know, but telling them before a deal is closed creates real risk. Key employees may leave, and that directly impacts your practice's value and how buyers evaluate the transition. Most staff will sense something is happening at some point, but there's a significant difference between sensing a change and knowing one is coming. How and when to communicate with your team is something we work through with you directly - there's no one-size-fits-all answer.

A listing agreement is how we formalize our commitment to you - and yours to the process. Exclusivity is what allows us to work solely in your interest, invest fully in running a competitive process, and have direct conversations with buyers on your behalf. Without it, we can't do our job the way it needs to be done. For most practice owners, signing is also the point where years of thinking about a sale becomes a real plan with a real timeline. 

For most dental practices in major markets, 3 to 6 months is a reasonable expectation from listing to close. We've closed deals in as little as one month and as long as a year for larger multi-location groups. The variables that affect timeline most are practice size, your goals for the transition, and how quickly qualified buyers move through due diligence. The longer the process runs, the more important confidentiality management becomes - that's something we're actively managing throughout.