We recently spoke with clients from Rocket Health Partners about their experience with Caber Hill Advisors. Hear from Dr. Scheyer on why they decided to form their new dental organization, why they chose to work with Kurt Harvey and the team at Caber Hill Advisors, and what they learned during the process.
The transcript below has been edited for concision and clarity.
Why did you seek Kurt Harvey and the services of Caber Hill Advisors?
That’s a great question – it was really trial and error. We tried to do this on our own for years when interested parties approached us. One was a large company from Japan; another in the United States. It was obvious that we did not have the financial background and capabilities to create our value proposition on our own.
Kurt came highly recommended by trusted partners. We needed Kurt and Caber Hill to help us with not just with our vision, but also our financials. What is our true value that someone would be interested in acquiring?
Without Caber Hill Advisors we could not have done that. We just don’t have the expertise to do the evaluation process and create a story that supports not only the vision but also the value of this group of practices.
What did Kurt and Caber Hill bring to the process that made a big difference?
I think that our unique value proposition is the deep research and education that supports our clinical care.
The other is my partner, Dr. Mike McGuire, who has long been a leader in the dental industry. We have relationships not just with this group of dentists in Houston, but really all over the United States, which allows us to create a pipeline for future acquisitions. This is appealing to potential partners. Our organization is not just going to be this group in Houston—we have the opportunity to scale to several other markets.
Our model is unique within the DSO space in that doctors are on the management team. We have a clinical advisory board that supports the management team.
All founding doctors are involved in our decision-making process, striving to deliver quality care to patients and be an organization that’s not solely concerned with the bottom line. Kurt and Caber Hill took the time to understand, shape, and uniquely highlight our value proposition to investor groups. They delivered.
What was the process like? What surprised you about the process?
I think all the founding doctors were surprised about the process. It’s hard, right? This process is the first time you are really opening up your practice. Most dentists are sole practitioners, and they have made all the decisions themselves—but now are opening up their books to people they don’t know.
That can be a little bit scary at first. Getting through the deal process and negotiating your value—there are a lot of unknowns until you actually get there. And that’s very unfamiliar to dentists.
Kurt and Caber Hill understood this all too well and walked us through the process. Kurt reminded us frequently that there is a process in place. He has been through it many times before and he knows how to facilitate that process and provide the leadership required to best position us for finding a great deal and a great partner.
It was essential to have Kurt on our side. We all needed him and his team to be there, support us, and reassure us that we would get there. It is a long process, and it is something that none of us have done before. It was really comforting to have Kurt and Caber Hill stand beside us and get us to the finish line.
Since the deal closed, Kurt has continued to be supportive of us and provides input as we get towards important milestones of our new operation.
What have you learned? What recommendations would you give another group considering something similar?
First of all, you need an excellent understanding of numbers. You need someone to come in and do a self-evaluation first and make sure you are ready for something like this—otherwise, it could be a tremendous waste of time.
So you need your accounting on a platform that sets you up for this type of deal process. The traditional way you’ve done your accounting in your practice just isn’t going to work. It’s going to be a big surprise for you if you try to use that methodology versus getting ready to make a sale to a financial partner.
So number 1: absolutely have an accounting team that is familiar with this process. Number 2: you have to invest in advisors. Caber Hill was an enormous investment, but so was our legal and accounting team. The Caber Hill Advisors team, our legal team, and our accounting firm gave us a really strong sell-side value.
We went in knowing that we had done a lot of due diligence. We understood our value and knew that it could stand up against the scrutiny of a buyer. That was critically important for us.
A final piece of advice for other dental professionals considering this process: Are you ready for something like this? Is it really something you want to do?
You are going to have to give up something—no matter how good the deal is. If you’re going to be practicing for more than a few years, this will be a change. But if you find the right partner, it should be that you are aiming for the same or better. You are not going to go backward, so you are going to try to keep a lot of the things you have in place or improve them.
And that’s the power of group practices. There are efficiencies that can be created by banding together your HR, accounting, marketing, and purchasing. There are a lot of things that we were able to centralize and consolidate to help us with that value proposition.
But with all that said, you’re probably never ready until you get into it and start learning. I have learned so much over the past couple of years—and at a very, very fast pace. So you have to have the bandwidth to go through it. It’s an emotional process, which is something that Kurt would remind us. You’re going to question it.
At the end of the day, you know you’ve got to find people you can trust who are going to support you and make sure you’re not giving things away. And Kurt did an awesome job at creating really amazing value.
This value is what we showcased when we interviewed potential financial partners—versus the usual process where the private equity is coming in to interview you.
So we kind of turned the tables, where ultimately, we selected who was going to be our partner, rather than the other way around.
And we just would not have gone that route if it weren’t for Caber Hill.
Our experience working with Caber Hill Advisors was outstanding.
Why would you recommend Kurt and Caber Hill Advisors?
You want someone who is experienced, and Craig Castelli and Kurt are definitely experienced in the market. They know a lot of people; they have great relationships in the industry on all sides. Whether it’s the legal, accounting, private equity groups, or banking and lending partners, they have unbelievable relationships that helped us before the deal and after the deal.
Having advisors who are experienced and understand the market is essential.
Caber Hill did what they said they are going to do. They are trustworthy. And they are 110% behind our vision. It was incredible to see their focus towards the ultimate goal.
I know now, for sure, that this is not something we could have done without them.
Contact us if you are interested in speaking to one of our advisors.
