Steven Bilt’s business is nearing $600 million in yearly revenue by freeing up dentists to focus on patients.
Bilt is chief executive and cofounder of Smile Brands Group Inc., an Irvine provider of management services to dentists.
He was one of six entrepreneurs honored at the Business Journal’s annual Excellence in Entrepreneur-ship awards luncheon held March 17 at the Hyatt Regency Irvine.
Smile provides marketing, billing, collections, financing and other services for about 1,100 dentists and hygienists in 17 states.
Privately held Smile, which started in 1998 and once was known as Bright Now Dental Inc., has grown from what Bilt called “a little $40 million company that’s going to be pushing up toward $600 million (in revenue) this year.”
Creating Smile was “a classic sort of identification of opportunity in an entrepreneurial sense,” said Bilt, who’s spent 11 years as Smile’s chief executive.
Smile’s creators set out a plan.
It included putting dental offices in highly visible places and then marketing those offices to attract patients. Financing would be provided for some procedures.
The plan would allow dentists to spend more time caring for patients.
“You’ve lowered all the barriers to entry,” Bilt said.
The company bought its first dental offices in 1998.
• Headquarters: Irvine
• Started: 1998
• Business: dental practice management services
• Operation: 325 offices in 17 states
• Projected 2011 sales: $600 million
• Plans: open 40 offices this year
Early Backer
Smile’s earliest backer was San Francisco-based private equity firm Gryphon Investors, which had a relationship with Richard Matros, Bilt’s predecessor as chief executive and a Smile cofounder.
Matros, now chief executive of Irvine-based real estate owner Sabra Health Care REIT Inc., first invested with Gryphon in Consumer Dental, a 19-office Northern California operation that specialized in serving union members and employers.
They then bought 16 Southern California offices of Newport Dental and others.
“This is a consolidation that is really focused on making life easier for the individual dentist and taking advantage of economies of scale,” Matros said in an earlier Business Journal interview.
Gryphon’s backing was “enough to get us started,” Bilt said.
Getting Smile off the ground was tough.
Bilt, who started as Smile’s chief financial officer, said the new company “pretty much struggled right out of the gate.”
Smile went through a growth spurt in the mid-2000s, which was fueled by a pair of acquisitions.
In 2003, Smile spent $11 million for Monarch Dental Corp., a Dallas-based dental practice management company that fell on hard times and was “three times our size,” Bilt said.
“It was a classic minnow swallowing a whale story,” he said.
In 2004, Smile spent $53 million for Castle Dental Centers Inc., a Houston company with 73 offices in Florida, Texas, Tennessee and California.
Smile still is growing.
The company plans to open 40 dental offices this year.
“The balancing act is to continue to appreciate how far we’ve come but always think about what tomorrow looks like,” Bilt said.
Smile’s strategy has made it a favorite of private equity firms.
In 2005, Gryphon sold a majority of the company to Freeman Spogli & Co. of Los Angeles.
Last year, Freeman Spogli sold all but a small stake of Smile to New York-based private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe.
Public Offering Plan
In late 2009, Smile filed for an initial public offering, looking to raise $130 million.
The company dropped the plan last year, citing “general market conditions.”
Bilt has a bachelor’s in business economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a business master’s from Pepperdine University.
His career includes work with Ernst & Young and Vivra Inc., a kidney dialysis provider based in Northern California.
Outside the office, Bilt spends most of his time with his family. He’s a married father of three: an 18-year-old daughter, a 12-year-old son and a 1-year-old daughter “who I get to chase around,” he said.
