Scaling Success: How I Built and Transformed 30+ Dental Startups into Thriving Enterprises

In today’s fast-changing world of healthcare and entrepreneurship, scaling a business isn’t just about generating profit. It’s about creating meaningful systems, building teams, and making a lasting impact. My name is Brandon Dhaenens, and over the past two decades, I’ve built and transformed over 30 de novo dental startups into scalable, thriving enterprises.

This path has taken me across the convergences of health, technology, and financial innovation. From developing Half Dental—a high-quality, low-cost dentistry business—to co-starting a fintech company built on low-cost funding, I've seen what can be achieved when you possess vision, intention, and execution.

So how did I do it? And more importantly, how can others?

The Vision Behind Half Dental: A New Approach to Dental Care

I initially entered the dental career and noticed that everything was wrong. There was siloed practice, inefficient workflow, and patients being turned away on cost or capacity. I believed that there had to be a better model than this—something good for the patient and the provider.

That vision motivated me to start Half Dental, a new kind of dental company that simplified processes, lowered costs, and grew cost-effectively—never compromising quality. As the founder of Brandon Dhaenens Half Dental, I wanted to make care affordable and accessible while redefining what a modern dental business could be.

Half Dental was not just a company; it was a revolution. It taught you that with the right systems and mindset, you can create something which benefits humanity and grows in a sustainable way.

Why 30+ Dental Startups? Scaling with Purpose

Others ask me, "Why open over 30 dental offices? Can't a few?"

The truth is that I never wanted to do numbers. I was chasing impact. Every new de novo practice was an opportunity to test, learn, and create an even better, more scalable iteration. I was not merely trying to scale—I was trying to master starting a successful dental practice from scratch.

Some of the important strategies that I used to successfully scale are:

1. Standardizing Operations

I established repeatable and scalable processes for everything from front-desk training to back-office billing. Replication of operations enabled practices to ensure high quality as they grew rapidly.

2. Data-Driven Decision-Making

I applied performance data and analytics mainly to monitor trends, eliminate inefficiencies, and optimize outcomes. My business and finance experience worked in my favor to monitor what worked—and replicate it rapidly.

3. People First

Hiring employees or building leaders for the future, I would focus on creating enabled teams. If your employees are as committed to your cause, growth will be unstoppable and sustainable.

4. Patient-Centered Design

From scheduling an appointment to creating a treatment plan, every step of the patient experience was deliberately designed to be empowering and frictionless. That produced improved results and extremely high loyalty.

This approach paid off—30+ practices in my background, I had a series of successful dental startups that were not only successful but were actually having a positive impact on the communities they served.

Scaling into Fintech: Merging Healthcare and Finance

When I was expanding my dental clinics, one problem kept haunting me again and again: patients needed treatment but were unable to pay in cash upfront. The traditional financing alternatives were tedious, time-consuming, or non-existent. I knew that there had to be a more sophisticated solution.

That's when I started co-founding Decisionfi, a fintech with a mission to rethink point-of-sale healthcare financing and beyond. The mission? To democratize the financial game and deliver much-needed services to the masses.

Decisionfi facilitates simple bridging of lenders and consumers to allow businesses to provide instant finance solutions with minimal bureaucracy. To patients, this means receiving care whenever it is required without any cost. To providers, this means higher acceptance of treatment and improved business performance.

Synthesizing my two passions, health and finance systems, I came up with a product that boldly attempts one of the most irritating nettles of the industry. And that is innovation in its essence: recognize an actual issue and fix it in a manner beneficial to all stakeholders.

Mentorship, Leadership & Paying It Forward

Success, in my opinion, is not merely starting companies—it's starting leadership. In the process, I've been privileged to have been able to mentor several dozen up-and-coming business leaders, clinicians, and entrepreneurs.

The most powerful leadership thing you can do, I've discovered, is to empower others to lead. Either through coaching, strategic advice, or pure old encouragement, I've motivated others to make the leap to starting successful companies.

I also found time to fit in career development workshops and community service projects addressing expanded access to healthcare and money management. Because no matter where you wind up in life, how you bring the people along with you as you ascend is what creates a lasting legacy.

What the Brandon Dhaenens Brand Stands For

Ever since the dawn of time, the name Brandon Dhaenens has been linked with innovation, change, and influence. Looking for "Brandon Dhaenens Half Dental" or reading about my projects in Decisionfi, what they are actually working with is a constructed brand.

It represents:

• Business values
• Data- and measurable-growth
• Human-focused technology innovation
• Affordable, fair financial and health solutions
• And it's what I still attempt to provide.

Last Thoughts: Scaling a Business, Leaving a Legacy

If there is one thing you can take away from my story, let it be this:

Scaling success is not always about doing more—it's about doing better. It's about building intelligent, sustainable systems that benefit people. It's about solving real problems and having the guts to say why things have always been done.

Ever since my early days as a partner at Half Dental, from my present fintech work with Decisionfi, each day of my life has been dedicated to extending the limits of what is possible in healthcare and business.

Regardless of whether you're going to be the next entrepreneur, an old pro entrepreneur, or simply someone who has a big vision—you can do something amazing. You just need the right combination of vision, discipline, and heart.