The Practice Owner's Playbook

Building, Protecting & Exiting a High-Value Dental Practice

Dr. David Darab James DeLuca Andrew Kobylski Jacob Fenno Bryce Miller Amber Keithley
Five experts + host Amber Keithley
Weekly from September 2026 · Live roundtable Late October 2026
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Five expert Q&A sessions plus a live all-speaker roundtable — one connected storyline: decide your path, build and defend your value, position and sell, finance the move, and protect the proceeds. Framed through Dr. David Darab's 4S lens: Stay, Scale, Slow Down, or Sell.

Every owner eventually faces the same five questions: which path is actually mine · what is my practice really worth · how does that number become a price · how do the moves get financed · how does the outcome become personal financial security. No single firm can credibly answer all five. This lineup can — one session per question, educational, not promotional, with the hard questions owners actually have but rarely get to ask.

Six Sessions. One Storyline.

1 Decide the Path 2 Build & Defend Value 3 Position & Sell 4 Finance the Move 5 Protect the Proceeds 6 Design the Next Chapter
Dr. David Darab, DDS, MBA, CEPA

SESSION 1 · DECIDE THE PATH

Dr. David Darab, DDS, MBA, CEPA

Darab Business Advisors ↗

30+ year oral & maxillofacial surgeon · took his own practice into a private-equity process and walked away before LOI · Certified Exit Planning Advisor

The Decision Before the Decision™: Stay, Scale, Slow Down, or Sell?

Most owners don't have a strategy. They have a date. The Exit Planning Institute reports that 75% of business owners profoundly regret selling within twelve months — and rarely because of the price. A surgeon who took his own practice to the edge of a deal, and didn't sign.

  • The 4S Framework™ — the four paths every owner is already on, whether or not they've chosen one
  • Why not deciding is a decision — and the most expensive one, because eventually the circumstances decide for you
  • Why cash flow gates your options — the mechanism inside the practice determines which of the four paths is actually available to you
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James DeLuca

SESSION 2 · BUILD & DEFEND VALUE

James DeLuca

Precision Dental Analytics

Four-time author, incl. Phantom EBITDA · helped build NADG's 80→200+ operational playbook · 500+ practices evaluated

Phantom EBITDA: Building a Number That Survives the Audit

Your EBITDA is a claim. Diligence is the audit — and 85% of deals get re-priced between LOI and close. Half of Phantom EBITDA comes off the P&L and cuts your price; the other half never touches it and rewrites your terms. The man who helped build the buyer's audit shows owners how to run it first.

  • The three faces of Phantom EBITDA — findings that cut the price or rewrite the terms
  • The same forensic lens pointed at growth: where recoverable margin hides in every practice
  • The pre-LOI window: the only time the owner holds the leverage
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Andrew Kobylski, CFP®

SESSION 3 · POSITION & SELL

Andrew Kobylski, CFP®

McLerran & Associates ↗

Director of M&A at the 1,500+ transition, $2B+ closed deal volume firm · former dental-specific wealth advisor

The Sell-Side Playbook: Positioning Your Practice for the Right Buyer at the Right Price

He managed dentists’ wealth after their exits. Now he runs the exits — and explains the most expensive sentence in dental M&A: "A buyer already approached me, so I don’t need a process."

  • The three buyer types — and what each one actually pays for
  • Why the broker’s number and the buyer’s number diverge
  • How to engineer a future transition with a premium outcome
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Jacob Fenno

SESSION 4 · FINANCE THE MOVE

Jacob Fenno

Panacea Financial ↗

Regional Healthcare Manager at the doctor-founded bank · ~20 years in practice credit incl. VP at Bank of America

How a Lender Reads Your Practice: Financing as a Value-Building Tool

The first institution to ever audit your practice isn’t a buyer — it’s your bank. A 0.3% charge-off rate says the doctor-built read works.

  • Inside the underwriting file: what gets weighed, in what order
  • The patterns that quietly strengthen — or weaken — your credit file
  • Financing events that actually build enterprise value on the Stay and Scale paths
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Bryce L. Miller, CFP®

SESSION 5 · PROTECT THE PROCEEDS

Bryce L. Miller, CFP®

Spaugh Dameron Tenny ↗

Partner at the 50-year dentist- and physician-only planning firm · CFP® since 2012

From Proceeds to Prosperity: Planning Before and After the Wire

The most dangerous day in a dentist’s financial life is the day the wire hits — the richest they’ve ever been, and the most exposed.

  • Practice value ≠ personal wealth — why a winning number can still fail you
  • The Freedom Number: what goes into it, and what knowing it changes
  • The first twelve months after the wire — what to do, and what not to do yet
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All Five Speakers — Live Roundtable Mastermind

LIVE FINALE · DESIGN THE NEXT CHAPTER

All Five Speakers — Live Roundtable Mastermind

Moderated by Amber Keithley · Late October 2026

Live audience Q&A · how to sequence your advisor team · closes on the Encore

Design the Next Chapter: The Questions No Single Session Can Answer

Five experts, one table, your questions — and the idea the whole series builds toward: the transition is not the end goal. It’s the launchpad.

  • How to sequence the advisor team across your 3–7 year runway
  • What each expert would do first with five years to prepare
  • Live, unscripted, with the registered audience
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Amber Keithley

Amber Keithley

Director of Strategic Partnerships, Precision Dental Analytics

Longtime co-host of NextLevel Practice's Million Dollar Dentistry podcast, Amber conducts every interview and moderates the live roundtable — opening each session by framing the topic through the 4S lens, and asking the questions owners want answered.

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One registration covers the full series — all five sessions as they release, plus the live roundtable and replays. Free.

No spam. Unsubscribe any time. Replays included with registration.

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Series FAQ

What is The Practice Owner's Playbook?

A free virtual educational series for dental practice owners: five 30-40 minute host-led Q&A interviews released as a weekly drip, plus a live all-speaker roundtable mastermind. Each session covers one link in a single connected storyline — deciding your path, building and defending value, positioning and selling, financing the move, and protecting the proceeds — hosted by Amber Keithley and framed through Dr. David Darab's 4S lens: Stay, Scale, Slow Down, or Sell.

Who is the series for?

Practice owners at every stage — not just sellers. The 4S framing serves growth-focused owners building enterprise value now, buyers and scalers, transition-curious owners 3-7 years out, and active sellers weighing DSO or private-equity offers. Associates building toward ownership, practice administrators, and the advisors who serve owners will also get full value.

How much does it cost?

Nothing. The series is free and educational, not promotional — each session is a guided expert interview covering the hard questions owners actually have but rarely get to ask. Register once and you receive every session as it releases, plus access to the live roundtable.

When does it start and what is the format?

Five recorded Q&A sessions (30-40 minutes each) release as a weekly drip beginning September 2026, followed by the live Roundtable Mastermind with all five speakers in late october 2026. Sessions arrive by email; the live roundtable includes moderated audience Q&A. Registrants receive replays of everything.

Who is behind the series?

The series is produced by Precision Dental Analytics and hosted by Amber Keithley, PDA's Director of Strategic Partnerships and longtime co-host of the Million Dollar Dentistry podcast. Participating speakers represent Darab Business Advisors, Precision Dental Analytics, McLerran & Associates, Panacea Financial, and Spaugh Dameron Tenny — five disciplines, one connected storyline. Registration information is shared with participating firms as disclosed in the sign-up form.