Startups are booming in the UK market. However, despite the abundance of talent and fantastic concepts, many struggle to grow or scale and compete in today’s challenging business environment.
London-based dental clinic, Bespoke Smile, is an example of how startups can overcome the odds and build a thriving business based on a core set of values that resonate with their target audience. The company emerged from a small dental practice to a flourishing, respected business using well-defined foundations to build and grow a robust customer base.
Building a business beyond the chair
With over 12,000 dental practices in the UK, customers aren’t short of options when it comes to improving their smile. Where 12.4% of those are owned by recognised brands, competing in the marketplace as a startup clinic could be a considerable challenge.
However, even in 2025, there are market gaps in the dental sector. High prices, quality and inconsistent treatment results were significant pain points for customers, something founder Dr Sam Jethwa, a certified expert in cosmetic dentistry, identified among clients.
Bespoke Smile started from a drive to help his London patients get the treatments they need and deserve at affordable prices. However, to fill that market gap would require the same principles as any startup: the clinic would need to innovate, build strong leadership and create a resonant brand.
The clinic’s thriving reputation today speaks volumes about how to use those drivers to grow as a startup. Below are some lessons from Bespoke Smile’s success.
1. Define your mission before you market it
Amid the soaring cost of dental care in the UK, Bespoke Smile set out with a clear mission. The clinic was to offer high-quality dentistry at affordable prices for all, providing a broader market with luxury options and patient-centred treatments.
The quality, expertise, accessibility, and affordability of the service would be the four pillars that lay the foundations for the Bespoke Smile brand. They address a real gap in the UK dental market, removing the cost barriers for many patients wanting cosmetic dental treatment.
Defining the mission before marketing serves as a binding agent for all the elements of your brand. It provides a reference point that can attract your target audience, building visibility and trust.
Most importantly, it can help craft consistent visuals, messaging and customer experience. The strength and resonance of a well-defined mission give startups a solid starting point, as was the case with Bespoke Smile’s early success.
2. Design an experience, not just a product
Bespoke Smile understood that today’s successful business is about delivering a positive customer experience, not just listing products on a menu. For a dental clinic, it’s all about providing a seamless journey from consultation to follow-up.
The clinic’s patient-centred ideals helped shape a set of five values that would help define the premium customer experience:
- Be trusted
- Be kind
- Be responsible
- Be aware
- Build relationships
The values outlined by the Bespoke Smile time underline the clinic’s prioritisation of the customer’s long-term health and happiness. The journey would include putting the customer’s needs and comfort first, offering a dental service that makes them feel confident throughout.
Mapping the customer journey has been a fundamental part of Bespoke Smile’s success, helping them understand their needs and how to address them expertly. Today, that map is still an integral part of the clinic’s growth, attracting more loyal customers.
3. Build a brand that earns trust
Providing a premium customer journey can help grow a loyal customer base. Still, in industries like healthcare, trust is the most crucial element of a successful brand. New customers are much more likely to engage with a business if shared experiences are almost exclusively positive.
Bespoke Smile’s focus on a patient-centric, quality customer experience helped gain the positive visibility needed to build a profound level of trust within the dental market. The clinic team regularly engages with the community, hosting insightful virtual events on modern dentistry, receiving glowing testimonials on platforms such as Trustpilot and reaffirming its digital presence by sharing media that documents real customer journeys.
Building long-term customer relationships can produce the credibility needed to thrive in competitive markets. Bespoke Smile’s focus on tailoring positive customer experiences provides the assets required to shape a trusted brand.
4. Invest in technology early
Technology is advancing rapidly. Startups can leverage cutting-edge tools to offer attractive market solutions. However, saying you have the technology to meet customer needs is different to applying it effectively.
Where innovation is a growth driver, Bespoke Smile carefully considered how its technology and advanced practice would best suit its customers and deliver excellent value. Using the expertise and knowledge of their master ceramist, Dr Sam Jethwa, the clinic could offer an innovative solution that addressed a long-standing problem in UK cosmetic dentistry.
The “Bespoke Smile Method” became the clinic’s signature service, delivering consistent, natural results by hand-shaping previews of the final dental work using a customer’s facial aesthetics. It removes the guesswork from the results, providing the clinic with a competitive asset, enabling it to use modern dental technology to deliver customisation and consistency that customers appreciate.
Innovating and investing in technology that addresses market pain points early can be a significant growth driver in any business. The proper use of tools can help scale quality and efficiency, enabling companies to remain competitive, if used correctly without negative impact on customer experiences.
5. Leadership and culture define longevity
Evidence shows that successful businesses thrive when leadership is strong and team communication is excellent. One in four UK startups loses a year of growth because of misaligned team hires. Beyond hiring the right people, investing in supportive workplace structures, such as offering the right mix of compensation and employee benefits, plays a key role in retaining talent and maintaining long-term growth. Choosing benefits that align with your team’s real needs can significantly impact morale, loyalty, and productivity.
Leaders can provide the frameworks to align teams and provide comprehensive support, building a culture of trust, expertise and innovation, three considerable elements required to succeed in the healthcare industry. Bespoke Smile has built a strong team culture driven by respected leadership.
As the President of the British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, Dr Jethwa already has the respect of his peers, with whom he regularly engages to promote innovation and the brand’s values. Motivated teams can help retain great people, thereby fuelling the business’s growth.
Engaged leadership can help foster that thriving team culture, where startups should invest in their people as much as they do in their products and services.
6. Growth through authentic visibility
Finally, authentic visibility is one of the most effective tools in the kit for helping your business stand out. Many startups make the mistake of prioritising quantity over quality in marketing, focusing on achieving the maximum number of followers on social media or on securing hundreds of mentions from influencers.
However, quality mentions in respected publications or media platforms can have a significantly higher business impact than having thousands of unengaged followers. It’s about finding the right audience for your market that’s likely to take a genuine interest in your brand.
Bespoke Smile’s focus on authentic visibility is a testament to its effectiveness. Insightful mentions in some of the UK’s most respected media publications have helped attract relevant customers to the clinic’s solutions, driving growth in the right direction.
Remaining faithful to your values and sharing your expertise can help build a presence that attracts the right audience. Ultimately, growth isn’t about how many have heard of you, but consistently accomplishing your business goals.
Adopting the startup mindset for every industry
Any startup founder can apply these six lessons to their venture. Ultimately, creating a well-defined vision, building resilient trust, providing innovative solutions and customer-centric experiences are the four pillars that can guide success in any venture.
Bespoke Smile’s focus on the customer journey, paired with innovative solutions to problems in UK dentistry, helped the clinic gain visibility and loyalty, enabling the business to thrive today. It’s an example of how standing by core principles can attract the right audiences and build a robust industry reputation.
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