TAKE LIFE OUTDOORS!
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One of the
company’s ads
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Alexander Mora, foreign trade min-
ister, said in a press release.
HOW IT WORKS
SmileDirectClub, originally called
Smile Care Club, focuses on a three-
step process for patients to improve
their teeth alignment without in-
person visits. While “invisible align-
ers” have been available for many
years, this business model added a
direct-to-consumer structure to the
mix. Fenkell and Katzman view their
business as being in the “doctor-
directed, at-home aligner therapy
market,” where they connect poten-
tial customers to a “digital” network
that includes 225 affiliated state-
licensed dentists and orthodontists.
These physicians, on a remote basis,
“oversee customer treatment plans
from impressions made with at-
home kits or from a digital scan”
from one of the company’s dozens
of SmileShops, including ones in
Farmington Hills and Rochester
Hills.
“The early success we’ve seen with
SDC is a product of our hard work,
a skill that was instilled in both Alex
and me from an early age through
the influence of our families and
many individuals throughout our
communities, as well as the hard
work and influence of the team
at Camelot Venture Group,” says
Katzman, who attended Groves and
Michigan State University. Fenkell
went to Cranbrook and attended the
University of Colorado.
“When we first started this busi-
ness, we had no idea that we would
grow as quickly as we did and help
as many people as we have,” he adds.
“Our operations have grown from
just two employees, Alex and me, to
well over 2,000. We have successfully
created better smiles for hundreds of
thousands of SDC customers across
the country. But what I find most
exciting is that four years on from
the founding of SmileDirectClub, I
believe we are still just scratching
the surface on the impact we can
have — and I’m very excited about
what the future holds.”
Farmington Hills-based Camelot
Venture Group has played a piv-
otal part in the company’s success.
Jordan’s father, David Katzman, is
CEO and chairman of the business
that showcases itself as the larg-
est shareholder and the managing
member of the SmileDirectClub LLC.
Previous investments of the Camelot
Venture Group team include
Quicken Loans and 1-800-Contacts.
HARD WORK & PASSION
Fenkell and Katzman met at age 13
at Camp Tanuga, 40 miles northeast
of Traverse City.
“Jordan is an absolute vision-
ary and his grasp of cutting-edge
technology is, I believe, what keeps
SmileDirectClub ahead of the game,”
Fenkell said of his friend. “For
example, Jordan is responsible for
many of the innovations SDC has
seen in our short history, from find-
ing the best and most technologi-
cally advanced digital scanners we
use in our SmileShops to leading the
charge on SDC adopting 3D-printing
for the manufacturing of our align-
ers.
“Something that constantly
impresses me about Jordan is his
ability to think about the whole
picture,” Fenkell adds. “He has the
ability to switch from thinking about
a project from a 30,000-foot level
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June 7 • 2018
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