How Hims & Hers Turned Access Into the Product

Most companies compete on product.

Hims & Hers competed on access.

They didn’t just change what was being offered.

They changed how it was experienced.

I never used Hims & Hers.

But I noticed them early.

Before them, I noticed Ro. Same general idea — healthcare without the waiting room.

But Hims & Hers scaled differently.

They showed up everywhere.

Social first. Then broader awareness. Then mainstream conversation.

What stood out wasn’t the product.

It was the model.

Most people don’t avoid healthcare because they don’t care.

They avoid it because the process is exhausting.

Scheduling. Waiting. Co-pays. Referrals. Time off work.

Hims & Hers looked at that friction and rebuilt the experience.

Something that felt more like a direct conversation, and less like a system you had to fight through.

That’s not a shortcut.

That’s a redesign.

They built this before weight loss medications became a cultural moment.

By the time that wave hit, they had already scaled.

Hair loss. ED. Acne. Anxiety.

Categories where people had the need, but avoided the conversation.

Hims & Hers made those conversations easier to start — and private enough to actually have.

That’s what built the foundation.

The weight loss category didn’t create the brand.

It exposed how well the model worked.

Now there’s regulatory pressure.

Restrictions. Lawsuits. Headlines.

From the outside, it looks like instability.

But that’s not the right read.

Any company pushing against a legacy system will hit resistance.

That’s not failure.

That’s friction from disruption.

The real question isn’t whether one product line holds.

It’s whether the platform holds.

And that comes down to one thing:

Trust.

Once someone trusts a platform with something personal — and keeps coming back — that relationship compounds.

That’s not easy to replicate.

Legacy healthcare never built that kind of direct relationship at scale.

Hims & Hers did.

And they built it with licensed clinicians and required consultations.

Not shortcuts.

That’s what makes the model durable.

Compliance isn’t the limitation.

It’s the foundation.

Protect that, and the platform holds — regardless of what happens to any single product line.

If your product experience isn’t built in a way that removes friction this clearly, that’s exactly what I work through inside The Traction Sprint.