The Startup Selling Generic Viagra and Rogaine to the Instagram Crowd
One of a crop of new direct-to-consumer, hipster-branded startups, Hims sells ED and hair-loss drugs and plans to branch out into other meds.
Photo Illustration: Chris Maggio for Bloomberg; Stylist: Sara Van Pée
Every man in Dylan Nelson’s family is bald. His dad, uncle and both grandfathers: all hairless. The 28-year-old headhunter from Newport Beach, California, started suffering the same fate when he was 23. He tried Rogaine but found it pricey and ineffective. Then he saw a cheeky ad for Hims, a startup that sells mail-order kits of prescription drugs. Nelson asked his neighbor, a dermatologist, what she thought. The drugs Hims was offering were the same ones she prescribed to her patients but cheaper.
Two months in, they seem to be working. “I’ve been cutting my hair every 10 days,” Nelson said.