Andrew Dudum: Founder and CEO of Hims & Hers

From an early age, Andrew Dudum was focused on building his own ventures. Starting with a lending platform he developed at Wharton to founding the telehealth pioneer Hims & Hers, Dudum has proven himself as a dedicated entrepreneur for nearly two decades. Join us as we explore the journey of Hims & Hers founder and CEO, Andrew Dudum.

• Influenced by family: Andrew Dudum was raised in a family of entrepreneurs – a background that has shaped his life from the start.

• De-stigmatizing health issues: By simplifying accessibility, Hims & Hers bridges the gap between sensitive consumer issues and professional healthcare.

• Teaming up with Howard Marks: The company entered the public markets through a SPAC led by none other than Howard Marks.

Andrew Dudum was born in 1988 and was raised in San Francisco. Dudum grew up in a family of entrepreneurs which proved to have a strong impact on his ambitions and career. In his youth, he dreamed of becoming a rock star and playing in a band. He began his musical journey with the cello after his mother playfully convinced him that he would eventually flip it, play it like a guitar, and become a rock star.

Though Dudum never transitioned to the guitar, he excelled as a cellist. Performing with the Villa Sinfonia Orchestra, he toured across the United States and Europe, playing at Carnegie Hall and at hundreds of concerts and weddings.

After high school, Dudum moved across the U.S. to attend the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied Management and Economics. Although enrolled at one of the nation's top universities, he remained focused on starting his own business. Alongside his studies, he started his first venture, LendforPeace, which was a small lending platform that funded small businesses, primarily in the Middle East.

This initial experience strengthened Dudum's desire to enter the business world full-time. He eventually decided to take a sabbatical from Wharton to join TokBox, a Sequoia-backed startup specializing in video chat and conferencing services. After a few years, TokBox was acquired, providing Dudum with an ideal opportunity to take the next step in his career.

In 2013, Dudum co-founded Atomic Labs with a few friends from Wharton who shared his entrepreneurial ambitions. Atomic, which is still operating successfully, is a company builder and venture capital fund all in one. Backed by notable investors like Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen, Atomic develops companies from the ground up using internal capital rather than funding external startups.

When an idea shows strong potential, Atomic launches it as a standalone company, building a team and guiding its growth. Since its founding, Atomic has played an integral role in developing more than a dozen companies, with its biggest success to be discussed next.

While at Atomic's entrepreneurial hub, Dudum had the idea to start his own business. With support, guidance, and funding from his employer, he founded Hims in 2016.

For years, Dudum had seen an opportunity to create a business that could help de-stigmatize personal healthcare. He recognized the potential in improving the patient experience by making access simpler, especially for more sensitive health issues. Initially, Hims focused on men's health products, as suggested by the name, but expansion into women's products was always part of the plan.

At the 2020 Wharton Healthcare Business Conference, Dudum explained the brand's direction: “We have always had the vision of building the brand into Hims and Hers, which is quite frankly why we named the company Hims.”

The company, now renamed Hims & Hers Health, has expanded significantly since its early days of Hims. Its growth and success are credited to its approach in bridging the gap between stigmatized health issues and professional healthcare.

Hims & Hers provides access to specialists, treatments, and medications for concerns such as dermatology, hair loss, mental health, and more – all through a digital platform. The company is recognized as a pioneer in the rapidly expanding industry of telehealth.

Hims & Hers made its entry into the stock market in 2021 by merging with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) led by legendary Howard Marks. The merger valued the company at $1.6 billion, with trading beginning in January 2021.

In early 2024, Dudum made headlines across the world after expressing support for students participating in anti-Israel protests on U.S. campuses. The post made on X, encouraged the students to continue their activism, stating that companies like his would want to hire them.

This stance led to significant backlash, with critics arguing that Dudum's comments appeared to endorse one side of a sensitive geopolitical issue. In response, Dudum clarified that he intended to support peaceful protest and the exercise of free speech, not to condone violence or antisemitism.

Andrew Dudum's journey, strongly influenced by his family's entrepreneurial background, eventually led him to found Hims & Hers. Driven to make healthcare more accessible for addressing sensitive and often stigmatized issues, he has built and developed the telehealth company into a ~$4 billion market cap enterprise as of 2024.