Launch Date: October 2025
Geography: Los Angeles, California
Founders:
Notable Advisors:
Notable Investors:
2026 Full Year Projected Revenue: Under $2M, according to industry estimates
Primary Category: Personal Care
Other Categories:
Funding: Angel Investment
Primary Distribution Channel: Amazon
Other Distribution Channels:
Key Retail Partner: Target
2026 Projected Offline Distribution Points: 600
Norms is an embarrassing self-care startup on a mission to normalize how people talk about and treat the common, highly stigmatized personal health conditions we’re taught to hide. We’re starting with hemorrhoids—a problem most people experience but avoid treating because it’s confusing and embarrassing.
Norms pairs maximum-strength, FDA-compliant OTC actives with modern, easy-to-use formats and clear guidance so people know what to use, when, and why. Our point of view is simple: Effective care should feel normal, accessible, and dignified—and design, tone, community, and education are part of access.
Norms was founded by husband-and-wife team Joshua Katz and Carli Roth, with medical guidance from Dr. Wendi LeBrett, a double-board-certified gastroenterologist and internal medicine physician. Starting with hemorrhoids, the company is building toward a broader platform for stigmatized, underdesigned OTC categories—moving from the butt to the gut (and beyond).
Insights: Joshua Katz, Co-Founder + CEO
Why now and why you?
Why now: Culture is finally shifting toward honesty in health and self-care—especially for conditions that disproportionately affect those navigating postpartum, digestive issues, and anyone dealing with the modern lifestyle cocktail of stress, sitting, and diet changes. At the same time, the category experience hasn’t evolved: The shelf is still confusing, the language is dated, and many people delay treatment because they don’t want to be seen buying it.
Why us: Norms combines three things most legacy players don’t: 1. serious OTC efficacy and compliance, 2. medical guidance, and 3. modern brand clarity and design that makes treatment feel normal, not hidden.
We’re not just selling products; we’re reducing “delay-to-treat” by making the condition easy to talk about and the solution easy to choose and use.
What fuels your competitive advantage?
A category reframe that grows the market: Normalization reduces shame and confusion, which helps people treat sooner and more confidently.
System-based approach (toolkit and playbook): We make “what to use, when, and why” legible—so customers don’t feel like they’re guessing.
Serious medicine, made simple: Our products feature maximum-strength, FDA-compliant OTC actives delivered through modern, usable formats designed for real life (at home and on the go).
Credibility and approachability: Medical guidance from a double-board-certified gastroenterologist is paired with a stigma-free voice and design that people aren’t embarrassed to own.
The company we keep: Norms is built alongside a high-caliber bench of advisors, investors, and partners across brand, retail, and consumer—from experienced operators to credible category builders—plus an internal team that blends creative excellence with compliance-minded rigor.
What’s your proudest accomplishment to date?
Building a brand that makes one of the most common, most avoided self-care problems feel normal to address, without sacrificing clinical seriousness. We’ve taken a category that’s historically been “awkward, outdated, and hidden” and created a modern system people can actually understand and use.
In September 2025, we took hemorrhoid care into culture with our Norms Clubhouse pop-up activation in New York, taking hemorrhoid care "from the bottom shelf to the high streets" of Soho. We’re also proud of the foundation: founder-led authenticity, medical guidance, and a clear set of messaging guardrails that keep the brand honest, compliant, and consistent as we scale.
What is the one thing you wish someone had told you?
You don’t have to choose between efficacy and brand in personal care—especially in OTC. In stigmatized categories, design and tone aren’t “nice to have”; they’re part of access. If the experience feels embarrassing or confusing, people delay treatment—even when the solution exists.
What would you tell your past self before starting this journey?
Treat “normalization” as a product feature, not just a message. Clarity, tone, and an easy-to-follow system are what turn an uncomfortable, private problem into a repeatable routine someone will actually stick with.
What does success look like in the next 3-5 years?
Success looks like Norms becoming the modern category leader in hemorrhoid care—the brand people reference when "embarrassing self-care" simply becomes self-care. Practically, that means we've materially reduced the stigma-driven delay-to-treat by making education and treatment feel accessible and dignified. We've built a trusted platform that expands beyond hemorrhoids ("butt to gut and beyond") into other underdesigned, high-need OTC and embarrassing self-care categories. And Norms' voice and system have become a recognizable model for how wellness brands can blend clinical seriousness with cultural relevance, without sensationalism.
What's one industry trend that is overhyped, and what's being overlooked?
Overhyped: Using “clean” as vague virtue-signaling without clear standards or consumer-relevant proof.
Overlooked: The next wave of growth is in stigmatized, undertreated categories where the barrier isn’t discovery, it’s discomfort. When brands pair real efficacy with modern clarity and dignity, they don’t just win share; they grow the treated market by making care feel normal.
How do you think the industry needs to evolve?
The industry needs to evolve by designing for the realities people actually live with, not the polished versions of themselves they post online. That means creating products and systems that make care feel clearer and easier to navigate, helping people understand what to use, when to use it, and why. It also means recognizing stigma as a real structural barrier to health outcomes and using tone, packaging, and education to actively remove shame from the experience. Especially in OTC-adjacent spaces, the next generation of brands needs to combine modern, approachable branding with stronger medical credibility, compliance discipline, and responsibility.
If you could wave a magic wand, what one wish would you make for your business?
That everyone who needs relief feels comfortable treating sooner—no shame, no confusion, no “I’ll just suffer through it.” If embarrassing self-care becomes as normal as skincare or pain relief, the impact is massive: better outcomes, better quality of life, and a category that finally serves people like real humans.