1. What’s the quick origin story of your brand, and what makes your product or positioning genuinely different from other options in your niche?

Hans Graubard: Happy V started because we kept hearing the same story from women dealing with recurring vaginal health issues: “I’ve tried everything, nothing works, and nobody explains why.” We realized the real gap wasn’t the products themselves — it was the absence of education, testing transparency, and formulas built around the issues women were actually facing.

Instead of outsourcing manufacturing and relying on generic blends, we built our own vertically integrated setup. That means formulation, sourcing, encapsulation, and testing all happen under one roof. It’s not the easiest route, but it lets us verify every ingredient and explain to customers exactly what they’re taking and why. In a category crowded with big claims, our differentiation is simple: we make products we can stand behind scientifically, and we communicate with the honesty we felt was missing.

2. Since launch, what have been the 1–2 real turning points for your brand-specific decisions, pivots, or experiments that noticeably changed your growth or profitability-and what did you learn from them?

Hans Graubard: One major turning point was bringing manufacturing in-house. At first it looked like a logistical nightmare — new equipment, new systems, retraining the team — but it changed everything. Before that shift, we were relying on outside timelines and incomplete documentation. Once we controlled the whole process, quality stabilized, customer trust grew, and we finally had the data to improve our formulas instead of guessing.

The second turning point was shifting from “awareness marketing” to education-first content. When we stopped trying to compete on noise and focused on explaining microbiome health in plain language, conversion rates improved and customer support volume actually went down. People weren’t just buying products — they were understanding them. It taught us that clarity, not volume, drives durable growth.

3. Which 2-3 channels drive most of your revenue right now (for example SEO, paid social, email, marketplaces, influencers), and what have you learned about making those channels work in your category?

Hans Graubard: SEO and branded search still carry a lot of weight for us. Women search with intent — often privately, and with very specific symptoms or concerns. If your content doesn’t answer the question directly, you lose them. We’ve learned that long-form educational content, backed by clear scientific references, outperforms clever copy every time.

Email is our second strongest channel, but not in the traditional “discount + countdown timer” way. We use it to guide people through their first 30–60 days with the product, explain what to expect, and help them troubleshoot. When people understand how probiotics actually work, retention improves naturally.

Paid social is still in the mix, but we treat it more like a discovery tool than a profit center. The customers who stay with us usually come from education-driven channels.

4. How are you thinking about search in 2025 – Google, AI assistants like ChatGPT, and other discovery platforms? What, if anything, have you changed in your content or site to stay visible as AI search grows?

Hans Graubard: AI assistants changed how people phrase their questions — they’re more conversational and symptom-based now. So we tightened our content around real user language and cleaned up the structure on our site so AI tools can pull the right information without misrepresenting it.

We’ve also started focusing on “explainability content” — short, precise answers to common questions that LLMs tend to surface. Instead of chasing traffic, we’re optimizing to make sure the information about vaginal pH, specific strains, and usage expectations is accurate wherever it appears, human or machine.

If search keeps shifting toward AI summaries, brands with sloppy content or exaggerated claims will disappear from visibility. Clarity is becoming SEO.

5. What do you do to turn first‑time buyers into repeat customers and advocates? Are there specific experiences, content, or community touches that work especially well for you?

Hans Graubard: We start by making sure expectations are real. With probiotics, results aren’t instant — so our post-purchase flow explains what happens in the first few weeks and why consistency matters. It sets people up for success instead of disappointment.

We also tailor follow-ups based on why they purchased. Someone buying for pH balance needs different guidance than someone focused on immunity or yeast management. When the communication matches their actual concern, they stay longer.

And finally, we keep the relationship human. We answer questions directly, we publish testing data, and we talk openly about what our products can and cannot do. In wellness, honesty does more for retention than any loyalty program ever will.

6. If you had to write a short playbook for an ecommerce founder one stage behind you, what would you double down on over the next 12 months – and what would you stop doing entirely?

Hans Graubard: I’d double down on building systems early — clean inventory tracking, solid attribution, and a realistic testing cadence. It’s not glamorous, but if those things are shaky, scaling multiplies every weakness.

I’d also double down on customer education. If your category is even slightly technical or health-related, your best growth lever is making your customer smarter, not louder ads.

What I’d stop: chasing “channel hacks,” flash-sale customers, or trying to be everywhere at once. Those things inflate your dashboards but hurt your LTV and distract the team. Focus on the part of your business that actually compounds — trust.