FIGS: Trina Spear and Heather Hasson. The $2.5 Billion Scrubs Brand That Investors Said Would Never Work

What It Covers

Heather Hasson and Trina Spear built Figs from trunk sales outside emergency rooms into a $2.5 billion publicly traded scrubs brand. Starting in 2013 with $70,000 in liquidated savings, they faced 300–400 investor rejections before proving that 24 million U.S. healthcare workers would pay a premium for well-designed, direct-to-consumer medical apparel.

Key Questions Answered

• •Market framing over TAM size: Investors repeatedly rejected Figs citing an insufficient total addressable market, despite 24 million U.S. healthcare professionals spending $10 billion annually on scrubs. The founders countered that creating demand within an underserved, captive audience matters more than fitting a pre-existing TAM. When pitching a niche, reframe the conversation around market creation potential rather than defending current market size figures.
• •Direct-to-consumer margin math: Legacy scrub brands sold through distributors, surrendering 60% of retail price to retailers and 8–12% to licensors, leaving minimal budget for product innovation. Figs sold direct, doubling production costs but charging only 15–20% more than competitors. Cutting middlemen restructures the entire margin stack, enabling better product at competitive prices while maintaining profitability — a replicable model for any commoditized uniform category.
• •Fast-no fundraising discipline: Facing 300–400 investor rejections, Figs deliberately optimized for speed of rejection rather than prolonged negotiation. Any investor who stalled or went silent was immediately categorized as a no and removed from pursuit. When capital is scarce and runway is finite, eliminating slow maybes preserves time and energy for the next potential yes, compressing the fundraising cycle significantly.
• •Healthcare workers as walking billboards: Because healthcare professionals work in densely populated institutions, word-of-mouth became Figs' largest customer acquisition driver, reducing dependence on paid digital channels over time. Early Facebook advertising targeted health workers when competitor brands had no digital presence, establishing brand recognition cheaply. Building community within a tightly networked professional group compounds organic growth in ways that broad consumer markets cannot replicate.
• •Founder equity split based on prior contribution: When Trina joined with $70,000, Heather retained a larger equity stake reflecting her prior work building the product and brand. Both founders prioritized fairness over equal splits, avoiding the resentment that derails many co-founder relationships. Structuring equity around demonstrated contribution rather than arbitrary 50/50 splits creates alignment and reduces conflict, particularly when one founder joins an already-operating venture.
• •Board control as non-negotiable protection: Figs structured governance so Heather and Trina retained two of three board seats through IPO and beyond, preventing investor override. This protection proved critical when a 2015 investor group attempted to remove the founders as operators. Entrepreneurs should negotiate voting control and board composition before accepting institutional capital, not after — losing operational control is an existential risk that no valuation premium compensates for.