Business View - January 2016 63
mobile industry. One of the companies that I based
my model on was Ferrari. What Ferrari has done that
has outpaced every other automobile manufacturer is
that it is a vertically integrated company. They pick and
choose every single ingredient that goes into making
their engine blocks, their pistons, their interior, their ex-
terior – they custom-manufacture their products. And,
because they do that, they’re able to put a product on
the market that totally outpaces every other manufac-
turer. And that’s what we wanted to do. We wanted to
create a definite distinction between our product line,
one that outpaced the competition. In order to do that,
we had to develop the same type of vertical integration
that Ferrari did.”
Most people probably don’t know much about Ferrari’s
corporate structure; but they do know that it makes a
very fast car. And if the company’s brand is known for
speed, then IQ Formulations is a worthy inheritor of the
Ferrari ethos. Cohen’s firm has been on an astonishing
trajectory of growth since its inception, going from less
than $124,000 in 2010 revenue, to 2015 sales of $20
million, today - a growth rate of 5,486 percent over the
last three years. It’s what put IQ Formulations on the
Inc. 5000 list in 2014 and again in 2015, as one of the
fastest growing companies in the country.
When he approached the starting line back in 2010,
IQ Formulations was actually Cohen’s third time
around the supplements business track. “I started in
1987, with my father, when he created his company,”
he remembers. “I worked on and off for him through-
out the years until I left for college and entered back
into the industry years later.” Cohen’s first re-entry
onto the speedway was not a positive or fulfilling ride.
“The whole industry had changed immensely,” he la-
ments. “A lot of the companies had become marketing
companies – they weren’t manufacturing companies.
There was a lot of emphasis on making the cheapest
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
IQ Formulations
WHAT:
Maker of high-quality nutritional supple-
ments
WHERE:
Tamarac, Florida
WEBSITE
:
TECHNOLOGY
