Driving Disruption: Jacob Cohen Of Mangoceuticals On The Innovative Approaches They Are Taking To Disrupt Their Industries
An Interview With Cynthia Corsetti
Technology — We offer a seamless online telehealth visit that connects patients with physicians and pharmacists to offer medicine exclusively compounded based on the patient’s treatment needs.
In an age where industries evolve at lightning speed, there exists a special breed of C-suite executives who are not just navigating the changes, but driving them. These are the pioneers who think outside the box, championing novel strategies that shatter the status quo and set new industry standards. Their approach fosters innovation, spurs growth, and leads to disruptive change that redefines their sectors. In this interview series, we are talking to disruptive C-suite executives to share their experiences, insights, and the secrets behind the innovative approaches they are taking to disrupt their industries. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Jacob Cohen.
Jacob Cohen is a serial entrepreneur, corporate finance and executive management professional with over 20 years of investment banking and capital markets experience having started and growing multiple companies in various industry sectors including marketing, advertising, healthcare, IT and financial services.
Prior to founding Mangoceuticals, Inc., Mr. Cohen was the co-founder and managing partner of several boutique investment bank and strategic advisory firms where he advised both early and later-stage companies in raising capital in the form of debt and/or equity and in both private and public markets.
Prior to his experiences in investment banking, Mr. Cohen served as the Chief Financial Officer of The Renewed Group, Inc., a manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer of eco-friendly and sustainable apparel primarily made from recycled textiles and under the brand name REUSE JEANS from 2010 through the end of 2013. Further, Mr. Cohen served from 2008 through 2010 as Executive Vice President and Controller of Metiscan, Inc., a publicly traded company, and as the President and Chief Executive Officer of one of its subsidiaries, Shoreline Employment Services, Inc. During his tenure at Metiscan, Mr. Cohen was instrumental in restructuring, reorganizing and operating the company and its five subsidiaries, and successfully raised over $8 million in equity financing for growth capital. Mr. Cohen also spearheaded the company’s financial audit process and managed its various filings with the SEC.
Mr. Cohen has served as Chief Executive Officer of Mangoceuticals, Inc. since October 2021 and holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Economics and Finance from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion about disruption, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path? Origin story
As a serial entrepreneur with a keen sense of finance and capital markets, I had started a telemedicine company solely focused on providing 24/7 primary health care related services to customers on a national basis. While searching for additional investment opportunities in the healthcare space, I was introduced to a young man who had owned and operated a compounding pharmacy and the concept for an ED tablet emerged which I felt would, and I quote, “disrupt the ED space.” Having experience in starting and growing companies from concept to commercialization, I knew we were on to something big and I needed to know more.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Where do I begin? We didn’t walk into this blindly. No one in the telehealth space, let alone men’s health, is as loud in our marketing approach and as innovative in treatment options as we are when it comes to men’s health. We applaud those that have laid the groundwork in the telehealth space, but now it’s time to level up. We identified that a change in consumer behavior had taken place with how customers seek both medical treatment and receive pharmaceutical goods with a preference for handling their healthcare needs online. We took it one step further and began offering compounded medications that are innovative, disruptive, and that fills an unmet demand in the marketplace. MangoRx is connecting patients with physicians and pharmacies that can deliver unique products exclusively compounded for the patient — we’re leveling up and taking on this rapidly growing marketplace.
Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Communication. Creativity. Determination.
Communication — A successful business is built on solid relationships and good relationships are dependent on communication. Whether it’s with your customers, vendors, employees, board members, or shareholders, I constantly strive to make sure that I take the time to properly communicate with everyone so that everyone is on the same page at all times. To that end, we believe that everyone’s opinions, suggestions and feedback counts and have worked to create a culture and environment where all employees and team members feel welcome to participate in all aspects of the business. We hold weekly (or bi-weekly) calls with all of our key vendors and consistently seek to disseminate press releases to the market apprising our shareholders and investors of recent activities and events.
Creativity — I truly believe that in order to be disruptive you have to be creative in developing out-of-the-box concepts, strategies and solutions. In addition to the creative compounds used in our products, the creative process really started when we formed the name Mango (think “Man Go”) as we wanted to create a company that resonated with men to go hard in every aspect of life. This is the overarching mantra of the company that we intend to further develop over time and as we launch additional products.
Determination — In any business you are going to be faced with trials, tribulations, ups and downs, and on occasion the usual office drama. I am not sure why this is, but in my experience there have been more people hoping for you to fail rather than to succeed. But at the end of the day, you need to have the will, persistence, focus and the “John Wick” determination to weed out any and all negativity and achieve your goals. Mango was able to successfully raise capital and obtain a public listing on the NASDAQ in one of the worst economic markets we have had in years. Many times I was told it wasn’t going to happen and we had to deal with the constant delays that were out of our control. But I remained steadfast and never gave up, and on March 21, 2023, Mango officially listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker “MGRX.”
Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story with us about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader?
I’m curious to understand how these challenges have shaped your leadership.
With respect to Mango, I would definitely say choosing to take Mango public versus keeping it a private company knowing that we were entering into a very turbulent, sporadic and bearish marketplace with many company’s trading at lower valuations. However, I believed that going public would give our new company maximum visibility and by marketing our company to new investors, we were simultaneously marketing to new customers. In other words, we want our investors to be our customers, and our customers to be our investors.
Given my capital markets background and being personally involved in helping many companies go public, I also recognize and believe what we are experiencing in the market to be short term and that this was a good opportunity for us to deploy these initial investment dollars in a way that would create real, sustainable brand value that we feel would ultimately translate into long term growth our investors could realize and support.
Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Let’s begin with a basic definition so that all of us are on the same page. In the context of a business, what exactly is “Disruption”?
MangoRx is the definition of disruption.
We’ve analyzed the marketplace, and I’ve personally tested all the products currently available on the market. Because when I decide to do something, I want it to be the best. This is why we’ve taken the main ingredients in the most successful and traditional ED products, Viagra or Cialis, and we’ve brought it into the 21st century.
Mango is a rapid dissolvable tablet that goes under the tongue and hits the bloodstream in less than 10 minutes — no one wants to wait an hour after swallowing a pill for it to kick in. We’ve compounded it with two other FDA-approved ingredients, Oxytocin, the cuddle chemical, to help you connect with your partner, and L-Arginine, an amino acid that supports vasodilation, to help you perform at your peak. We’ve also individually wrapped our tablets for on-the-go use. And we’ve topped it off by making it taste like Mango, so no bitter aftertaste. None of our competitors can say that.
We’re not just on a mission to disrupt the online telehealth game, we’re here to make men’s health a conversation that couples can feel comfortable having with each other. We chose such a bold and humorous tone for our brand to change the stigma on ED and start the conversation among couples, and we needed disruptive attention-grabbing advertising to bring this to life. No more old couples walking on beaches or sitting in bathtubs. Think bottle service, not metamucil.
How do you perceive the role of ‘disruption’ within your industry, and how have you personally embraced it? Is it a necessity, a strategy, or something else entirely in your view?
Disruption is necessary to change the worldview around us and it is a key component to starting an evolution. After all, how can we ever evolve or become better if we remain constant? The stigma of having ED exists and men historically have been afraid to seek help, oftentimes, men cannot receive the care they need because of provider’s personal biases on ED treatment. Additionally, and only until recently, only branded or generic ED treatment pills have been made available.
Mango’s vision is to not only disrupt WHAT products are being made available through the offering of a custom compound solution, but also to disrupt HOW the products are being marketed through humor, wit, and education. This disruption is what we believe to be our ingredients for success.
What lessons have you learned from challenging conventional wisdom, and how have those lessons shaped your leadership style?
I surround myself with people who challenge me. Surrounding yourself with “yes” people will never lead you to success. Find people who are more knowledgeable than you, learn from them, and put them in the right seats to support, empower, and challenge you.
Disruptive ideas often meet resistance. Could you describe a time when you faced significant pushback for a disruptive idea? How did you navigate the opposition, and what advice would you give to others in a similar situation?
Because the issue of ED has been and continues to be such a sensitive topic, I was faced with significant pushback as I had elected to use comedy and humor in every element of our marketing approach. It was my belief that adding a sense of comedy and humor makes conversations more comfortable but you also have to acknowledge that there is a fine line between what is acceptable and what could be perceived as insensitive. Therefore, it is key that we are always cognizant of our audience and demographic to ensure our marketing videos and content contain elements of humor and are informative to the potential consumer. We strive to make an uncomfortable topic more acceptable and comfortable by openly talking about it.
To this day, I stand by my decision to utilize humor in our marketing approach and believe that we are making a big impact on the lives of our customers who either suffer from ED or would just like a confidence boost. So my advice is to be bold and don’t be afraid to take some risks. If it is something that you truly feel will make a difference, then go for it and stand for what you believe in.
Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “Five Innovative Approaches We Are Using To Disrupt Our Industry”? If you can, please share a story or an example for each.
1 . Product Offerings — Compounded Pharmaceuticals to meet Patients needs (unique formulas with a tasty flavor).
2 . Product Delivery — Alternative delivery methods that challenge the status quo (no more swallowing pills).
3 . Packaging — Sexy packaging vs. clinical medicine bottles (taking medicine shouldn’t make you feel old).
4 . Marketing — Humor and education backed by real science.
5 . Technology — We offer a seamless online telehealth visit that connects patients with physicians and pharmacists to offer medicine exclusively compounded based on the patient’s treatment needs.
Looking back at your career, in what ways has being disruptive defined or redefined your path? What surprises have you encountered along the way?
Being disruptive isn’t always indicative of success. Success in disruption is all about timing. If we had launched this company 5 years ago, the road to success would have been a very steep uphill climb. It was only when the change in consumer behavior shifted with the advent of telemedicine and other telehealth platforms did customers feel comfortable with speaking to a Doctor and ordering their pharmaceutical products online.
Around 20 years ago, I had the brilliant idea of displaying rich media advertising content on 42 inch plasma TV’s in restaurants and bars. It was disruptive because no one was doing it and it was something cool for the patrons to watch while they ordered or ate their meals. But due to the high costs of internet and equipment at the time, unfortunately the business failed. I was at least 2 years too early. I had a keen sense that this was where the out of home advertising market was going but the current economic conditions at the time were not allowing for it.
Beyond professional accomplishments, how has embracing disruption affected you on a personal level?
It is my personal belief that if you are a forward thinking person, you apply that character trait both in your personal life and professional career. These traits make up who we are and go with us in every aspect of life. I’ve embraced being different, unique and disruptive in every aspect of life. From how I decided which schools to attend, to how I educate my children and even how I chose my profession. I constantly seek to surround myself with like-minded people who possess great leadership qualities, are creative, determined and who enjoy adding value as part of their every day routine.
In your role as a C-suite leader, driving innovation and embracing disruption, what thoughts or concerns keep you awake at night? How do these reflections guide your decisions and leadership?
We are in a highly evolving industry where market and regulatory conditions are constantly changing and evolving. But part of the responsibility of being a CEO is having the foresight to anticipate certain changes that could potentially affect your business which then has a domino effect with respect to your shareholders and employees. As a leader, you are constantly expected to show strength and unwavering confidence, even in times where things seem bleak or unfavorable. Sometimes the weight of the responsibility can be both scary and daunting and can cause many sleepless nights.
But I refer back to the trait of determination. If you are truly determined to achieve your goals, one would perceive these issues to merely be small speed bumps on the long road to success.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
When starting Mango, the idea was always to create the Mango Movement which would empower men to take control of their health and inspire them to always be at their best. This is why we take great pride in identifying key areas in men’s health to tackle when establishing new products. Furthermore, it is part of our mission to give back and support charities that bring to light the importance of men’s health such as prostate cancer awareness. We intend to share more about how we will support these initiatives in the very near future.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Those interested in learning more about Mango can visit https://www.mangoceuticals.com/. I invite everyone to follow us on Twitter at @Mangoceuticals and on instagram @mango.rx.
Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
About the Interviewer: Cynthia Corsetti is an esteemed executive coach with over two decades in corporate leadership and 11 years in executive coaching. Author of the upcoming book, “Dark Drivers,” she guides high-performing professionals and Fortune 500 firms to recognize and manage underlying influences affecting their leadership. Beyond individual coaching, Cynthia offers a 6-month executive transition program and partners with organizations to nurture the next wave of leadership excellence.
