In The Room with Coral Chung
This week on The Room, we interview Coral Chung, the CEO, and co-founder of Senreve. Sitting down with Coral to hear about the start of her luxury D2C brand was such a treat- we learned about the early days of founding an accessories brand in Silicon Valley, her global expansion plans, and a bit about juggling the hats of CEO and mother. Listen to the full episode here.
This episode’s conversation touches on the following three key themes and insights. Enjoy!
Listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
Key Theme 1: Disrupting an Industry Rooted in Tradition
After going to business school at Stanford and working for pre-IPO tech company Medallia, Coral left during the height of its early growth to start Senreve out of a Silicon Valley garage. While this narrative does not sound off-script of many tech companies, Coral’s founding story has an interesting twist. She and her co-founder Wendy Wen set out to build a disruptive luxury handbag company. Coral speaks to the early ups and downs of starting Senreve, where many people thought that bootstrapping a bag brand to compete with Chanels and Pradas couldn’t be done. Although her peer companies were rooted in hundreds of years of tradition, Coral and Wendy leveraged a lean, data-driven approach to establish Senreve’s success.
Key Theme 2: The Power of Data and Building User First
In building Senreve, Coral kept the needs and desires of the Senreve woman as the center of gravity in the product development process. Coral’s early aha moment was realizing working women who loved fashion and wanted luxury products were making tradeoffs on style for practicality. Coral leveraged user research, consumer data, and smart manufacturing practices to offer a versatile product line (including a brand new line of vegan bags). Amidst the brand’s analytic approach, Senreve still combines the magic of fashion aspiration. The name, Senreve means “sense” and “dream” in French. Coral hopes to build products that are sensible to their target customer while also allowing her to dream.
Key Theme 3: Expansion during Uncertain Times
It’s no secret that the retail industry has taken a significant hit due to the current context of COVID-19. Stores have had to shut down, brands have liquidated inventory, yet eCommerce growth has also accelerated. Coral shares how she’s navigating Senreve through these unprecedented times and what’s next for Senreve- international expansion into Asia. Coral speaks to how Senreve prioritizes decisions that will help them continue evolving and growing with the Senreve woman. From launching new styles targeted specifically for the Asian market to starting a new line of candles and cashmere, that make staying at home more beautiful.
For founders and funders everywhere, Coral provides an inspiring story of what it looks like to dream big and get down to business.
What business do you dream of building?
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