Female Founder Interview - Erin Cavanaugh, See ROSE Go

1. What made you and your co-founder start See ROSE Go?

Yi and I met and partnered for over nine years at Nike Inc. where Yi was leading women's global design and material innovation and I was leading women’s global merchandising and product creation. During what started as a casual conversation with a friend, who wears a plus size, she simply said, “you have no idea what it’s like to shop for my body.” She went on to describe how poor clothing options affected her negatively throughout the day. This was the turning point. Every one of us takes on challenges in our day to day, but getting dressed in your own style to feel your best should not be one of them. 

This experience was the catalyst. We were stunned and emotionally motivated to create a change. As women, and fashion industry experts, we knew we could support women the best way we know how — through designing beautiful clothing, made to live in and exclusively in plus size.

Yi and I have been friends and colleagues for the past 12 years, supporting each other through the highs and lows of our careers. Now, in partnering to launch See ROSE Go, we aim to bring this same level of support to women wearing a plus size.

2. Why did you leave such great corporate jobs to be an entrepreneur?

We both have an entrepreneurial and collaborative spirit and always felt there was something more to be done between us. We began questioning, exploring and creating a vision to the point we had to go for it. I did not want to look back someday and regret not taking an opportunity to have a great partner where we could create something amazing and have an impact on people and the industry. Designing clothing is a humbling endeavour, and building a brand from scratch is even more challenging. When you can create an authentic brand which connects and inspires women to go out and make their impact on the world, it is empowering.

3. Name 3 big changes between working on a pay check for a large brand with lots of resources vs bootstrapping for yourself and having to create and manage everything on your own?

1. Ample Resources: Initially, it was a challenge moving from a corporate environment, where you had talent and experts at the ready to tap into. As entrepreneurs, we quickly learned to own everything, wear every hat and grow as we go! 
2. Time Management: Working in corporate setting, you work long hours, but there is the sense of leaving the office behind and weekends become your own weekend. Starting your own business, you burn with that passion and it makes it harder to hit pause for personal time. Yi and I both work from home, and depending the to-do’s, the work never stops. 
3. Financing: The robust corporate budgets are gone! By bootstrapping, we have been forced, able and creative in our decisions to drive the business forward.

4. What's your vision? How big do you want to grow?

We are focused on what our customer wants to do and believe that beautiful, and functional designs will help her make an impact on the world. Using our product-creation experience, we are pioneering design, technical innovation and sustainability into plus-size fashion, while building a lifestyle brand. We continue to add thoughtful styles, crafted in our patent-pending fabric, which provide cooling and anti-pilling benefits. Our next steps are to launch an activewear line and grow into an affordable-luxe lifestyle brand that is fit for her world — both today and for years to come.

5. What are some valuable lessons you have learnt about the industry, about yourselves in this trying times of COVID?

Our first reaction was to remain connected, both through listening and offering solutions to customers, rather than just selling to them. We offered weekly Zoom “Ask the Founder” calls, where customers could join us for an open space for connectivity. We also started our "Front Line Workers” Giveback Initiative, which shone a light on those who were serving us during an unprecedented period.

We’ve been able to reinforce the See ROSE Go values by placing community and connectivity first, knowing sales would follow later and they have. July sales are +75% as compared YOY. The lesson we learned, especially through this time, is remaining authentic to your customer. Being value driven and acting as a source of joy will have a long-lasting, positive impact on the business.

Moving forward, as customer behaviour shifts, we expect our customer will continue to desire an emotional connection with brands she supports. We have reflected on where we have been, what we have learned and now reinforced See ROSE Go as a mission driven brand. We are defined by what women do and will continue to support her with beautiful, functional clothing to see her go.

This is a SPOTLIGHT series featuring the women founders who participated in she1K C-shark Tank Season 2. Pitch to us at Season 3 for early stage funding for startup.