Meet The Disruptors: Lily Chan and Derrick Chen On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Startups are Hard and Messy! Don’t Forget to Take the Time to Enjoy the Journey.
As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lily Chan and Derrick Chen, Cofounders of Cenports.
Lily Chan is the Chief Revenue Officer and Cofounder of Cenports, having over 17 years of experience in startups with a passion for all things eCommerce. Her extensive eCommerce knowledge comes from first hand experiences in both DTC and B2B companies. She is a 2 times ’40 Under 40’ recipient in the Home Furnishings Industry and formerly the Chief Operating Officer at EuroStyle and Director at ShopLadder, a top 500 online retailer.
Derrick Chen is the CEO of Cenports and has over 20 years of tech and eCommerce experience, including the founding and successful selling of an eCommerce company making over 10 million dollars in annual sales. Derrick understands the challenge of scaling retail sales globally and created Cenports to provide a streamlined solution for all things eCommerce.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Lily : Since the beginning of my career, with all the different roles that I’ve worked in, I noticed a common goal. The goal was always to help people and their businesses uncover their true potential. The ability to continue doing this is what gets me up in the morning.
After I graduated from NYU in 2006, my first job was at an eCommerce company with around 200 websites where we were selling products. My job was to identify potential vendors and to help them to understand the strength in selling their products online instead of only selling on the traditional brick and mortar model. Can you imagine the pushback that I got? There were so many people who thought that this was a joke or were nervous about it.
But I was determined to get vendors to start embracing eCommerce because the world was becoming more digitally connected by the day.
I have this story and it’s one of my favorite moments of my career.
I once met a mattress company that has been doing business since 1873. Old school as they come and had no idea on anything about eCommerce. It took a long time to get them to see the future of retail but I was eventually able to get them to come around to see the potential that eCommerce has for their business. Now even after 16 years, their company has grown significantly and eCommerce has been part of that success. Their CEO continues to share that they would’ve never been able to get into eCommerce if it wasn’t for my help.
From that moment it was obvious to me that this was something huge.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
Lily:
Rewind to the year 2000, eCommerce only accounted for 1% of sales. Fast forward to 2022, eCommerce dominates nearly 20% of sales and is nearing to become a $1 trillion industry. Yes, this massive growth was heavily driven by the pandemic. I appreciate eCommerce leaders like Amazon, online shopping experiences have been streamlined and it almost feels like it’s been ingrained into our daily lives but it’s not just about Amazon anymore. Other retailers are catching on to provide the same convenience and access to the products you love. With all that in mind, a lot of us forget or don’t know about the work that happens behind the scenes to get your purchases to your door.
Now, onto the topic of how Cenports is disrupting the eCommerce industry.
As one can imagine there are 1000’s of decisions that need to be made with just as many touch points to manage. This can be daunting for any entrepreneur that wants to sell their items online. What Cenports has created is the first ever tech driven ecosystem (patent pending) that enables our customers to develop their own eCommerce business from start to finish.
Our software enables seamless Integrations with major retailers like Amazon, Wayfair, and Home Depot. Our team will also work with the business owners to identify their pricing and product strategy to help build success quickly. In addition, we also run our own fulfillment centers.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Derrick:
Here’s a funny story.
During the pandemic, like all of us, we moved over to Zoom to connect with our leads and clients. One day, we had a vendor that was interested in working with us. They were a furniture company that was looking to start their eCommerce journey in the US but there was one problem; their brand name.
I’m not one to judge a book by its cover or to turn anyone down but we had serious concerns about their company name being “Titi Skin” |Ti — Tee|. I remember bringing this up to Lily and she immediately shut it down.
This was a really good experience though. We realized that these types of conversations are necessary, especially for international clients. Some linguistic nuances may not be the same in other cultures.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
Lily:
I love this question! I’m a firm believer that anyone can become a mentor as long as they have the empathy and patience to understand your perspective. A mentor can have a similar experience as you and can also have no idea what your industry is.
Recently one of my mentors, who has owned a very successful cafe in San Francisco for over 30 years, came to me and shared advice that she’d give to her younger self which was to show up everyday and take the small steps to do the work.
I loved this advice because the entrepreneurial journey is tough and sometimes you don’t see the rewards on a day to day but to not give up and to just show up for your team, your clients, and yourself even if it’s in small doses is the key to the journey..
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
Derrick:
Disruption, both negative and positive, feels linear but I think the intention is what defines which camp the disruption resides in. I firmly believe that industry disruptors are the innovators that drive change. In a democratic sense, whether positive or negative, the consumer or people decide on its adoption. Many may fail but as long as the intention is for the better then I’m all for it. The biggest threat to innovation is the fear of challenging the status quo and complacency. What we may know might work but we should always be thinking, “how can we make it better”?
Can you share five of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
Lily / Derrick:
- Startups are Hard and Messy! Don’t Forget to Take the Time to Enjoy the Journey.
A personal reminder of mine. I often think back to a time where my team and I were working on a massive project that we’ve been planning for months. A bunch of late nights and stress, we were able to pull through but what I remember most is that I was able to experience this challenge together as a team. Now, I look back and know that I wouldn’t trade this journey for anything in the world.
2. “Don’t look at any aspect of your growth as happening in a silo, your eCommerce platform, marketing campaigns, and customer support efforts all need to work in harmony for your online sales to reach their full potential.” — Kathy Kuo
This is actually a quote from a friend of mine and this couldn’t’ be more true. Working in tandem with all activities creates a flywheel that can help build on new momentum.
3. Slow down, give it space.
I used to think that I’m supposed to have it all done yesterday but I’ve learned since, that sometimes decisions are best made with time. Forcing something to happen that might not feel entirely great could cause you not to see the full picture. But instead if you slow it down and write down all the pro’s and con’s and ask for feedback from the other party, that can make an even stronger product or process. My new goal when it comes to work is to create flow as a creator as well as a participant within a team.
4. Unitasking is the key to success.
Especially when it came to building our software, our team needed to stay focused on one feature at a time before jumping to the next. Mullt-taksing is a myth. Giving your full attention on what’s most important.
5. Data, Data, Data
From your business’s financial health to staff performance, measuring the right metrics are key. Understanding and tracking data can help give you clarity.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
Derrick:
So here are some exciting things we’re working on right now.
- Expand into new markets such as Europe. Currently we have a strong focus in the US, Mexico, and Canada markets but we are working to get our footprint growing in Europe with targets on the consumer markets of Germany and the UK.
- Officially launching our app that connects all of our products directly with Shopify websites, can be found here. https://apps.shopify.com/andtribute-for-dropshippers
- For the first time ever, we are starting our fundraising journey and decided to embrace a crowdfunding campaign to let our friends and clients be the first to invest. https://wefunder.com/cenports.commerce.inc
Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?
Lily:
Good Anxiety
I’m really enjoying this book right now titled Good Anxiety by Dr. Wendy Suzuki and it talks about everyday anxiety and how to become aware of the underlying causes and to reframe anxiety to being a sign for things to look further into.
Derrick:
0 to IPO
What this book taught me is to never give up. This book gave me great insights into the entrepreneurial journey and a glimpse into how tough and lonely it can be. But if there’s one message that I’d like to share with all of you from this book is to never stop asking questions.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Derrick:
“Success is going from failure to failure without the loss of enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill — I’ve failed a few times but I’ve also succeeded in starting my own company. Even with all the challenges that I’ve faced in starting my own company, it was all knowledge; expensive knowledge but what I learned from the past is invaluable to the success of Cenports.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire 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. 🙂
Lily:
Hmm… Great question!
If I were to start a movement, I want to have people focus more on themselves. Too often we forget to take care of ourselves for the sake of success but self compassion and care is just as important if not more important than making that extra dollar.
For 3 years straight, I became my own guinea pig and bullet journaled in a spreadsheet to understand my thoughts and emotions.
A bullet journal is where you track your own physiological and/or mental health.
This helped me understand when I wasn’t feeling okay and being able to pinpoint things I can do to feel better or at least sit with it. As a partner, entrepreneur, and team player people depend on me and knowing that I’m not always going to feel great and understanding why has given me the chance to get to know myself so I can lead with honesty and care.
I believe that if more of my fellow entrepreneurs took the time to delve deeper into themselves they can uncover gems that can help themselves build companies and teams with honesty and intent.
How can our readers follow you online?
Lily: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-chan/ @andmakers
Derrick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derrick-chen-561ba3 / @cenports
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Meet The Disruptors: Lily Chan and Derrick Chen On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
