Corgi goes viral in Silicon Valley with beauty marketing: boldly promises to open 100 cafes in half a year, but the second one is shut down just two weeks after opening.

Beating AI News Flash: Corgi, the AI insurance company that previously gained fame in Silicon Valley through its "Corgi Girls" beauty marketing, is trying to attract customers in another way: opening coffee shops.

This summer, the company proposed opening 100 round-the-clock coffee shops in San Francisco within six months, providing office and social spaces for entrepreneurs, attracting potential customers through gatherings, events, and networking, and then selling them business insurance.

But expansion quickly ran into trouble. Corgi had 16 leases close to being signed but suddenly paused the push, and then laid off its head of expansion and some team members. Another 3 already-signed San Francisco locations also failed to open on time. Nevertheless, the company still insists its goal of opening 100 coffee shops remains unchanged.

Actual operations have also not gone smoothly. Corgi's second San Francisco location was ordered to close just 13 days after opening in September due to lacking a valid health permit. The San Francisco Chronicle subsequently found that the store's building renovation procedures had also not been completed. Nearby residents also filed an appeal, accusing it of being "an office disguised as a coffee shop," making reopening even more difficult.

Harder than opening stores is turning buzz into business. The San Francisco Standard interviewed 3 attendees at the store's opening event and found that none of them had any need to buy insurance, and one of them did not even know Corgi was an insurance company.

Although the sample is limited, it also exposes the limitations and awkwardness of this marketing model.