IN 2013, SHAN-LYN MA was fed up with wedding registries. Most were set up through clunky department store websites offering few options, and all led to terrible gifting experiences. Ma recalls one registry in which every item was made of silver. The only thing she could afford was a single spoon. • A former general manager at e-commerce company Gilt Groupe, Ma knew there had to be a better way. The more she researched wedding planning, the more broken processes she found. “The pain point in registries was replicated at every other part of the wedding planning journey,” says Ma, 45. “It felt like a huge opportunity.” • In May 2013, Ma co-founded the wedding e-commerce startup Zola.
A one-stop shop for wedding planning, the New York City-based company has helped more than two million couples plan their nuptials. Today, the platform offers a wedding website builder, a paper invitation shop, and
