logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2021
27m 33s

How I Built Resilience: Shan-Lyn Ma of Z...

Guy Raz | Wondery
About this episode
With the wedding industry dramatically impacted by the pandemic, co-founder and CEO of Zola, Shan-Lyn Ma decided to pivot. Instead of just wedding planning, Zola would expand to include livestreaming virtual weddings as well as an e-commerce marketplace for home goods. Shan-Lyn talks with Guy about her forecast for the wedding industry this year and how to g ... Show More
Up next
Yesterday
Serena & Lily: Serena Dugan and Lily Kanter. They Built a $20M Brand—Then One Investor Almost Destroyed It
Many founders think the hardest thing about business is finding customers.It's not.It's surviving success.When Lily Kanter and Serena Dugan launched a luxury baby linen business, they had no manufacturing experience, no inventory, and barely any capital. But after their first cat ... Show More
1h 15m
Jul 30
Advice Line with Chris Riccobono of UNTUCKit
Today’s callers: Adrian from California wants to grow his apparel company to complete with big-name athletic brands. Then, Preet from the Rockies looks for strategies to reach seniors and their children with his daily check-in app. And Derek from Virginia considers social media a ... Show More
46m 21s
Jul 27
Sweetwater: Chuck Surack. How a Customer Service Strategy Built a Billion Dollar Online Pro Audio and Music Company.
Chuck Surack never planned to build one of America's largest online retailers. He just wanted to be a musician. So right after high school, he took his sax and drove off in his old VW van to play gigs around the country. It didn’t work out. But with the audio and mixing skills Ch ... Show More
1h 12m
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2024
Disrupting the wedding industry, with Zola’s Shan-Lyn Ma
Shan-Lyn Ma, co-founder and co-CEO of Zola, joins host Jeff Berman to share how intrapreneurship prepared her to build a business that’s transformed the wedding industry with online tools. From weathering the Covid pandemic to scaling a better experience for millions of couples, ... Show More
30m 3s
Feb 2023
The Woman Behind 2,000,000 Weddings
<p>#19: After the worst wedding gift-buying experience online, Shan-Lyn Ma started a journey to revolutionize the industry and co-founded Zola. Now the CEO, she shares how she used modern technology, ambition, and sheer hard work to fundraise and launch what became the fastest-gr ... Show More
51m 19s
Jan 2024
Shan-Lyn Ma: Zola Co-Founder and Co-CEO
<p>Shan-Lyn Ma, co-founder and co-CEO of wedding registry site Zola, was destined to be an entrepreneur. In fact, her childhood bedroom décor featured a poster of her idol, Jerry Yang, the co-founder of Yahoo. After graduating with her MBA from Stanford, Ma pursued her lifelong d ... Show More
58m 17s
Feb 2022
6-Figure in Sales Before Launch and Building a Sustainable Future
<p>You'll learn from an entrepreneur how she built a business and raised over $360,000 worth of pre-orders despite the pandemic. <br /><br />For more on Sanikind and show notes: <a href="https://www.shopify.com/blog/sanikind-crowdfunding?utm_campaign=shopifymasters&utm_medium=des ... Show More
49m 21s
Nov 2017
Building Brands, Creating Communities: Beautycounter and Zola
From the 2017 Goldman Sachs Builders + Innovators Summit: Shan-Lyn Ma, co-founder and CEO of online wedding destination Zola, and Gregg Renfrew, founder and CEO of skincare and cosmetics brand Beautycounter, are joined by Goldman Sachs co-head of Investment Banking John Waldron t ... Show More
26m 19s
Feb 2025
How to Build a Resilient Life-First Business
Send us Fan MailOver the past year, I’ve navigated personal and business challenges that tested everything I teach. In this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO, I’m pulling back the curtain on how I kept my business thriving while managing family caregiving, my health, and major s ... Show More
36m 45s
May 2025
Undoing a $5 Billion Acquisition and Building a Durable Standalone Plaid (with Plaid CEO Zach Perret)
We sit down with Zach Perret, CEO of Plaid, to discuss the remarkable journey of Plaid and the broader fintech landscape over the past several years. Zach takes us blow-by-blow through journey of almost getting acquired by Visa, the challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic… ... Show More
59m 7s
May 2021
How Your Business Can Win in a Digitally Disrupted World
<p>Today's episode is an interview from a virtual event with Procter &amp; Gamble where myself and CEO of Logitech Bracken Darrell discuss the seismic&nbsp;shifts businesses have faced triggered by digital disruption and COVID-19. Vaynermedia has been at the forefront of providin ... Show More
58m 34s