Q&A with Jesse Link, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Rella

Jesse Link is the Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Rella, a modern software solution centralizing the wedding planning process. Jesse worked at Goldman Sachs from 2013 to 2020 in the firm's Consumer and Investment Management Division in New York.

What was the inspiration to start Rella? What did it take to be the very first to do something like this?
Jesse: Rella started with my twin sister and co-founder, Arielle, who created a series of best-selling wedding planning books. People love her books because they are simple, thoughtfully organized and place celebration at the center of the process (e.g. one of your three weekly tasks might be to take a night off from planning and go out for dinner at your favorite restaurant - planning shouldn’t make you forget why you’re getting married in the first place!).

In the research leading up to the books, she was surprised by the amount of superfluous and overwhelming information in most planning books and online resources. As her research progressed, what became more frustrating was that the current digital “solutions” were basic, disjointed and left couples feeling even more stressed out. She shared with me that because of this, shockingly, most couples resort to using spreadsheets to plan - that was astonishing and frankly the point when I really took interest and got involved. Given my background in the private markets, we did a wedding market deep dive and spoke to hundreds of couples about their pain points in the planning process. What became apparent is that couples were missing a central place to manage all the logistical complexity of planning their weddings. Essentially wedding planning requires a powerful, customizable project management tool. So that’s what we’ve built with Rella, a project management platform that offers couples the ability to centrally organize and manage all the chaos with the structure, guidance and personal touch and expertise of a professional wedding planner.

Rella believes that wedding planning shouldn’t make you forget why you’re getting married in the first place. How does Rella make the planning process something to look forward to
Jesse: We believe planning your wedding should be something you look forward to. It’s the most important day in your life and should be a source of celebration and joy! However, wedding planning anxiety is a real thing. The two leading causes are financial and organizational, both of which can be overwhelming, cause tension and make planning - or even thinking about planning - stressful.

We designed Rella specifically to help couples address these pain points with the simple goal of bringing the love back to weddings. Rella’s project management tools work together and overlap in a way that bring ease of use, confidence and peace of mind to our couples so that they know they are in control of their wedding – not the other way around. As soon as couples join Rella we work to make planning as inclusive as possible through our collaboration tool (invite your partner, bridesmaids, friends, family and/or wedding planner to join the process). With everyone you need to plan on-boarded, couples have customized planning templates and advice, guest list management, vendor organization and communication, invoice payments, budgeting, inspiration and more at their fingertips. We take pride in helping our couples not only enjoy planning, but celebrate this special time in their lives and still have time to take care of life’s ongoing responsibilities. Last time we checked, the world doesn’t come to a standstill when you get engaged (though that sure would make it easier!).

Your twin sister, Arielle Link, is one of your co-founders. What is it like to work with a family member? Did you always know you wanted to start a company together?
Jesse: I love this question – I laugh about it now since it makes so much sense - we’ve always had complementary personalities and strengths. But growing up, no, can’t say it was ever a thought. A good number of our family members are small business owners in their own right, so the idea and the willingness to put trust in yourself, have the desire to build, provide and survive has been around us our entire life. We’ve seen firsthand how empowering building a business can be to a community, and that’s stuck with us. So in that vein, I think the entrepreneurial spirit has always been there.

Working with my sister is fantastic and in my opinion 100% an advantage - as long as you are eyes wide open to each other's strengths, weaknesses and personalities. Trust and honesty are necessities at every stage of business building, especially in the beginning. Understanding the best way to communicate with each other made some very early conversations, like bringing in Anna as our third partner, extremely easy and I truly believe this has led to much of our early success. It’s exciting to see her grow and see her creative mind at work up close. Plus, I get to spend every day alongside my best friends, helping couples find more joy planning the most important day in their life. It’s something special.

Due to the Coronavirus, many weddings have shifted to virtual events. How is Rella adapting to this major change in the wedding industry?
Jesse: We know this all too well. Ari and her husband Mike had a Zoom wedding this past spring and our other co-founder, Anna, is in the process of planning her wedding now. There are two parts to this adaptation, one more tactical and one more emotional. Coronavirus is now part of the planning process and needs to be looked at as such. Couples need more support and guidance to understand and navigate the additional planning demands and challenges they will likely face. Even when there is a vaccination, the aftereffects of what we have all experienced will linger and couples will be doing things differently for years to come, most notably, many more smaller events. We are working hand-in-hand with couples and wedding planners to make our platform as informative, supportive and flexible as possible for any situation couples may face. The one shining light through all this is that creativity is thriving, couples are still getting married and love is very much still alive!

How much does Rella cost for couples? Is it a flat fee for one wedding or a monthly membership? Are there certain features or tools that cost more?
Jesse: Rella is a branded subscription SaaS product - monthly, semi-annual and annual subscriptions, with discounts that increase respectively for the longer subscriptions. We spend a great deal of time and energy thinking through the intangibles; we really aim to help couples save significant time and stress beyond saving money. To give you an idea though, we like to say “with Rella, plan and manage your wedding for two-thirds the cost of your wedding cake,” affordable for weddings of every budget. Overtime, we plan to introduce additional features that will likely add tranches to our pricing, however, we plan to listen closely to the needs of our couples as this product truly is for them.

What lessons did you learn at Goldman Sachs that helped you co-found your own company? Do you have advice for other entrepreneurs?
Jesse: The late Anthony Bourdain said one of my favorite quotes, "travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown.” At risk of being too cliché, for entrepreneurs, especially those still in the early stages of building a business, I really do think, like an unknown travel experience, you’re on an adventure. Similar to travel, building a business should force you to seek out the “new,” open your mind to view things in a different way and challenge yourself to push the boundaries of your comfort zone. At Rella we have a requirement every Friday to share with the team two things you did that week, professional or personal, where you pushed yourself outside your comfort zone. The hope is that we can continue to learn to embrace the unknown and eventually even run toward it.

Business building and entrepreneurial spirit is very much alive at Goldman Sachs. Throughout my time at the firm, I learned the imperativeness of surrounding yourself with diverse-minded individuals; that every relationship no matter how big or small is important and deserves your time. Above all else, you need to have passion for what you do – even in an entirely different industry, I have no doubt adhering to these lessons will be crucial for our success.