Shutterfly's busiest weeks came each December, when holiday cards and photo gifts drove a large share of the year's sales. As cameras went digital, people stopped printing film, and their pictures piled up on hard drives. Shutterfly let them upload photos, store them free and order prints, photo books, cards and calendars, made in its own plants. By 2006 photo books and holiday cards were its fastest-growing products.

Backed by Jim Clark

Shutterfly was founded in 1999 with backing from Netscape co-founder Jim Clark, and Eva Manolis was among its founders. The bet was that digital photography would create a large market for high-quality printed products. Shutterfly ran its own manufacturing to control quality. Free unlimited photo storage was part of its offer from early on, and it kept customers coming back to order.

Tiny Prints and Lifetouch

Shutterfly priced its IPO at $15 a share in September 2006 on the Nasdaq, with photo books and holiday cards leading its growth. Its customers were mostly families saving their memories. The company grew by buying other businesses, including Tiny Prints and, later, the school photo company Lifetouch. Its holiday season became a major retail event. In 2019 Apollo took Shutterfly private for about $2.7 billion.

Cover: Butterfly, James McNeill Whistler. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a butterfly (Shutterfly).