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User:VoodooEconomics/Laurel & Wolf

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Laurel & Wolf
Company typePrivate
IndustryInterior Design
Founded2014; 10 years ago (2014) in Los Angeles, California, United States
HeadquartersLos Angeles, California,
United States
Number of locations
1 (2017)
Key people
  • Leura Fine (CEO)
  • Brandon Kleinman (CMO)
Websitewww.laurelandwolf.com


Laurel & Wolf is a Los Angeles based interior design firm which offers online access to interior designers for design advice and plans.

History

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Founders

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Leura Fine

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Leura Fine was born in Alabama and lived there until attending school at McGill University where she majored in English literature and political theory.[1] She later returned to school at UCLA where she studied Interior Archetecture.[1] Prior to starting Laurel & Wolf, she worked for nearly 4 years at Martyn Lawrence Bullard Design where she eventually becoming a senior designer.[1] In 2013, she left Martyn Lawrence Bullard Design to open her own interior design firm Leura Fine Interiors.[2]

Leura identified at least three key ideas that gave her the idea for Laurel & Wolf.

  • She knew talented designers who didn't have enough work and were struggling to make ends meet.[3]
  • Most of her clients were in the top 1% economic class[4]
  • Increased popularity of platforms like Pinterest generated a lot of interest in design but people still struggled to turn ideas into workable solutions[5]

Brandon Kleinman

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Brandon Kleinman graduated from Indiana University Bloomington. He later worked for Disney where he helped increase utilization of social media at Disney Resorts.[6] Before working as the CMO at Laurel & Wolf, he founded the companies BrainMuffin Agency and whatsGood.[6]

Early Development

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The original Laurel & Wolf website was only 8 pages and was primarily informational. Website visitors could take a self-assessment but the information wasn't stored and served little purpose except to help gauge interest. Eventually, the self-assessment was used to help designers understand the style preferences of potential clients, and much of the system became automated; however, in the early stages of development, most of the work of matching clients with designers was done manually.[7]

Growth and Reception

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Operation

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Business Model

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References

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  1. ^ a b c White, Ronald D. (7 February 2016). "She has grand designs on how interiors should be". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  2. ^ Cooney, Samantha. "Don't ask Leura Fine about being a female CEO -- ask about how she's changing interior design". Mashable. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  3. ^ Perez, Sarah. "Backed By $5.5 Million, Laurel & Wolf Brings Interior Design Into The Digital Age". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  4. ^ Entis, Laura. "Startup Lessons From a First-Time Entrepreneur Who Raised $25 Million". Fortune. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  5. ^ Kosoff, Maya. "A startup that's raised $25 million is helping celebrities like Christina Applegate design their homes". Business Insider. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  6. ^ a b "Brandon Kleinman: Executive Profile & Biography - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  7. ^ Schioldager, Arianna. "Never Make It Perfect: Laurel & Wolf CEO Breaks Down How to Launch". Create + Cultivate.