Don't ask Leura Fine about being a female CEO — ask about how she's changing interior design.

"What is it like to be a female CEO?" 

That's one question Leura Fine doesn't want to answer. 

But of course, it's a question she's frequently asked as the CEO and founder of Laurel & Wolf, a startup that provides users with an online system to redesign their homes with the help of professionals.

Since its launch in 2014, Laurel & Wolf has raised $25.5 million in venture capital funding, including a $5.5 million series B round led by Benchmark General Partner and Tinder board member Matt Cohler. Fine has been touted as one brightest young female entrepreneurs, landing a spot on Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

"Do I have male attributes because I’m ambitious? Do I have male attributes because I’m aggressive? "I try to shift the conversation around what it means to be a CEO, rather than a female CEO."

"Sure, there are a lot of things you could look at stereotypically that are harder," she added. "But it’s more about how we work on being a good CEO, period."

And Fine has plenty of war stories and sage wisdom to share with aspiring CEOs.

Initial designs

For years, Fine wanted to start her own company. After working under famed interior designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard, she did, launching Leura Fine Interiors in 2013.

But Fine found herself increasingly frustrated with an industry that had yet to adapt to the digital age.

Interior design remains a costly and exclusive industry. The average cost for designer services, according to Home Adviser, is $5,240. And young designers have difficulty breaking into the industry, which is largely controlled by  a select group of around 100 firms. 

"How do we open up the market, democratizing interior design as a service?" Fine said. "And then how do we give designers the opportunity to actually build a business doing what they love, which is the design work?" 

Her answer: Laurel & Wolf.

The company uses in-house technology to allow homeowners to submit information about rooms and then choose from a number of designs submitted by designers. Customers can then select a designer to work with. At the end of the process, designers send customers style boards, floor plans, a shopping list, and set-up instructions. 

Costs for design services start at $299 per room (though, like with most design firms, that doesn't include the cost of furniture or room accessories).

Tech challenges

Though Laurel & Wolf is a tech company, Fine founded the company without a deep knowledge of its technical needs.

"When someone asked me what language we were building the site in, I said HTML 5," she said. "And they were like, 'that’s not possible.'"

Fine took a two-pronged approach. She tapped skilled product staff and but also studied up on coding languages to make it work.

"I always joke that my new personal wins are when I understand jokes in the engineering Slack channel," she said. "I’ve learned a lot, a lot, a lot about what we’re building and how we’re building it."

The company's tech-based approach also proved to be a challenge when it came to pitching investors. 

Some investors were unsure of how an interior design company could be classified as a tech company. 

"On a surface level, when you say, we’re an interior design company, I think it sounds a bit fluffy," Fine said.

And others were unsure of the entirely-online approach. She said many investors were confused as to how the process would work if the company wasn't following an on-demand model where interior designers went to customers' homes. 

"They were comparing what we were building to the designer that they had hired for thousands of dollars to design their home," Fine said. "It’s hard from that perspective if they weren’t our core demo."

"How can I explain it to them in a way that makes them excited as a business?" she asked. "You don’t start with, ‘design transforms lives.’ You don’t start with, ‘this is something that you need.’ You start with this is an incredibly strong business model, here’s the opportunity, and by the way, it happens to be a great product."

C-suite strategy

Laurel & Wolf now has more than 50 employees, and Fine said she's honed her skills as a boss who can focus on both the small details and big picture.

"My team is always teasing me about the level of energy I have," she said. "I have this vision of where I’d like my company to be in the next 10 years, and I’m focused on finding the right team and working together as a team."

The Laurel & Wolf offices in West Hollywood are set up to encourage collaboration — and as you'd expect from an interior design company, impeccably designed.

While the offices do have desks, employees are encouraged to work in the couches in the office's makeshift living room, on the outdoor patio, or on the office bunk beds. 

Yes, bunk beds.

"People were concerned that I wanted them to sleep here," she said. "But it’s become a great place to do work." 

Speaking of sleep, Fine said she advocates for work-life balance for her team, encouraging her staffers to take time for themselves or their families.

"It’s like, go home, go work out, go be with your partner, go see your kids and have dinner. Do what you need to do. If there’s more work you want to do, that’s great. If not, that’s OK too," she said.

But she can't exactly say the same about herself.

"I would say that 90% of the things that I do in my life are tied to my business," she said. "Luckily enough, I have a fiancé who’s in the same industry. So he’s not super annoyed when I want to stay up until 1 in the morning talking about funnel optimization."

Still, Fine said she wouldn't have it any other way.

"If you don’t eat, breathe, sleep, dream your company and you’re a founder and you’re in the early stages of your business, I don’t know what you’re doing," Fine said. "It may be sad that most nights I dream about the company, but I think it’s exciting."