From Double Unemployment to a 600-Employee Shoe Brand

When both Marina and Ricardo Larroudé lost their jobs in the early days of the pandemic, the New York-based couple faced a financial cliff. With two young children and no savings or home ownership, the simultaneous layoffs erased their security. Rather than panic, they chose to build something of their own. Drawing on Marina’s fashion background and Ricardo’s finance experience, they launched Larroudé, a shoe company named after their family.

They had no prior knowledge of shoemaking and little expectation of what would follow. Early on, they relied on a Shopify store and found encouragement in the platform’s “ka-ching” sound that signaled a new sale — sometimes just five orders a day. That sound was a thrill, Marina recalled, and her son once joked that it would be incredible when they’d have to turn it off because it rang too often. That joke became reality: Larroudé now employs around 600 people, most of them in Brazil, and generates millions in revenue.

The couple runs the company together but in strictly separate roles: Marina is creative director, Ricardo is CEO. They even joke that he is the boss at work and she at home. That clarity, they say, is essential for efficiency. Despite their shared passion, they talk about the business constantly — even over dinner — only stopping when their children ask them to.

Perhaps most striking is their stance on succession. The Larroudés do not view the business as a family firm. Their daughter has asked if she could get a job there if she can’t find work elsewhere, and the answer is no. The couple insists that whoever leads the company after them will be the most qualified person, not a family member by default. That philosophy, they believe, is what will keep the company strong.

Inside Larroudé’s Unconventional Growth Strategy

Starting Without a Safety Net — and Without a Shoe Background

Marina and Ricardo credit their willingness to start a business in a field they knew nothing about as a hidden advantage. “If we had known then what we know now, we probably wouldn’t have founded Larroudé,” Marina said. The lack of expertise meant they were not constrained by industry norms, and the shared experience of the 2008 financial crisis gave them confidence that downturns are temporary. That mindset, combined with the forced togetherness of lockdown, turned a personal crisis into a commercial launchpad.

The Power of Clearly Divided Roles

While many co-founder couples grapple with overlapping authority, the Larroudés established a strict functional divide from day one. Ricardo handles operations, finance, and overall strategy as CEO; Marina drives product design and brand vision. They openly acknowledge that the company needs a single ultimate decision-maker, and that person is Ricardo at work. This structure, they argue, removes friction and lets each focus on what they do best — a model that has supported sustained, fast-paced growth even as the workforce swelled to hundreds.

Why the Next Generation Won’t Take Over

In an unusual move for a family-named business, the founders are deliberately decoupling the company from bloodlines. They want leadership to be merit-based: their children will not get a job automatically, let alone inherit the top position. This is partly to protect the business from entitlement but also to teach their kids resilience. By watching their parents build something from nothing, Marina says, the children learn that they have a choice in how to respond to hardship — a lesson she considers more valuable than any job.

Entrepreneurial Lessons from the Larroudés

  • Don’t wait for perfect knowledge: The Larroudés launched without shoemaking expertise and consider that ignorance a competitive edge. They emphasize that not knowing the obstacles ahead can make the first step easier.
  • Define roles early and stick to them: Ricardo runs the business side, Marina the creative side. This separation avoids turf wars and lets each founder operate with full authority in their domain — a clarity that supported rapid scaling.
  • Be intentional about succession: Even when a company carries your name, that doesn’t obligate you to hand it to family. The Larroudés’ policy — hire and promote the most qualified, not relatives — keeps the organization focused on performance rather than legacy.
  • Let small wins fuel you: When daily orders could be counted on one hand, the Shopify order notification sound became a motivational tool. Embracing those micro-milestones helped sustain momentum through the early, uncertain days.