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Luis von Ahn

12/01/23

@ The Logan Bartlett Show

In the early days of Duolingo, we realized that keeping users motivated was the biggest challenge in language learning, which led us to incorporate game mechanics into our lessons.

Video

The Marketing Formula that Propelled Duolingo to 500M Users

@ The Logan Bartlett Show

The Marketing Formula that Propelled Duolingo to 500M Users

12/01/23

Related Takeaways

Severin Hacker

05/19/25

@ 20VC with Harry Stebbings

The hardest part of learning a language is motivation, and Duolingo acts as a motivation engine to encourage daily practice and engagement.

Severin Hacker

05/19/25

@ 20VC with Harry Stebbings

We always knew we could grow users first, which was our primary focus in the early days of Duolingo.

Severin Hacker

05/19/25

@ 20VC with Harry Stebbings

We realized that instead of creating standalone apps for new subjects like math, we should integrate them into the main Duolingo app to enhance user experience.

Severin Hacker

05/19/25

@ 20VC with Harry Stebbings

From day one, Duolingo was technology-first, and now we refer to it as AI, which has significantly improved since our inception.

Luis von Ahn

12/01/23

@ The Logan Bartlett Show

We built a culture of iteration and continuous improvement at Duolingo, which has been crucial for our growth.

Luis von Ahn

12/01/23

@ The Logan Bartlett Show

From the beginning, Duolingo's goal was to teach languages using AI instead of human teachers, as humans are expensive and not scalable.

Luis von Ahn

12/01/23

@ The Logan Bartlett Show

As long as Duolingo is as engaging as TikTok, we have a good chance of keeping users, because they feel they are improving their language skills instead of wasting time.

Severin Hacker

05/19/25

@ 20VC with Harry Stebbings

The social aspect of Duolingo is something I'm passionate about, and I see untapped potential in connecting users.

Severin Hacker

05/19/25

@ 20VC with Harry Stebbings

We waited too long to take monetization seriously at Duolingo, which was a mistake that delayed our growth.