EP 87: Luis von Ahn (CEO, Duolingo) on The Marketing Formula that Propelled Duolingo to 500M Users

Luis von Ahn is the CEO and Co-Founder of Duolingo, the world’s #1 language learning application. In the episode, Luis shares the marketing formula they use to drive rapid user growth, including the backstory of Duolingo’s famous owl mascot that has become a viral internet sensation. Luis also dives into the A/B testing and product gamification experiments that have helped make Duolingo a $9B public company, as well as a handful of valuable lessons from his entrepreneurial journey. (0:00) Intro (0:54) Building a Culture of Iteration and Continuous Improvement (2:29) The Importance of User Retention in Duolingo's Growth (3:24) The Power of A/B Testing in Product Development (7:57) Balancing User Feedback and Data in Product Design (10:24) The Role of Marketing in Duolingo's Growth (15:54) The Importance of Setting Constraints in Product Development (18:35) The Role of Metrics in Decision Making (24:02) The Power of Viral Marketing and Memes in Brand Building (30:44) The Impact of Social Media Marketing on User Acquisition (35:41) The Impact of Passive Aggressive Notifications (37:42) Dealing with Controversial Content and Backlash (42:40) The Importance of Being Scrappy in Marketing (45:13) The Challenges of Teaching Languages (49:25) The Importance of User Retention in Duolingo (51:14) The Journey to Monetizing Duolingo (56:40) The Challenges of Introducing Monetization in Duolingo (1:04:16) The Expansion of Duolingo Beyond Languages (1:09:13) Growing User Base and Utilizing AI (1:11:16) Impact of Going Public on Duolingo's Operations (1:16:00) The Importance of Employee Selection in Duolingo (1:22:42) The entrepreneurial journey (1:33:46) Improving the Education System (1:37:21) The honeypot website to catch cheating students   Produced: Rashad Assir & Leah Clapper Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky Executive Producer: Josh Machiz   🎙 Listen to the show Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-logan-bartlett-show/id1606770839 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5WqBqDb4br3LlyVrdqOYYb?si=3076e6c1b5c94d63&nd=1 Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9zb0hJZkhWbg   🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1   Follow on Socials 📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow 🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow   About the Show Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes. Produced: Rashad Assir & Leah Clapper Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky Executive Producer: Josh Machiz   🎙 Listen to the show   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-logan-bartlett-show/id1606770839 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5WqBqDb4br3LlyVrdqOYYb?si=3076e6c1b5c94d63&nd=1 Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9zb0hJZkhWbg   🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1   Follow on Socials   📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow 🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow   About the Show   Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes.