How I Built A $6.5 Billion App Called Duolingo | Founder Effect
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- Опубликовано: 17 май 2024
- By the time Luis von Ahn turned 24, he was already a millionaire several times over.
The 43-year-old may not be a household name, but I'm willing to bet you’re one of the hundreds of million people who use his technology everyday.
Luis isn’t your average Unicorn tech founder. He actually pays his drivers to give feedback on their interactions with potential executive level hires on their way to the office from the airport to weed out toxic personalities.
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How I Built A $6.5 Billion App Called Duolingo | Founder Effect
CAPTCHA? Didn't expect that lol what an insanely talented guy
This man is a genius up until now we are still using his idea to prove we are human!
I hate it 😒
@@googlelord1678 Google, Facebook, Microsoft and other programs are free because we are the product bud. there's a reason they sell our data and show ads. they need their money somehow
Nah PayPal founders founded Captcha
@@cheeseheadwizard companies typically pay cents for an average person's data. Collectively worth a lot but they are heavily underpricing given how much of our data we give to all these different sites...
This man had multiple 'once in a lifetime' ideas and was talented enough to make them a reality. I'm in awe.
These weren't once in a lifetime ideas - this was having an idea and knowing how to get funding from VC funds who will literally throw money at anything with a good pitch and hope it sticks.
@Brad Hedge are they free and equally effective?
@@jonjeskie5234 Duolingo is pretty much one of the worst unfortunately. It has one of the best UIs though. The actual retention of knowledge is really bad.
@@XrayTheMyth23 Well thanks to Duolingo, my sister's friend speaks fluent German 👏
ideas are the easy part if you are creative, or when you learn some creative thinking techniques, just think for a day about some problems, but yes the talent to realise them is on another level.
The fact that he made all this things and he isn't as known as many CEOs....
Props to him
yeh i'm surprised he was happy to blow his cover but i guess the ego boost was worth it
@@butterflymoon6368 Why such a resentful response? Aren't you happy that extremely intelligent people use their ideas for the benefit of the masses?
Y no solo eso .sus empleados tienen un espacio .para trabajar. Tan relajante que más que trabajo parece hobie. Tienen hasta salón de masajes. Pueden llevar a sus mascotas al trabajo tiene áreas para todo para las mamás también. Es un ejemplo de jefe. Cómo lleva su empresa .la consideración hacía sus empleados un modelo humanista digno de ser imitado. Comida ...snacks de todo. Un ambiente como en ningún lugar. Luisito quiero trabajar en dúo. No habrá alguna vacante para mí. Ya estoy aprendiendo seis idiomas. P😂😅
@@butterflymoon6368are you mad with your sad life?😂
His taxi driver interview is genius. People who don't know how to treat the little people don't deserve a high paying job!
Revealing his strategy, not so genius.
@@dannyarcher6370 hahah i'm sure he has other interview strategies too.
Yeah. Some people say power corrupts people and that may be true. But usually, if you put a corrupt person into power, they'll start screwing things up from the start.
@@dannyarcher6370 he will think of another strategy...
Seems a tad disingenuous.
Well, I feel investors should be focusing on under-the-radar stocks, and considering the current rollercoaster nature of the stock market, Because 35% of my $270k portfolio comprises plummeting stocks that were once revered and I don't know where to go here out of devastation.
The safest approach I feel to tackle it is to diversify investments. By spreading investments across different asset classes, like bonds, real estate, and international stocks, they can reduce the impact of a market meltdown.
@@abidakunkehinde7136 I totally agree. A financial advisor can provide valuable insights and help ensure that our investment portfolios are aligned with our long-term financial goals. They have the expertise to navigate through market fluctuations and make informed decisions.
@@DerekWelch-sk5pf Please who is guiding you and how?
@@WillaRussel Her name is “Victoria Carmen Santaella” can't divulge much. Most likely, the internet should have her basic info, you can research if you like.
@@DerekWelch-sk5pf Alright, thanks! I'll look her up for inquiries.
I’m Guatemalan and I work at Google as a software engineer! When my uncles and aunts found I was into code they sent me an interview of Luis. He made me think it’s possible to strive for more!
The sky is the limit!
Congrats on achieving your dream job! Could you please share how you managed to get there? Stepwise please :D
Congrats on achieving your dream job! Could you please share how you managed to get there? Stepwise please :D
I should be proud but I can not lol
Im Guatemalan and work for Delta airlines. Que inspiración viendo a Guatemaltecos exitosos!
The BEST mistake I ever made was accidentally subscribing for a year to Duolingo. And when it expired I subscribed once again. I’ve now been using it for almost 2 years without missing a day. And I’m actively studying 3 main languages, while being on the top 20 user XP for 15 weeks on the diamond league. Edit: I know it can be free, but I’d rather pay for the small perks & now knowing it’s a great company & workplace, I feel better too
Have you seen a lot of practical progress?
@@harshalg7647 I've had success with it. The problem is people stick to Duolingo too long instead of moving on to reading and listening in their target language.
Could you please tell us how your progress in those learning languages been? Like have it been to good help? Can you actually speak those languages now?
U know there's no limit to what kind of nonsense people would pay for.
Diamond League? User xp?I gotta admire the marketing genius who came up with a way to monetise some stupid activity that could have been free into getting them to fork out billions.
@@AjeroZ I had a +500 day streak in Spanish on DuoLingo. Although I can read/write fairly well in Spanish at this point, my listening/speaking is still fairly poor. I'm not used to processing the words in my head when listening/speaking since I haven't trained enough at speaking speed
He has such an employee centric approach to running a company that is hard to find in this current corporate culture. Kudos to him.
⬆️⬆️📥..
The employees are the ones that runs the company so I do agree that they would use that approach more.
@@on9francisyu This employee centric mindset is the exact opposite of amazon- a customer centric mindset even at the expense of the employees.
A CEO that doesn't brag about his share price, yet constantly improves his business is a trait of a GREAT CEO
It is the main job of a CEO is to looking for the next things that they can expand on.
On top of that he built an egalitarian culture within the business. Love to see people like that succeed.
@@Ken-zg3ze I think he's the first I've heard of that has done that..
I love the airport driver interview piece. Reminds me of how people treat servers at restaurants.
I love it and many people who are also shared the same opinions.
I didn’t know Duolingo went public...wow, billion dollar company...I’m not surprised...an app that provides free education? There will always be a demand for this
they also has duolingo English test that is currently used to apply jobs and school. it's way cheaper than TOEFL and IELTS.
Free and billion dollar company does not make sense. This is an over inflated company propped up by nothing more than VC funding rounds. This will deflate hard in a recession.
@@corail53 Down 35%. You called it. You should be trading stocks buddy
@@happymolecule8894 it's just market correction after it was valued so highly. It's gonna be fine after it stabilizes
Interesting how with digitizing age also allows for free education. When it comes to programming, this is starting to become a big thing. Lots of programmers no longer have to go to a 4 year college, they can learn how to code for free on RUclips, and the personal projects you create is viable on your resume and on interviews. Companies don't care about your degree, if you show you have a good knowledge of programming and also still open minded and wanting to learn they'll hire you.
Where has this guy been hiding, lol, super talented.
Not gonna lie, I really like Duolingo. I forgot to cancel my free trial before I got charged for the year subscription so I’ve been making sure I keep my streak going and I’m not even mad about it. haha
Same thing happened to me but I requested a refund and got it.
Did you actually manage to learn a language to a functional level through Duolingo yet? I've met tons of fans who have put in hours a day for a year+ but never anyone who's gotten a good return for the time they put into the app.
@@zariffaziz3403 How did you request it? Their developer contact email is broken!?
@@alchemist_one yes
@@alchemist_one depends on which language people are learning. Learning spanish is easier for a english speaker than learning one with symbols
he's the most underrated genius of our time
What a talented young man, your story is just like mine. Most times, it amazes me greatly how I moved from an average lifestyle to earning over $63k per month. Utter shock is the word. I have understood a lot in the past few years to doubt that opportunities are bound in the financial markets. The only thing is to know where to focus.
I keep wondering how people earn money in financial markets, i tried trading bitcoin on my own made a huge loss and now I'm scared of investing more.
@@susanhaynes679 That won't bother you if you trade with a professional like Mr Gary Mason Brooks my coach, you may have come across him on interviews relating to bitcoin. He trades, manage trading account and offer mentorship program for clients who wish to become professional investors.
@@dralfred2400 You allow people to trade for you ? that's interesting, I would love to learn, how safe is it ?
Wow I can't believe you guys are discussing about Mr Gary Mason Brooks, I once met him at a conference in California 2019, just before the pandemic. I can testify that is very good in trading..Highly recommended.
@@dulcedeleche5804 Well this not my first time of seeing this name on social platform. A CNBC news host spoke highly of this man and his trading strategies. Do you know him ? if yes , did you invest with him ?
Never heard of him yet he has made so much stuff that people use every day, such an amazing guy.
Glad you love the content. Helpline is shown above 👆 I'll introduce you to something new.
Unbelievable. Out of all the successful entrepreneurs featured on MI this guy is clearly his own class; His ability to scale good business ideas into blueprints that actively impact the world is priceless, and befitting the title genius.
The fact that most of his team was still with him from start to going public says so much about the authenticity of this guy! Kudos!
Thank you so much for creating it. I became fluent in Spanish in 6 months with this app. Now learning French, this app is magical!
Makes you wonder how much exception talent goes un-nurtured.
Tons
Talent doesn't go un-nurtured. If you have talent but are afraid to pursue the next steps to have your ideas come to fruition then you are dead in the water before you begin. While dualingo is a good site it is part of the very over inflated tech bubble with a valuation it does not deserve like so many other unicorns.
An inspiration, not in the money he has acquired but how useful his ideas are for other people and how he actually cares
Really well articulated and humble sounding dude, enjoyed watching the interview.
Making the Duolingo app feel like a game is definitely one of the best and most successful things about it! It honestly has really helped me become engaged and sort of addicted to learning more and more routinely.
It’s one of the best and most successful things to make people addicted to playing and advance in the game, but not really in the learning 😪
Thank you for creating this app! It has been fabulous learning another language and doing on my own time!! Have been doing now for 8 months and still going strong!!
This guy is a genius
Fantastic. Loved the interview a lot!
Thanks for sharing your story Luis!
⬆️⬆️📥.
I admire him because he is from Guatemala, my home country. Thank you for innovating!! I also know he has set up education busses near the us and mexico border with duolingo tablets. This allows the kids and families to learn English and prepare before coming in. Great way to provide to the communities. Thank you! I wish to meet you one day.
⬆️⬆️📥.
I am a new developer graduating from GA Tech on September 2nd, and this interview has moved Duolingo to the top of my list! Thank you for posting.
Any chance you are looking for work
Continuing the family legacy of entrepreneurship. Incredibly inspiring!
I fell love with Duolingo and spent hours on the app learning Spanish every week. It's also good to know they offer free service (I am paying for pro and think it's worth every $ for serious learner)
Amazing person and story! Great video! Luis is a genius. I love the trick with the driver interview. I would totally do something like this as well for my company. I always look at how people treat service people.
Amazing. I get both a little discouraged to know how far I am to become someone as smart as him, but also excited because there's still a lot to discover.
I love this geek so much 😂 I can say I use one of his creations in each day of my life now. What so great about him is he really makes technology worked for us, not we addicted to technology uselessly like most of the social media.
Glad you love the content. Helpline is shown above 👆 I'll introduce you to something new.
Everything is clear. Brief and clear. No water. Thank you)
channel and after watching the video, I knew I had to subscribe. Learned so many things from you than most if not all binary traders' content. Keep it up! rDamn. Just found you
What an incredible man with amazing values
Someone told me that it's the best time to buy because there will be a huge pump
The cost of living is making people go into different businesses anyways, but my problem is that the rate at which money gets finished on little purchases is so surprising
I saw all this coming I had to switch to Crypto trading and I'm really enjoying the fact I made the right choice because of my weekly earnings
I make good income too from bitcoin trading and its been my most reliable source of income at the moment. With profits I've made so far I don't think i can get broke or lack anything.
How do you do it please
It's very possible because I make $8300 with my little $1300 weekly
Someone told me that it's the best time to buy because there will be a huge pump soon
The cost of living is making people go into different businesses anyways, but my problem is that the rate at which money gets finished on little purchases is so surprising
I saw all this coming I had to switch to Crypto trading and I'm really enjoying the fact I made the right choice because of my weekly earnings
I make good income too from bitcoin trading and its been my most reliable source of income at the moment. With profits I've made so far I don't think i can get broke or lack anything.
How do you do it
Because I've tried severally but seems not working
Luis, espero que sepas que desde acá, te vemos como a un héroe 🇬🇹
“Our company should be a happy place.” Education shouldn’t be stressful!
It is though and there are pros and cons to it
Helpful & Informative!! Thanks 😊
Great interview CNBC Make It, in fact one of the best and most interesting people I have seen in recent time
So essentially he came up with ideas others could have come up with, but he had the balls to write them out and tell these big companies that they wanted this product; and they did and bought all that off him for millions. Awesome.
Fun, enlightening, and engaging interview!!
Thank you this was amazing!!! You are such a great interviewer you captured his candid real life change maker for a better world!!!
what a genius! i never see ReCapta the same again!
Great story! It contains smart vision and hard work.
Yo wtf. How come we don't hear of guys like this but always hear of the Elon types??
Because usually d0ùchebag CEOs (much like many celebrities) usually do anything to get peoples attention & praise, while normal people are low key & not arrogant. The same reason why most smart people don’t have to prove they’re smart to other people & usually don’t like the attention, while those compensating feel the need to let everyone know how “smart” they are & belittle those who might not be as intelligent
@@Dhi_Bee 💯💯💯 exactly!!!
because this guy's product doesn't work very well, but Elon's can do more cheaper than any other on earth
Total Luis fan. His How I Built This episode is one of the best ever.
Beautiful!! From Pittsburgh...
Very inspirational, I hope to create a Successful App like him someday.
Thanks for inspiration
I love it. The idea is to examine everything you do and ask, 1. how can you improve it and 2. how can you monetize it as well? There are many geniuses in the making in central and south America that just need the chance. Luis gives me extra motivation to push forward with my ideas.
that can be said for anywhere. Don't let your location bring you down but also know this guy had previous successes and connections with VC funds - it was much much easier for him to get funding (his company is not worth 6.5 billion - it is just heavily propped up by said VC funds like every tech unicorn.)
I like this guys approach.
Very inspiring story!
This is goals. Rich and not famous.
Absolutely
@@LCHolley Are you single?
⬆️⬆️📥.
Why? If anyone deserves to be famous is this guy, inspiring future generations to think and use their brains, maybe then the world would be heading in the right direction
There's way richer people you don't even know，and way more than you might think, this guy isn't that unknown actually
Respect !! 👏🏻👏🏻🙌🏻👍🏻I am an Italian speaking Eng and Fr and I am starting to learn Chinese with DuoLingo and it works . Also I don’t have much time so it easier to keep it up on an app than in a school . 👍🏻👍🏻👏🏻
I would suggest that if you are at this level with english, that duolingo can't get you very far.
Absolutely great.!
absolutely love this guy. Lots of takeaway points and I'd like to think I have just one small thing in common.
I judge people by the way they treat restaurant attendants - just a massive red flag for me if they don't treat them well.
Great idea!
You didn't mention that he has a foundation in Guatemala mainly focused in education. He has given money to schools for poor indigenous girls and protecting the environment. Everyone in Guatemala loves him.
How do you know the driver is being honest?
Wow okay the Hispanic cleaning lady at the company I work at told me about Duolingo and I've been using it for few weeks now. I love it! I bought Spanish For dummies awhile ago but haven't been studying it; been meaning to. Duolingo is fun too ☺️
Duolingo is such a great App. We don't necessarily need to travel to learn some languages when that can be done from home and you won't have to have a hard time adapting when you visit other countries because of language barrier.
The useless way
You need a lot more than Duolingo, friend. This is coming from a lifelong polyglot. If you don't use it, you lose it. Travelling and immersing yourself in the culture is the most effective way to learn, and retain what you learn. The next best thing is books (lots of them), shows, music and *most of all* regular conversation with native speakers. You won't get there with just apps.
@@nattybynature1262this is what I offer at DailySpanish 💜
What a great story 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Good interviewer and interviewee
What a legend!
Pretty cool. Glad I clicked on this one!
More than 1 idea 💡 and executed them all..
#builder very inspiring
He’s correct about share prices. Kind of an odd question to ask him. Good interview and I think the overarching theme is fix problems first. Money will follow.
This is one of the best
⬆️⬆️📥.
He is phenomenal
Glad to meet the founder of an app I used
I'm watching this after several months off job as I feel I wanna stay away from people who we call boss, line manager and supervisor.
Much respect to this man, hats off sir.
I love it. He made his own luck.
The "Founder Effect" is when the founder changes everything that made people flock to their company in the first place, because he "knows better," even when his customers are telling him they hate it.
He has one message... CONFORM!
The initial users were also non-paid employees. Volunteers built and improved the first language courses. Somehow that fact always gets neglected whenever Duolingo is brought up.
I’m so glad they added Haitian Creole!!!
Me too. It’s the 3rd most spoken language in the region I live in, in the US so it’ll actually be useful & I can surprise some Haitian friends & coworkers in the process
I’m soooo happy I came across your comment. I was so sure that the app would not have Haitian Creole, but I was wrong. I will be downloading soon!
It’s not perfect, they just launched and I’m hearing from Haitian people that some translations are off, but it’s a valuable start!
Woah I didn't about that, I've been complaining for years about them not having it
@@Dhi_Bee That language isn't even 1 percent in the US
I hadn't known of this person before this video but I'm pretty sure this guy is my hero. An amazing person to look up to and try to emulate.
Just joined the Duolingo family Dec 2021 and boy I'm I grateful to have had the opportunity... Hat's off Sir...
Glad you love the content. Helpline is shown above 👆 I'll introduce you to something new.
Interesting & Informative ... "Egalitarian Culture," in a workplace is a MUST for entrepreneurs & start ups to implement. Its a flat world concept & serious belief now ... in most of the work places. Heirarchial & Feudal management systems are, almost of the past. Enjoyed the interview 👍😊🎶❗
People building things along a path they're already taking. That's social gold! Adding to the world instead of only consuming. Please view this as a call to action, not just entertainment.
I love duolingo it really HELPed me so much
My Hero!
Represent us Luis!! 🇬🇹
As a Carnegie Mellon student very true
Great story. Luis seems like an awesome guy, and he went to the school I wanted to go. Carnegie Mellon was my first choice for my MS, but I went to Georgia Tech instead -- it's still great.
The way I thought this was a Brian Jordan Alvarez video in my subscription tab…
Love duolingo btw lol
Loved it!
Like the story, but come on producer of CNBC, I think a little bit too much with the no money to his name statement and pointing out from Guatemala. It sound that you are trying to stretch the fact he did not have nothing he was poor. I have to agree with the comments that did not started with nothing, that is not true, I lived in Guatemala for 25 years. Yeah for sure he did not have money to his name, the fact who his family is, makes a game changer in a country like Guatemala opens doors, in his case was a scout from Duke. For sure he took advantage of the door opening.
Thank you for Duolingo I paid for a yearly subscription as a Spanish major it is needed thank you
Glad you love the content. Helpline is shown above 👆 I'll introduce you to something new.
Love his toxic taxi test he mentions at 12mins. Classic. Live a happy culture! Great interview, thank you!
It’s actually a 3.3 billion dollar app now
“The little people”?? Unintentionally insulting!
Well immean you’ve made an amazing product.
He is a really smart man there is no doubt about that. But what makes his smartness shine is his soft skills.
My favourite app thank you so much
Glad you love the content. Helpline is shown above 👆 I'll introduce you to something new.
Bring back the old version of the update !
The new one sucks!
When it comes to the world of investing, most people don't know where to start. Fortunately, great investors of the past and present can provide us with guidance.
Please how do you mean?
Experts like Davis Vert has been doing an excellent job, he taught me how to utilise the volatility of the crypt world, I make gain from trading despite the price chart.
Thank you for this information, I actually needed this push. I know this is a positive track. Please how do I reach him?
That's his contact up 👆