In this episode, Xiaolin interviews Luis von Ahn, the founder and CEO of Duolingo, a highly successful language learning app. The discussion covers Luis's background, including his early projects like CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA, which he sold to Google. Luis shares the motivation behind creating Duolingo, driven by a desire to provide equal access to education, and how he built his initial team from his Carnegie Mellon students. The conversation explores Duolingo's development, its unique game-like approach to language learning, its business model involving free access with ads and a premium subscription, and the introduction of the Duolingo English Test as an alternative to TOEFL and IELTS. Luis also offers advice on recruitment, emphasizing the importance of kindness, and recommends "High Output Management" for actionable management insights.
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