Duolingo is the most popular and downloaded language learning app in the world. It has been valued at over $700 million and had revenues of over $40 million in 2018. The company is currently private, but possibly plans to go public in 2020. Duolingo was founded in Pittsburgh by Luis von Ahn, who is the CEO and also a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon.
Luis von Ahn traces his roots back to Guatemala City, where he grew up. Many people there were hungry to learn English so they could land a job in America and live a better life. Language learning software was extremely expensive at the time. Ahn recognized a need for low cost to basically free education that people who did not have a lot of money could use. This is where the inspiration for Duolingo came from. Duolingo aims to not just make learning a new language a hobby, but an everyday activity for people.
Luis von Ahn has been an entrepreneur all his life. As a young boy he figured out a way to bypass copyright laws on video games, and created his own video game exchange, where he would make copies of games and exchange them with new ones that he wanted. Later at Carnegie Mellon, Ahn developed the popular Captcha and ReCaptcha software, which he later sold to Google for tens of millions of dollars. Ahn’s new wealth allowed him the ability to pursue the creation of Duolingo.
Duolingo today has millions of users all over the world, and some schools and universities have adopted the program into their language departments. Duolingo is a great free program that helps people learn. The founder did not intend for Duolingo to be a money making service, but simply wanted people to have affordable access to education. This is inspiring because it shows that as an entrepreneur you do not need to have a business model that is only about making money in order to be successful.
The fact that Ahn held on to the need for affordable language education is remarkable. Ahn managed to teach, develop and finance all at the same time. Ahn’s story emphasizes the need for entrepreneurs in both commercial and social initiatives!
I love that Ahn used his successes to better the world for others in a very practical way, not just for personal gain! I’ve used duo lingo to practice Spanish and I appreciate how accessible and well-rounded the app is. It even uses the speaker to check your pronunciation so that you can practice talking in the language. It’s awesome that he has provided opportunities for people through just their smartphone.
As a person who uses Duolingo I am fascinated to now learn how this business started. Ahn’s idea has done a lot for so many people: myself included. I did not know that the company was founded in Pittsburgh, which I always find interesting because of how many businesses are started in my area. This is awesome and hope this business continues have as much success as they do currently.
Ahn had a great idea with Duolingo. An app that allows people to learn a language for free is extremley useful, and it’s defintiely helpful. It’s an easy way to learn a new language or to keep up on knowing a language without going to school or paying for classes. The fact that you can learn almost any language using the app is amazing. It’s nice to see entrepreneurs create products with a motivation to help people, without the motivation of making money for themselves, using something as simple as an app.
This is really cool! I know that this website really helps so many people, so I am glad to see that they are really doing well.
I used Duolingo all throughout high school and was honestly one of the few things that got me excited about learning a new language. I had no idea that it was created in Pittsburgh though. Its also interesting to see that Luis von Ahn started in something completely different, especially at such a young age. His vision for Duolingo was also something completely different than it is today but also much more popular than he could’ve ever imagined
Duolingo is such a good value when compared to other language-learning apps. Rosetta stone is one of their competitors, but costs money and is not cheap. His philosophy on the way people learn a language is admirable, as he sees it more of a hobby than a chore.
It’s inspiring to see someone from close to home develop such a successful product. Finding a way to turn passion into a product is really a unique skill for an entrepreneur, and this guy did a phenomenal job. He’s so successful, yet he’s finding ways to create solutions for people who really need them. Great article!
This is such an inspiring and interesting concept. I love the product idea and everything it was built around. It’s important how it identifies differently than its competitors.
Ahn did not settle for singular successes and continuously found ways to make money and innovate throughout his life. This is the type of mindset that sets entrepreneurs apart and sometimes takes years for people to attain. He had visions for what he wanted done and did not stop until they came to fruition.
This is such a wonder idea. The fact that he was intending for the service to be free shows just how passionate he was about this idea.