Lessons from Duolingo: From Startup to IPO

[@reignguard]

That thumbnail scared me wtf I thought the bird was here to collect on my skipped Mandarin lessons

[@Imperial_Squid]

Those eyes have murder in them, don't let the heart fool you...

[@RetroRageasaurus]

@@Imperial_Squid _The eyes of something that either stole it, or ripped it out of something else 👀_

[@WillFleming]

This was a fascinating talk. After watching it I think I have a much better understanding of why Duolingo is such a fantastic resource for casual learners / language tourists (selling the fantasy that you can learn a language by spending 10-15 minutes a day on it is where the money is), but a relatively poor experience for people who's goal is to become fluent in the language they are learning.

[@macklorden]

The most dynamic/engaging talk from GDC I've seen in a while, thank you!

[@dmitryfedorov114]

I would subscribe back if old design (instead of last year bs "upgrade") was an option.

[@vledermaus]

Duolingo does a lot right but there are things I wish were done better. It definitely "abuses" a lot of human flaws but for a better cause than most other apps, instead of wasting your time with useless AFK RPGs, idle games,... it incentivizes users to earn XP and compete with others, which is great but sometimes changes the focus from learning a language to be "better" than others. It definitely did that to me and to be fair it definitely improved on that point and especially when I changed when I chose a better course (EN->Spanish instead of German->Spanish). The biggest improvement would be an option to learn some Grammar and certain topics better, as I often feel like I barely understand some parts of the grammar because it's only glanced over. I don't think Duolingo is a way to learn a language using only the app but it's a good way to assist in learning a language.

[@shepcatsaba]

I'm going through hospitality school right now with a goal of owning my own restaurant, the first 30 minutes illustrated some great concepts for early onboarding and I appreciate you sharing!

[@mattropolis7857]

This sounds like a classic case of talented young people learning why you need to have structure, process, and that blind optimism needs tempering with reality. Those are the first steps towards wisdom - wisdom produces better and more consistent results than unlimited energy of youth (that fades faster than one thinks).

[@DaveGriff]

I thought this was really informative and interesting! I work for a large engineering business and am surprised how much applicability there is in terms of these lessons learnt

[@daniellin1726]

"Naming is strangly importent [for large teams]" I think all programmers may relate (looks at variable).

[@oleg6022]

I'm not judging, just an observation: you quote your CEO so often that it looks like a small cult of personality. It may be totally fine, im sure that you are aware of that

[@disseminate4]

It's web dev, this is pretty common

[@hyungtaecf]

The CEO basically makes the culture of the company. You cannot fully understand a company without understand anything about the mind of who is behind it. So, I find very useful those quotes from the CEO to understand better the company. After all this is about the success of them and the deeper we can learn from it the best.

[@oleg6022]

@@hyungtaecf you are right, that's not so rare. Im working in a company with a very similar CEO-centric vibes, the point is to be conscious about that

[@bepkororoti8019]

I am kind of worried they'll learn lessons from all the "abuse easily abusable people with gambling that's not legally gambling" mobile gaming parasites...

[@NeroVingian40]

I just realized this is the girl in the April Fool’s Duolingo video. Wow lol

[@SamProgramiz]

A lot of corporate talk on this one

[@Owyss]

Drink every time she swipes her hair.

[@zxcaaq]

Duolingo is not a game.