Before Luis von Ahn co-founded Duolingo, a gamified language-learning app used by hundreds of millions around the world, he was fixated on squiggly letters. The entrepreneur was a co-inventor of CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA, or those security prompts you get while browsing the web to verify if you are a human or if you are a robot.
And while von Ahn often jokes that his early inventions were considered annoying (it causes friction when consumers have to decipher letters before logging into their email) reCAPTCHA was impressive enough that Google scooped it up. Since then, von Ahn has moved on to creating another iconic company, this time, one that consumers are happy to see pop up on their screens: Duolingo.
Von Ahn is joining us at TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 this September 21-23 to talk about the making of a gamified edtech unicorn. The pre-IPO company started as a grad school project, and over the years has become a behemoth enjoyed by more than 500 million users.
We’ll get into how von Ahn leveraged crowdsourced translation to grow the app, its roller coaster route to monetization and, of course, the iconic — and often sassy — green owl, Duo. We’ll also discuss the broader edtech market for language learning, how the pandemic impacted business and why Duolingo sees opportunity in disrupting not just language, but the tests associated with it, as well.
While part of Duolingo fits into the edtech category, some see the startup as it currently stands as a consumer subscription product with a learning hook. Von Ahn can clear the air on what Duolingo is truly solving for — and what’s ahead for the business.
Von Ahn first presented Duolingo on the Disrupt stage nine years ago, with a website and goal to teach 100 million people a new language. Now, nearly a decade later, he’ll be coming back to explain what happened next. He doesn’t hold back — so you don’t want to miss this.
Disrupt 2021 runs September 21 -23 and will be 100% virtual this year. Get your front-row seat to see von Ahn and many, many more for less than $100! Secure your seat now.
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Originally published at https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/08/discover-how-duolingo-started-with-ceo-luis-von-ahn-at-disrupt-2021/ on .
