Where a young child receives his first computer, the process of developing an entrepreneurial spirit may not always be straightforward.
U.S. educational technology company founder and CEO Louis Von Ahn’s gift of a Commodore 64 computer to a Guatemalan-born entrepreneur and mentor professor helped him develop a passion for computer games and sparked a symbolic entrepreneurial streak.
Lewis quickly ventured into the video game business, fueling his entrepreneurial spirit. “They were adults, coming to my house and ringing the doorbell to barter,” he recalled, an activity his mother soon stopped.
Tuesday, November 1, 2022, Lewis sat down Jeff Skinner, Fellow of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School, talks about his entrepreneurial journey. The event was held in Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital.
Addressing current London Business School students, alumni and friends at the school’s Sammy Offer Centre, LBS, Lewis shared how he went through “hell climbing” after being given a Commodore 64 computer at the age of eight. Its first thirty employees created Duolingo, an American edtech company with over 500 million users, the world’s most downloaded educational app.
As part of the TELL Series, which features candid stories from successful entrepreneurs to inspire the next generation, this “fireside chat” with Lewis more than fits the bill, an edtech visionary’s creativity, intuition and—sometimes—a lack of business acumen can be the formula for achieving goals.
Jeff asked about how Louis grew up, because “it’s about the individual’s journey. There are things that happened. [during childhood] It shapes decisions later.
Luis was born in Guatemala City, the son of a single mother who was a doctor. His mother spent all her financial resources on education. Because of this, while not particularly wealthy, Louis was able to receive a quality education that many of his peers could not afford, and was able to envision a path to fortune.
Education revealed to him “what I can do”, helped him to start doing “what I like to do” later in life.
Part of Lewis’ journey was to head to Duke University in the US to study mathematics and then earn a PhD in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His aim was to penetrate deeply into the academy. “Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a professor,” Lewis said.
How Lewis’ academic career path led him to entrepreneurship. “Did you feel like you connected with the other person in a different way, or did you just fall for him?” Jeff asked.
A chance lecture by Yahoo’s chief scientist on 10 unsolved problems prompted the change, Lewis replied. While the solutions to the nine problems eluded Lewis, one piqued his interest – how can Yahoo distinguish between humans and bots, to avoid spammers?
After discussing solutions with his PhD advisor, he had a key insight – humans can see distorted text, but computers can’t. Thus, CAPTCHA was born, a test response test to determine if the user is human. Within two weeks, the test was on Yahoo’s registration page, and companies soon began to copy the idea.
“We made zero cents out of this,” Lewis said. “We didn’t make any money. We were very happy that it was used.
“So this really whets your appetite,” adds Jeff. “So where did you go?”
His journey was extensive and unique. Lewis began digitizing books, where he discovered that computers could not recognize the words on the faded pages of old books. This insight led to the development of reCAPTCHA and the eventual sale of the two companies to Google. “I basically solved my financial problems for the rest of my life,” Lewis says.
Back in his home country of Guatemala, Luis saw how only the rich had access to quality education, so he focused on free education for anyone who wanted or needed it. With co-founder Severin Hacker, Lewis started Duolingo. When you are not sure what to teach at first, settle on languages.
“The reason for that is that it can change people’s lives,” Lewis said. “English can increase their human potential. And we wanted to teach for free, that was another big thing. We’ll figure out how to make money later.
Focusing on the power of technology to deliver education also makes Duolingo stand out. “We can literally deliver education to billions of people,” Lewis said. “And hopefully make it more personalized, and cheaper because (it’s accessible) on the Internet. It was very interesting. “
Louis’ understanding of how difficult it is to stay motivated when you’re learning something on your own underpins Duolingo. The company’s priority on making learning fun and engaging students was “the key and what sets us apart,” he added.
The fact that Duolingo didn’t spend any money on marketing until 2018 is a testament to how popular the learning app has become.
“We had a lot of traction, we had a lot of users,” Lewis said. “We’ve reached an amazing point – there are more people in the United States learning languages on Duolingo than there are people learning languages in all of America’s high schools.”
Duolingo’s monetization focused on ads that appear at the end of the course and the subscription option. Today, 93 percent of Duolingo users learn for free, and seven percent pay, generating 75 percent of company revenue.
Today, beyond languages, Duolingo has expanded and now offers a literacy app and more recently a math app. And looking to the future, Lewis sees the company leaning more towards AI.
“One of the things I’m most excited about is all the AI stuff that’s coming out to help us get better,” Lewis said. “I think it’s really going to change all kinds of things, not just teaching.”
If you missed the event, you can watch the recording.
About the TELL Series: Lectures on Entrepreneurial Leadership at LBS
London Business School students created the TELL Series in 2009 to focus on entrepreneurship in Europe. Fast forward to now, TELL has set the stage for inspirational talks by more than 100 of Europe’s most successful entrepreneurs and investors.
The TELL series features personal stories of successful entrepreneurs about building high-growth businesses. Successful founders, investors, and key figures from the world of entrepreneurship share their startup stories, lessons learned, and ideas for the future. TELL events are highly interactive, engaging and motivating for all participants, and informal in nature.
