Back in the early 90s, kids had a different obsession - Cartoon Network. Children spent time in front of the TV and managed to pick up the English language without planning to. That’s how many non-English children learned new languages, but others had to pay for classes.

Louis von Ahn, a doctor in computer science, knows the power of technology and the leverage of apps. Thus, with the help of his student, Severin, Louis decided to make a small step in educational methods, but huge for all language enthusiasts.

Duolingo is an educational app where you can learn more than 30 languages. It engages listening, writing, and speaking, and small size reading skills that elevate your language performance on a higher level.

Louis has extensive experience in games with a purpose, supported with a doctoral dissertation. In contrast, Severin believed education would change the world for the better, which is why he followed his professor’s lead, only to create a platform hardly ever seen before.

Sweet Childhood Memories

Louis von Ahn was born and raised in Guatemala City. He grew up in an upper-middle-class family of German Guatemalan descent. As he grew up, Lous presented his affinities towards language learning and started attending English language classes that turned out to be his dearest childhood memories.

When he was eight years old, he got a Commodore 64 computer as a gift from his mom. PCs were an innovation at that time, and he was fascinated with the idea of technology applied in a box that runs commands.

The inspiration and idea he had for computer science and technology led him to Duke University.

Let the Skills Shine

Louis was just 18 years old when he started his studies at Duke University. He was among the best students there and got his Bachelor of Science degree in 2000. Computer Science was an undiscovered map in the early years of the second millennium. Hence, his graduation wasn't only an end to his studies but also the beginning of his big adventure.

Louis continued to master's studies, where he learned about a concept called games with a purpose, which he later researched individually. Yes, these games, in particular, were the focus of his doctoral dissertation. In 2005, he became a Ph.D. in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University board.

In his dissertation, Louis used the term human computation for the first time in the computer-science glossary. This term refers to methods that require human brain abilities and computers to sort problems that might arouse, in the program. Also, his dissertation was among the first ones on the topic of Games with a Purpose.

Chasing the Dream of Youth

Right after finishing his doctoral studies, Louis met Manuel Blum, with whom he did some pioneering work concerning Louis’s human computation field in Manuel's company - CAPTCHAs. Louis excelled in his skills in computer science at this company, and all this reached the talent-acquisition team at the New York Times. Afterward, he appeared on USA Today, Discovery Channel, and NOVA Science NOW.

After Louis von Ahn became a known figure, he decided to spice up the CAPTCHA program and found something on its own. Thus, he developed an extended edition of CAPTCHA, which enabled digitizing books. There were words that optical character recognition could not recognize.

In 2007, Louis was holding his classes at University, and he met Severin Hacker - one of the students with prospective vision in that generation. Louis was fond of his students' ideas, and Severin utterly admired his professor's deep knowledge and wisdom in computer science. Both of them had a lot in common, but one thing they got along on the most was the power of education. They wanted to invent a way to enable students or people who want to learn but don't have the means needed, to have a sort of a free educational platform. He remembered the good old times when he attended those private English classes, but also he recognized that many of his friends couldn’t afford to visit the lectures. For that reason, he started Duolingo.

Tacking the Mission for Better Education

Louis and Severin decided to make a translational platform where players can learn new languages and have fun at the same time. This required the founders to create an exam-based game where players evaluate their knowledge. Sure, this sounds great to say and use right now but was it really that simple at the time they produced it?

Their idea was born way back before they did the private data launch on 30th November 2011. Yet, the game runs successfully, ensuring the founders it was the right time to make it public.

And then comes the trickiest part - investors. After Louis and Severin finished creating their product, they aimed to create a non-profitable app, but the model simply required more. So, let’s see who supported Duolingo.

Investment Charts

Initially, Louis sold reCAPTCHA to Google so that he could create Duolingo.

Louis thought the initial funds would be enough to set off the company, but he was wrong. Regarding investments, founders' plan A was to make Duolingo a non-profitable organization, but on all accounts, that plan wasn't sustainable. So, they moved on to plan B - landing an investor.

Louis managed to get a national Science Foundation grant, which secured the fragile beginnings of a start-up. Then, they convinced Union Square Ventures, and in October 2011, the company announced that they raised $3.3 million from Series A in the first round of funding with the help of Tim Ferris, the author, and Ashton Kutcher's investment firm A-Grade Investments. These funds helped them set out for the beginning and start realizing their idea for the better.

Thus, on 19th June 2012, Duolingo officially aired. Straight from the start, the audience was pleased for having such a useful site at their fingertips.

Duolingo App Boom

Duolingo operates on a freemium model, with the app and website available for free. However, the app offers a premium service that is available for a few bucks.

Duolingo now has 106 language courses available in 40 languages as of June 2021. Duolingo is the most popular vocabulary learning program, with more than 500 million registered users and 40 million active monthly users. By these statistics, we can denote that the app is thriving towards success. But, the app performance doesn't end here.

The app uses all four language skills making it a perfect fit for teachers during second language classes. The children are happy to use the program as they learn and score points on the game. It’s one of the mechanisms to settle down the children’s impatience at the end of the class or during the last class that day.

The Troubles of the Big Interest

Once Duolingo’s demand meter reached to million active users, the app faced some criticism on socials. There were comments that claimed the app has a nice message and purpose behind it, but the overall performance isn’t satisfactory. Some claimed that the examples are after old-fashioned methods; others created memes on Duolingo’s account. Such criticism is expected when your product is in high demand. However, Duolingo didn’t shy away from these anti-advertising comments and updated the app with new languages and performances.

Seven Years After

It seemed like a long journey until they reached having 8.2 million users in a day active on Duolingo.

The founders can’t stop and won’t stop spreading the education through their app by placing it on the market. They send tons of emails to users abandoning the app to remind them it’s not the time to quit. While some may skip this mail, a million users that neglected their Duolingo course get the will to continue.

Keeping in mind those who can’t afford to pay but still want to learn, Duolingo’s team and their initiative are applauded daily. Millions of users use it to learn languages for free, and it’s only the beginning of something special.