How Duolingo's culture of experimentation drives innovation (INO112)

Key Takeaways on Culture and Experimentation at Duolingo

Mission and Operating Principles

  • Duolingo's mission is to "build the world's best education and make it universally available"
  • They have 12 operating principles that guide their decision-making, such as "Learners First", "Never Settle Talent", and "Reduce Complexity"
  • These principles help the team make tough decisions and maintain a consistent culture, even as the company grows

Experimentation and Rapid Iteration

  • Duolingo runs about 300 experiments at any given time, using an internal experimentation platform
  • They embrace a "ship it" mentality, launching small experiments quickly to get customer feedback and iterate rapidly
  • This allows them to compound incremental gains from successful experiments, rather than waiting for large, high-risk projects

Product-Centric Mindset

  • Duolingo organizes teams around metrics and customer outcomes, rather than just features
  • This product-centric approach extends beyond just customer-facing products - they also build internal "products" like their experimentation platform
  • Engineering and technology choices are made to enable rapid experimentation and innovation across the organization

Engaging Customers and Driving Growth

  • Duolingo focuses on engaging customers and helping them build sustainable habits, which leads to monetization and long-term sustainability
  • They identify their strategic advantage (helping customers build language learning habits) and design experiments and features to reinforce that advantage

Overall, Duolingo's success stems from a culture of experimentation, rapid iteration, and a deep focus on delivering value to their customers. By embracing a product-centric mindset and empowering teams to quickly test hypotheses, they have been able to drive exceptional growth.

Your Digital Journey deserves a great story.

Build one with us.

Cookies Icon

These cookies are used to collect information about how you interact with this website and allow us to remember you. We use this information to improve and customize your browsing experience, as well as for analytics.

If you decline, your information won’t be tracked when you visit this website. A single cookie will be used in your browser to remember your preference.

Talk to us