3 Secrets to Duolingo’s Success, According to Its Newly Published Company Handbook

The Duolingo owl is dead. At least, that’s what the language learning app’s most recent social posts say. This isn’t the first time Duolingo has put its cartoonish green mascot at the center of a weird marketing stunt, however. In the brand’s five-second Super Bowl ad last year, Duo birthed a miniature version of himself through his own backside. The title: “Do your lesson, no buts.”

Duolingo didn’t always have such a quirky brand. “Early on, we tried to appeal to the broadest possible audience, but we ended up with nothing distinctive to say,” Duolingo’s recently published company handbook says. “And in marketing, there’s nothing worse than being bland.”

So the company changed tactics, experimenting with different marketing strategies and eventually landing on a unique brand identity the handbook calls “wholesome and unhinged.” 

Duolingo is more than just a marketing machine, though. Founded above a Pittsburgh sports bar 14 years ago, the company now has a valuation of $16 billion and more than 800 employees. (Plus, it made Inc.‘s 2021 list of Best Led companies.) The secret to this success, according to Duolingo: its unique company culture, all of which is detailed in the handbook. Here’s what you can learn from it.

Uniqueness can lead to longevity.  Duo is just one character in the Duolingo universe. On the app, he’s joined by a regular cast of human characters that each have their own personality and backstory. These characters serve two purposes, according to the handbook: They make the app more fun and, at the same time, serve as “a crucial moat” for Duolingo’s business model as new AI learning tools emerge.  “That same emotional connection that makes learning enjoyable also makes our product stickier over time,” the handbook says. “Even if someone cloned our entire app, learners would still come back to Duolingo for the characters.”  It might not make sense to develop a universe of characters for your business. Still, you should identify what makes your product unique and lean into that in your marketing, advertising, and sales.

Give crazy ideas a chance.  It’s clear through Duolingo’s marketing campaigns that the company encourages experimentation. Leadership aims to “make space for challenging assumptions and asking bold questions” in every part of Duolingo’s organization, the handbook says, from executive offsites to social-media brainstorms.  And when disagreements inevitably emerge, Duolingo’s solution is to test both options and analyze the results. Then, the option with the best results is implemented. “Shutting down an experiment isn’t a failure: It’s an opportunity to learn,” Natalie Glance, the company’s chief engineering officer, says in the handbook. “Over the years, we’ve launched only about 50 percent of the experiments we run.”  This process has led to some of the app’s most successful features and campaigns, including an in-app leaderboard which encourages users to compete with other users learning the same language.

Make fun a priority.  “Fun isn’t just a feature—it’s the reason we’ve been able to scale,” Duolingo co-founder and CEO Luis von Ahn says in the handbook.  That goes for Duolingo’s social-media presence, its app, and its internal culture. According to the handbook, the company boasts more than 100 clubs “devoted to everything from crossword puzzles to oysters” and treats its employees to an annual agenda-free winter vacation in Cancun. “None of this is by accident,” the handbook says. “A great culture is hard to build, easy to lose, and essential for our success.”

show less