Luis Von Ahn

I do, I spend effort on that, but it's not just me. I think at the company, it is pretty well understood that if it's not fun, it's not going to work. And so we spend a lot of effort trying to keep Duolingo enjoyable. And this is why we, you know, for example, when we did this thing where you can talk to an AI to practice conversation. You're not just talking to a random AI.

You're talking to one of, you know, we have a cast of characters. You're talking to one of our cast of characters. It has a personality. And so we've just really, everything we do, every time we put something out, it's ingrained in our thinking that, oh, this has to be enjoyable. I spend effort pushing that agenda, but I don't have to all that much because it's just very ingrained in the company.

You're talking to one of, you know, we have a cast of characters. You're talking to one of our cast of characters. It has a personality. And so we've just really, everything we do, every time we put something out, it's ingrained in our thinking that, oh, this has to be enjoyable. I spend effort pushing that agenda, but I don't have to all that much because it's just very ingrained in the company.

You're talking to one of, you know, we have a cast of characters. You're talking to one of our cast of characters. It has a personality. And so we've just really, everything we do, every time we put something out, it's ingrained in our thinking that, oh, this has to be enjoyable. I spend effort pushing that agenda, but I don't have to all that much because it's just very ingrained in the company.

About 850 people.

About 850 people.

About 850 people.

It's the largest offices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We have about 400 people there. We have about 250 in New York. And then we have offices in a few cities. We have one in Detroit. We have one in Seattle, one in Berlin, and one in Beijing. All of those have like 30 people in them. But one key thing is we are not remote. We got to come to the office, to one of those offices.

It's the largest offices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We have about 400 people there. We have about 250 in New York. And then we have offices in a few cities. We have one in Detroit. We have one in Seattle, one in Berlin, and one in Beijing. All of those have like 30 people in them. But one key thing is we are not remote. We got to come to the office, to one of those offices.

It's the largest offices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We have about 400 people there. We have about 250 in New York. And then we have offices in a few cities. We have one in Detroit. We have one in Seattle, one in Berlin, and one in Beijing. All of those have like 30 people in them. But one key thing is we are not remote. We got to come to the office, to one of those offices.

I just wholeheartedly believe that you can work better that way, especially when it comes to most of what we do, not 100%, but most of what we do is creative stuff. And it's just a lot harder to do so over Slack and Zoom. That kind of worked out for about nine months during the pandemic. But it is actually impressive how when the pandemic started, we all had to go remote. We executed pretty well.

I just wholeheartedly believe that you can work better that way, especially when it comes to most of what we do, not 100%, but most of what we do is creative stuff. And it's just a lot harder to do so over Slack and Zoom. That kind of worked out for about nine months during the pandemic. But it is actually impressive how when the pandemic started, we all had to go remote. We executed pretty well.

I just wholeheartedly believe that you can work better that way, especially when it comes to most of what we do, not 100%, but most of what we do is creative stuff. And it's just a lot harder to do so over Slack and Zoom. That kind of worked out for about nine months during the pandemic. But it is actually impressive how when the pandemic started, we all had to go remote. We executed pretty well.

Towards the end of it, our ideas had kind of run out. I mean, we were executing the ideas, but we kind of had run out of new ideas. And it was pretty amazing. As soon as we came back to the office, within like three months, you would just see like all these ideas popping up. And it's because, my God, first of all, you can't sit in front of a whiteboard and talk about stuff.

Towards the end of it, our ideas had kind of run out. I mean, we were executing the ideas, but we kind of had run out of new ideas. And it was pretty amazing. As soon as we came back to the office, within like three months, you would just see like all these ideas popping up. And it's because, my God, first of all, you can't sit in front of a whiteboard and talk about stuff.

Towards the end of it, our ideas had kind of run out. I mean, we were executing the ideas, but we kind of had run out of new ideas. And it was pretty amazing. As soon as we came back to the office, within like three months, you would just see like all these ideas popping up. And it's because, my God, first of all, you can't sit in front of a whiteboard and talk about stuff.

Also, there's, you know, we have lunch together here every day. In the lunch line, you hear people being like, hey, I've been seeing you a while. I thought of saying this to you. It's just something that you would never send a slack for. So I think the combination of all this just makes it a better company. I don't have that much proof, but I am extremely convinced of this.

Also, there's, you know, we have lunch together here every day. In the lunch line, you hear people being like, hey, I've been seeing you a while. I thought of saying this to you. It's just something that you would never send a slack for. So I think the combination of all this just makes it a better company. I don't have that much proof, but I am extremely convinced of this.

Also, there's, you know, we have lunch together here every day. In the lunch line, you hear people being like, hey, I've been seeing you a while. I thought of saying this to you. It's just something that you would never send a slack for. So I think the combination of all this just makes it a better company. I don't have that much proof, but I am extremely convinced of this.

No. Fortunately not. Do your employees think that? No, no, no. Do they agree with you? You know why? You know why? This was... You know, we've done a lot of dumb things at Duolingo, but this was not one of the dumb things we did in retrospect. From my first message saying everybody's going to go work remote, in that message, I said, but we're going to come back to the office.