Scaling Duolingo, embracing failure, and insight into Latin America’s tech scene | Gina Gotthilf (Latitud, Duoling…
Brought to you by Jira Product Discovery—Atlassian’s new prioritization and roadmapping tool built for product teams | Hex— Helping teams ask and answer data questions by working together | Mercury—the powerful and intuitive way for ambitious companies to bank — Gina Gotthilf is a co-founder and the COO of Latitud, a startup platform supporting the next generation of iconic tech startups in Latin America. Previously, Gina led growth and marketing at Duolingo, which she helped grow from 3 million to 200 million users. She was recently named one of the 500 most influential people in all of Latin America by Bloomberg. In today’s episode, we discuss: Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Overcast, and YouTube. Find the transcript for this episode and all past episodes at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/episodes/. Today’s transcript will be live by 8 a.m. PT. Where to find Gina Gotthilf: • X: https://twitter.com/ginag • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginafrombrazil/ • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gina/ Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Gina’s background (04:34) The Vamos Latam Summit (07:22) Gina’s “A and B sides” framework (09:34) Her B side (16:27) Lessons from working on Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaign (20:40) How Gina was able to 3x the conversion rate on a campaign site in one day (24:34) 4 areas Duolingo leaned into to have success in the difficult world of B2C subscriptions (36:39) B-side lessons from Duolingo (42:05) The importance of trusting your gut (44:54) Organic growth tactics and the importance of branding (48:01) What makes for remarkable branding (52:01) Duolingo’s process for keeping copy on-brand (52:45) How Duo’s passive-aggressive messages led to a movement (55:19) How Latitud uses niche humor as part of their branding (56:31) Duolingo’s TikTok (59:02) Lessons from internationalizing Duolingo (1:03:51) Why Gina was drawn to the tech industry in Latin America (1:09:26) What Latitud does (1:17:20) Opportunities in emerging markets (1:20:45) Lightning round Referenced: • The Vamos Latam Summit 2023: https://www.latitud.com/vamoslatamsummit • Ben Horowitz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/behorowitz/ • Rappi: https://about.rappi.com/ • Reed College: https://www.reed.edu/ • Marcus Aurelius: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius • Mike Bloomberg’s website: https://www.mikebloomberg.com/ • How Duolingo reignited user growth: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-duolingo-reignited-user-growth • Burr Settles on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/burrsettles/ • Nubank: https://nubank.com.br/en/ • Navigating comms and PR | Lulu Cheng Meservey (Substack, Activision Blizzard): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/navigating-comms-and-pr-lulu-cheng-meservey-substack-activision-blizzard/ • 47 Duolingo Memes That Are Equal Parts Funny and Extremely Concerning: https://www.buzzfeed.com/kellymartinez/duolingo-memes-jokes • Latitud: https://www.latitud.com/ • Brian Requarth on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianrequarth/ • On Deck: https://www.beondeck.com/ • Leadsales: https://leadsales.io/en/crm-for-whatsapp/ • Pomelo: https://pomelo.la/latam/ • The Design of Everyday Things: https://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Revised-Expanded/dp/0465050654 • Man’s Search for Meaning: https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/1663607982/ • Succession on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/succession • The Rehearsal on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/the-rehearsal • The White Lotus: https://www.hbo.com/the-white-lotus • Bo Burnham: Inside: https://www.netflix.com/title/81289483 • “How is the best-case scenario Joe Biden?” song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltg9ohuh0KM • How to with John Wilson on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/how-to-with-john-wilson • Viome: https://www.viome.com/ • Levels: https://www.levelshealth.com/ • Andrew Chen’s blog: https://andrewchen.com/ • The ship of Theseus: https://www.philosophy-foundation.org/enquiries/view/the-ship-of-theseus • Gina Gotthilf on 20VC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M7XsTicrY0 Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Invite your friends and earn rewardsIf you enjoy Lenny's Newsletter, share it with your friends and earn rewards when they subscribe. |
Older messages
Building beautiful products with Stripe’s Head of Design | Katie Dill (Stripe, Airbnb, Lyft)
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Listen now (94 mins) | Brought to you by Sidebar—Catalyze your career with a Personal Board of Directors | Jira Product Discovery—Atlassian's new prioritization and roadmapping tool built for
How to build a killer sales pitch
Thursday, October 19, 2023
And why your real competition is “no decision”
Inside Linear: Building with taste, craft, and focus | Karri Saarinen (co-founder, designer, CEO)
Sunday, October 8, 2023
Listen now (100 mins) | Brought to you by Mercury—the powerful and intuitive way for ambitious companies to bank | Composer—the AI-powered trading platform | Pendo—The all-in-one platform for product-
Brian Balfour: 10 lessons on career, growth, and life
Thursday, October 5, 2023
Listen now (102 mins) | Brought to you by Jira Product Discovery—Atlassian's new prioritization and roadmapping tool built for product teams | Coda—Meet the evolution of docs | Wix Studio—The web
Hiring your early team
Tuesday, October 3, 2023
Part six of my seven-part series on kickstarting and scaling a B2B business
You Might Also Like
Peppered Kitty and The Penal Guard 💂♂️
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
The breed of the non-human͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
🗞 What's New: HARO/Connectively is shutting down
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
Also: Use AI to beef up your security ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
the wizard of oz.
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
Read time: 53 sec. Today I want to tell you about Cristiano. He was part of our last Starter Story Academy sprint. And during his first two weeks, he was busy designing and tweaking his landing page.
💃 Beyoncé loves her products...here’s how she did it
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
The exact steps to build your beauty brand empire Hey Friend , We just launched our newest course, How to Build a Million Dollar Beauty Brand. In it, for the first time, Alicia Scott—founder of Range
[CEI] Chrome Extension Ideas #166
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
ideas for Amazon, Twitter, Developers, and Students ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Navattic's PLG funnel with Natalie Marcotullio
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
In conversation with Navattic's Head of Growth about their product-led growth (PLG) funnel. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
You have one shot to sell your business 🤞
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
Just One Week to Go Until Exit Strategy Launches!
Product manager is an unfair role. So work unfairly.
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
How to thrive in “the great flattening” by redefining work norms ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Growth Newsletter #223
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
It's not "what" but "where" ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
All stock, 6-figure deal
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
Plus, overcome a big barrier to exit planning: owner dependency ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏