Priscilla Chang

Yesterday, Duolingo Director of Product Natalia Castillejo joined my Maven course on Consumer Subscription Growth. Natalia discussed the Value Creation tactics that fueled Duolingo's success, including her team's recent work to launch three new AI-powered features under a second, higher-priced subscription tier called Duolingo Max. Here were the key takeaways from the case: 1️⃣ Duolingo's commitment to delivering a great free product experience with gamification to make language learning fun has helped it drive viral growth. 2️⃣ The company used multiple tactics to streamline onboarding and get new users to the Aha Moment of completing a lesson as quickly as possible, which helped it improve D1 Retention by 4.2x from 13% to 55% over time. 3️⃣ When its growth slowed, Duolingo identified Current User Retention Rate as the key metric to focus on, leading to investments in Streaks, Leaderboards, Achievements, and Notifications to boost CURR and reaccelerate DAU growth. 4️⃣ After getting early access to ChatGPT in 2022, Duolingo developed three new AI features, including Explain My Answer, Roleplay, and Video Call with Lily, that allowed it to expand its core value promise with immersive learning. 5️⃣ The launch of these features under a higher-priced subscription tier called Duolingo Max contributed to record-breaking revenue growth in 2024. Natalia Castillejo thanks again for being a fantastic guest! If you're interested in this course, sign up here to join the waitlist for a future cohort 👇 https://lnkd.in/gf_ndutV

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today's stratechery writeup helped me define why I do what I do: the hunger and appreciation for something shared must be preserved. his essay focused on how critical common ground, shared experiences, and human relationships will be as we move through this new world of ai-generated content together (or apart). a few themes from ben's essay that I'd like to double down on for you: - ai delivers highly personalized content, which will frequently undermine or completely remove shared cultural touchpoints and the monoculture. this opens an opportunity (or in my opinion, a responsibility) for individuals to build spaces where people gather around shared interests and narratives. - in a world of abundant individualized content, shared experiences and communities built around a source of truth will feel increasingly rare and valuable. - historically, content unified groups (ex, books standardizing languages). now, content has the potential to build smaller, purpose-driven communities due to its reach and accessibility. if you're not creating community, start. if that's not for you, start participating in one or three or ten. we have to hold on to our collective selves as technology continues to pull us apart into our own optimized worlds. here's the article if you want to dive in: https://lnkd.in/gGVUbjmS

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The recent MIT report that 95% of generative AI pilots are failing to deliver ROI set off alarm bells across the tech industry. At Upwork, we were not surprised to see this data. We hear from our customers every day how they struggle to capture value from AI, and increasingly rely on skilled talent on our platform to solve this. We’ve seen what separates the companies making AI work from those that stall out. The winners? They stop treating AI like a one-time experiment and embrace it as a new way of working, requiring new approaches and new talent models to support it. Two tips I’d offer any company that has a stalled-out AI implementation: 1) Don’t design a new system just to accommodate AI. It has to work for humans too. AI technology is incredible, but too often, it isn’t enough on its own, and doesn’t fill a “worker-sized” shape in an organization. Often it can do both more and much less than your typical colleague. Our clients—from the Fortune 100 to fast-moving startups—are finding the most success when they rethink both processes and talent to incorporate the right combo of humans (who bring vision, problem-solving, curiosity, judgement and taste) working together with AI tools. That’s where the ROI lives. 2) Refresh your talent strategy to meet the AI moment. The talent you need to get an AI experiment or prototype off the ground might not be the same talent you need to scale, maintain or tune the approach over time. We see successful companies rethinking the workforce they need to capture AI value. Deploying contingent workers and teams, including freelancers, gives them faster learnings and makes an immediate impact on workflows. They can train and upskill FTEs as part of implementation, before rotating to the next project or the next company. Approximately half of businesses (49%) are turning to freelancers on platforms like Upwork to address critical skill gaps, because this talent is more highly skilled in emergent technologies like AI. This MIT report is a necessary reminder that AI implementations don’t just happen overnight—after all, this is science, not magic. The companies that invest in adapting their workflows and talent models to meet this moment are already leading the next era of innovation. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the study and what techniques are enabling you to capture AI ROI in the comments. #AI #FutureOfWork #DigitalTransformation

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I’m excited to announce that Klaviyo has acquired Gatsby a longtime partner helping brands turn social engagement into lasting relationships. Social commerce is expected to surpass $100B by 2026, yet many brands still struggle to capture that momentum. Bringing Gatsby into Klaviyo is another big step toward building the best B2C CRM - so every interaction, from a like to a purchase, helps you grow faster. Welcome to the team, Gatsby. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gGzcZW3Y

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