Duolingo's Monetization Journey

Cem Kansu is the Chief Product Officer at Duolingo, where he leads product strategy for over 90 million monthly active learners. Since joining Duolingo, Cem has played a pivotal role in driving record user engagement, revenue growth, and product innovation, including the launch of Duolingo Math and the wildly successful Duolingo Music. Under his leadership, the company has consistently ranked as the #1 education app globally. 

In Today’s Episode We Discuss:

04:12 – Cem’s Origin Story: From Google Ads to Saving Duolingo’s Business

06:45 – “Mini CEO” Myth: Why PMs Need to Ditch the Ego

08:55 – The Truth About Design Speed and Pixel Perfection

11:30 – The INSANE Story Behind Duolingo’s Viral Chess Launch

14:42 – Why Smaller Teams Are the Future of Product

17:20 – Duolingo’s AI Playbook: How They’re Building 10x Faster

20:05 – Will Engineers Even Exist in 5 Years? Cem Gets Real

26:10 – Do AI Tools Have ANY Defensibility? Cem Doesn’t Hold Back

29:00 – Why Duolingo Took So Long to Monetize (And What They Learned)

33:05 – Cem on Killing Ads, Tasteful Monetization, and Investor Doubt

38:30 – The Secret to Duolingo’s Paywall Strategy (And What Not to Do)

42:05 – Cem’s Weirdest Retention Hack? A Single Emoji…

46:25 – The Crazy Science Behind Push Notifications at Duolingo

50:00 – In-App Purchases Done Right: GEMS, Freeze, and the Psychology of Value

53:15 – Why Cem Thinks Daily Retention Is the King Metric

55:10 – The ONE Product Feature That Changed Duolingo Forever

57:45 – Will Duolingo Become the Disney of Gen Z?

01:00:00 – Dating on Duolingo?! Cem Reacts to Harry’s Craziest Product Ideas

01:03:45 – Cem’s Biggest Product Mistakes — And What He’d Kill Tomorrow

01:12:00 – The One Thing Every PM Must Do to Survive the AI Wave

01:14:00 – Duolingo in 20 Years: Cem’s Wildest Vision Yet