20VC: Duolingo Co-Founder on Why $3M is Harder than $100M to Raise | Why You Should Always Take Tier 1 VCs Even at Worse Terms | Why Europe Can't Win Unless the US Screws Up | How AI Impacts the Future of Work and Education with Severin Hacker

Severin Hacker is the Co-Founder and CTO of Duolingo, the world’s most downloaded education app with over 100 million monthly users. Since its 2021 IPO, Duolingo has reached a market cap of $20BN. The company has raised over $183M from top-tier investors including CapitalG, Kleiner Perkins, Union Square Ventures, NEA, Ashton Kutcher, and Tim Ferriss. Severin is also an active angel investor, with standout bets including Decagon, one of the fastest-growing AI-native dev shops globally.

Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode: 

00:00 – Why It's Harder to Raise $3M Than $100M

02:10 – The Real Reason Duolingo Couldn't Have Started in Europe

04:40 – Duolingo’s AI Pivot: What “AI-First” Actually Means

07:00 – The 12-Year Bottleneck Duolingo Crushed with AI

11:40 – How Duolingo Uses AI Internally (and Why They Love Cursor)

13:30 – Where AI Still Sucks (Especially in Engineering)

16:00 – Will AI Kill the CS Degree? Severin’s Surprising Take

18:00 – The End of Work? UBI, Purpose, and the Future of Labor

25:20 – OpenAI vs Duolingo: Are They Coming for Language Learning?

29:20 – Duolingo’s Biggest Mistake: “We Waited Too Long on This…”

39:30 – Duolingo’s Secret Sauce: What Investors Always Get Wrong

45:00 – Would You Go Public Today? Severin’s Surprising Answer

49:00 – Best and Worst Parts of Going Public—A Rare Honest Take

51:00 – Should Europe Give Up? Severin's Unfiltered Opinion

56:00 – Harsh Truth: “Europe Can’t Win Unless the U.S. Screws Up”

59:10 – Why Founders Have to Move to the US to Optimise Their Chance of Success

1:01:00 – Why Union Square Was the Only VC to Say Yes

1:03:00 – The Real Value of Tier 1 VCs (Even at Worse Terms)

1:05:00 – From PhD Student to Billionaire: Does Money Buy Happiness? 

1:09:00 – Why Severin Sometimes Lies About His Job

1:10:20 – Founder Marriage Advice: “Write a Contract”

1:11:50 – How to Pick a Life Partner – Severin’s Tuesday Night Test

20VC: Duolingo Co-Founder on The Doomed Future of Europe, Reflections on Money, Marriage and the Future of AI