How Toucan Co-Founder and CTO Shaun Merritt Hacked the Art of Language-Learning

[00:41] Shaun explains how he and his co-founders came up with the idea for Toucan.

[01:29] How Toucan works to teach people new languages passively without taking time out of their day.

[01:58] How Toucan is different from other language-learning platforms.

[02:54] How it launched, people’s reactions to it, and how they grew and monetized it.

[04:12] A case study example of how to use Toucan.

[05:05] The most common languages used and requested.

[06:08] Insight into the different difficulty settings and how it adapts as you learn.

[06:57] How Toucan works as a passive form of engagement to enable people to progress quickly.

[07:42] How they make money through premium features.

[09:00] How they use advertising as a deeper form of learning through their ‘Own the word’ concept.’

[09:33] How partnerships with advertisers work.

[10:09] How are they growing through word of mouth, ‘own the word’, and partnerships.

[11:35] The grand vision for Toucan: To find ways to teach other things passively too.

[12:07] Shaun’s favorite business tool Obsidian, and favorite business book Thinking in Systems.

[12:56] Bonus question: Where Shaun gets his information from.