Scaling Duolingo, embracing failure, and insight into Latin America’s tech scene | Gina Gotthilf (Latitud, Duolingo)

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:• Behind the scenes of Duolingo’s early growth• How to balance the “A and B sides” of life• Stories from Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaign• Lessons from Duolingo’s international expansion• Tactical tips for driving organic growth• How to use PR, brand love, and community as growth levers• Why Gina is passionate about investing in Latin America—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 —Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/scaling-duolingo-embracing-failure-and-insight-into-latin-americas-tech-scene-gina-gotthilf-la/#transcript—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