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 of branding
(48:01) What makes for remarkable branding
(52:01) Duolingo’s process for keeping copy on-brand
(52:45) How Duo’s passive-aggressive messages led to a movement
(55:19) How Latitud uses niche humor as part of their branding
(56:31) Duolingo’s TikTok
(59:02) Lessons from internationalizing Duolingo
(1:03:51) Why Gina was drawn to the tech industry in Latin America
(1:09:26) What Latitud does
(1:17:20) Opportunities in emerging markets
(1:20:45) Lightning round
—
Referenced:
• The Vamos Latam Summit 2023: https://www.latitud.com/vamoslatamsummit
• Ben Horowitz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/behorowitz/
• Rappi: https://about.rappi.com/
• Reed College: https://www.reed.edu/
• Marcus Aurelius: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius
• Mike Bloomberg’s website: https://www.mikebloomberg.com/
• How Duolingo reignited user growth: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-duolingo-reignited-user-growth
• Burr Settles on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/burrsettles/
• Nubank: https://nubank.com.br/en/
• Navigating comms and PR | Lulu Cheng Meservey (Substack, Activision Blizzard): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/navigating-comms-and-pr-lulu-cheng-meservey-substack-activision-blizzard/
• 47 Duolingo Memes That Are Equal Parts Funny and Extremely Concerning: https://www.buzzfeed.com/kellymartinez/duolingo-memes-jokes
• Latitud: https://www.latitud.com/
• Brian Requarth on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianrequarth/
• On Deck: https://www.beondeck.com/
• Leadsales: https://leadsales.io/en/crm-for-whatsapp/
• Pomelo: https://pomelo.la/latam/
• The Design of Everyday Things: https://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Revised-Expanded/dp/0465050654
• Man’s Search for Meaning: https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/1663607982/
• Succession on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/succession
• The Rehearsal on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/the-rehearsal
• The White Lotus: https://www.hbo.com/the-white-lotus
• Bo Burnham: Inside: https://www.netflix.com/title/81289483
• “How is the best-case scenario Joe Biden?” song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltg9ohuh0KM
• How to with John Wilson on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/how-to-with-john-wilson
• Viome: https://www.viome.com/
• Levels: https://www.levelshealth.com/
• Andrew Chen’s blog: https://andrewchen.com/
• The ship of Theseus: https://www.philosophy-foundation.org/enquiries/view/the-ship-of-theseus
• Gina Gotthilf on 20VC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M7XsTicrY0
—
Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
—
Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.