There’s nothing new about conspiracy theories, disinformation, and untruths in politics. What is new is how quickly malicious actors can spread disinformation when the world is tightly connected across social networks and internet news sites. We can give up on the problem and rely on the platforms themselves to fact-check stories or posts and screen […]
Monthly Archives: May 2021
As companies prioritize diversity, startups are trying to productize diverse hiring
When the iconic American power tools company Stanley Black & Decker began looking for ways to improve the pipeline of diverse candidates that the company was reviewing for potential roles, it turned to an Israeli-based startup called Talenya for help. The company wasn’t alone in looking to startups for support in new hiring initiatives. Last […]
Will fintech unicorn Flywire’s proposed IPO reach escape velocity?
It’s a win for Boston, but a question mark for fintech exits more broadly Alex Wilhelm 7 hours It’s a big morning for fintech startups today: Flywire, a Boston-based magnet for venture capital, has filed to go public. Flywire is a global payments company that attracted more than $300 million as a startup, according to […]
Epic Games buys artist community ArtStation, drops commissions to 12%
One the same day as Fortnite maker Epic Games goes to trial with one of the biggest legal challenges to the App Store’s business model to date, it has simultaneously announced the acquisition of the artist portfolio community ArtStation — and immediately lowered the commissions on sales. Now standard creators on ArtStation will see the […]
Verizon agrees to sell Yahoo and AOL to private-equity firm for $5 billion
Enlarge / Yahoo headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, on Wednesday, April 21, 2021. Getty Images | Bloomberg reader comments 49 with 40 posters participating Share this story Verizon announced on Monday that it is selling Yahoo and AOL for $5 billion to private-equity firm Apollo Global Management. Verizon made the deal official just a few days after news […]
The Station: Lyft sells its self-driving unit, Uber makes a big product push and Revel jumps into ride-hailing
The Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Sign up here — just click The Station — to receive it every weekend in your inbox. Hi there, new and returning readers. This is The Station, a weekly newsletter dedicated to all the ways people and packages move (today and in the future) from […]
The Duolingo EC-1
Education may well be the most important activity we conduct as a society — and it may also be the hardest space to build a startup in. Selling to school districts and universities is notoriously difficult, but enticing consumers is even harder. Learning takes focus, patience, tenacity and resources, and most consumers would prefer to […]
How a bot-fighting test turned into edtech’s most iconic brand, Duolingo
Luis von Ahn, an entrepreneur who has dedicated his career to scaling free education, has probably annoyed you more than once. In fact, you’ve likely been annoyed by his work dozens and maybe hundreds of times over the years. A decade before he co-founded the whimsical and language-learning app Duolingo, one of the most popular […]
The product-led growth behind edtech’s most downloaded app
Duolingo CEO and co-founder Luis von Ahn was tired of the gray and dreary design aesthetic edtech companies used to emulate universities. Instead, he and the company’s early team sought inspiration from games like Angry Birds and Clash Royale, looking to build a class that screamed more cartoon anarchy than lecture hall. From that frenetic […]
How Duolingo became fluent in monetization
As its meandering route to monetization will demonstrate, Duolingo isn’t mission-oriented, it’s mission-obsessed. Co-founders Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker never wanted to charge consumers for access to Duolingo content, a purpose imbued throughout the company’s culture. For years in order to work at Duolingo, you had to be comfortable with joining a company in […]