Hardware Podcasts

Advice Line with Luis von Ahn of Duolingo

How I Built This · 1 May 2025 · 47m

What this episode covers

Duolingo co-founder and CEO Luis von Ahn joins Guy Raz to answer questions from three early-stage founders: Steph Crim of Good Things Vending, Blair Hasty of Bair, and Stephanie Carlson of Naturspire. Von Ahn advises Crim on scaling her art-filled vending machine business by leveraging scarcity and data, warns Hasty against betting on unproven platforms like the Vision Pro in favor of established ones, and urges Carlson to raise prices on her living plant walls to improve margins and fund growth. The episode highlights the importance of data-driven decision-making, understanding that stated consumer preferences often contradict actual behavior, and the necessity of pricing for profit to sustain operations.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Good Things Vending, Bair, Naturspire, Apple, Liquid Death, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Danone, U.S. Bank, Google, Capital G
Products
Duolingo, Vision Pro, Tame, Tote, Instagram, TikTok, Apple Watch
Also
Visa, SBA

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