Duolingo culture handbook
A partial explanation of the wholesome and unhinged green cartoon owl that you see everywhere
Duolingo didn’t become the world’s most popular language-learning platform by accident. Peek behind its cartoon green owl mascot, and you’ll find a culture that’s equal parts quirky and ambitious. From featuring absurdly delightful phrases in its lessons (“Your bear is drinking beer”) to championing the memorable hiring motto of “Better a hole than an a**hole,” Duolingo focuses on balancing the art of playfulness while refusing to compromise on excellence.
Duolingo embraces “long-view” thinking, betting on tech that may not be perfect today but will power tomorrow’s breakthroughs. They don’t chase short-term gains if it means undermining their core mission of making education accessible and engaging. And as they continue to blur the lines between game and classroom, they’ve pioneered a culture that’s both data-driven and delight-driven, serious and silly, demanding and empathetic.
Once you see how Duolingo keeps its teams inspired (and mascot unhinged), you’ll never look at their language lessons the same way again.
You can find their culture handbook linked here.
Take the long view
"If it helps in the short-term, but hurts Duolingo in the long-term, it’s not right."
"Don't do Dumb S**t The temptation of short-term wins can be powerful. We had a simple mantra in the early days: “Don’t do dumb s**t.” Looking back, this was the first version of “Take the Long View.” We knew that to have any shot at meaningful success, we had to steer clear of gimmicks and tricks that might seem helpful in the short-term but hurt us down the road."
The more memorable Duolingo version of “huge advantages come from avoiding stupid mistakes” — avoid doing dumb things.
"Taking the long view isn’t just about what you avoid— it’s also what you embrace. We are tech optimists. From the beginning, we’ve believed that technology will advance enough to make our most ambitious ideas possible. And betting on that has been crucial to how we operate. For example, we invested in early text-to-speech systems instead of recording human voices: even though our audio sounded robotic at first, we knew the technology would improve with time."
It's a simple idea to know that technology will improve over time. The key is to figure out which parts of technology have the highest probability of improving through time to provide a huge tailwind for the business.
"Hiring decisions are some of the most important decisions we make. That’s why we take time to find the right person — even if it means waiting. Each new hire needs to meet our bar. Is this person exceptional? Are they willing to get their hands dirty? Are they a clear communicator? Will they prioritize what’s best for the company over their personal goals? We don’t compromise our hiring standards to fill a hole in the organization, especially when it comes to being a team player.
As we say at Duolingo: “Better a hole than an a**hole.”"
I particularly love this clever phrase and generally this framing of hiring top talent, and so many other high-performing cultures echo this.
"But these characters — inspired more by brands like Nintendo than traditional learning companies — also serve an important strategic purpose. We see this IP as a crucial moat for our business, especially in the era of AI learning tools. That same emotional connection that makes learning enjoyable also makes our product stickier over time. Even if someone cloned our entire app, learners would still come back to Duolingo for the characters."
It's all about creating an emotional connection with Duolingo users — that creates the moat.
"At Duolingo, we’ve grown by creating a product that people genuinely love — and love to talk about. But we’ve also figured out how to use other levers, like performance marketing, to complement that organic growth. Our paid ads exist to amplify our word-of-mouth momentum, not replace it, so we are conservative with our spend. This allows us to invest in standout campaigns and reactive social moments that set us apart."
Performance marketing here is seen as a lever, not something that substitutes for growth. You have to have a good enough product to then add marketing as the lever. This is similar to AI is the lever, not the product.
Raise the bar
"Taking Ownership One key to maintaining high standards is assigning ownership. That means putting a person or team on a task, providing a clear mandate and saying, “You are responsible.” We’ve seen it again and again: only things that are owned become excellent. As we grow, unclear ownership can become a challenge. One task might stretch across four functions and seven teams, and it’s not clear who owns what. There will always be some projects where defining ownership is tricky, or impossible. But the most important projects at the company should have an owner."
In many cultures, it is too common for the spirit of collaboration to morph into a diffusion of responsibility. Someone must own the process at the end of the day.
Ship it
“Clock speed” is a mindset that drives how we work. The concept comes from microprocessor technology, where clock speed measures how quickly a system can process instructions. We use the term to talk about minimizing the gaps between actions: the time between when a decision is made and when it’s implemented, or when feedback is given and changes are made."
Clock speed is a really powerful analogy for this idea of group coordination and agency. The gap between a decision and implementation is something that everyone struggles with.
Another good computer analogy for human organizational behavior is to test ideas in your brain like a virtual environment does for computers. Patrick Collison talks about how creating a virtual environment in a computer is a powerful analogy for how we should evaluate difficult and controversial ideas. If you can emulate an idea in your head, without the idea breaking out and affecting other parts of your thinking (just like how a virtual environment allows for you to isolate code such that it doesn't affect other applications), this gives you a tremendous advantage in augmenting your power of thinking.
So whether it’s virtual emulation or clock speed, these analogies are helpful.
"As much as we want to move fast and increase clock speed, we always need to make sure we’re working on the right thing. At Duolingo, prioritization is sometimes described as “ruthless:” we are decisive about what we focus on as a company, based on what will have the largest impact on our learners. Deciding what to prioritize starts with clearly defined goals. For every initiative, we ask: How does this contribute to our mission? What measurable outcomes will it drive? And if something doesn’t move the needle in a meaningful way, it’s cut — no matter how much effort has already gone into it."
I'm always a fan of "ruthless prioritization" guided by a central mission/set of values/mandate. However, I would do better if I continued to remind myself about this.
The best book I've read on this for your personal life is Essentialism, by Greg McKeown.
“Ship It” isn’t just about speed; it’s about creating as many opportunities as possible to learn and improve. We like to play around, run a little wild — and sometimes fail. But each experiment brings us closer to seeing what works. As Duolingo grows, staying agile becomes more challenging. We need guardrails and processes to keep things from spiraling out of control, but we also want to avoid unnecessary red tape. The question is: How can we add the right processes without slowing ourselves down?
Good processes should reduce workloads, improve quality, and lead to better decisions. One example of this is Product Review (PR).
In the early days, Luis often made product decisions during informal meetings, which sometimes got messy. Not all stakeholders were included or informed; even worse, it wasn’t always clear if decisions were binding or if Luis was just musing. We needed a better approach. Taking inspiration from engineering’s code review process, we introduced a formal structure for Product Review. Today, PR ensures that everyone is clear on what decisions were made, and that all relevant stakeholders are informed. The meeting also includes a rotating group of leaders from Product and Design who weigh in, ensuring diverse perspectives.
The success of PR has set a precedent for other teams. Marketing, for instance, has adopted a Marketing Review, which brings the same clarity and alignment to their campaigns. These processes help us maintain our quality bar — and make faster and visible decisions across the company.
I think the Netflix culture deck has the most nuanced argument for and against processes. They would point out that all processes slow things down, and most types of processes are "unnecessary red tape."
Show don't tell
"Metrics, when available, should be at the center of all our work and communications. Decisions must be grounded in evidence, not abstract narratives.
By focusing on actual results — like the effect of a new feature on daily bookings — we can quickly assess whether something belongs in the app. But this spirit extends well beyond the app. For example, we measure how our offices are being used (and not used), so we can make each new space better than the last."
"Disagree and Commit Disagreements are inevitable, but here, we handle them by taking action instead of getting stuck. When two parties disagree, both commit to moving forward with a decision and letting the results speak for themselves. For example, even when someone like Luis has doubts about an idea, they’ll often say, “Go ahead and test it — let’s see what happens.” (This is exactly what occurred with Leaderboards — now a key feature on the app.)
This mindset extends beyond product. On our social media team, for example, junior team members are trusted to run with bold ideas and measure their impact. By creating space for experimentation, we ensure that outcomes — not opinions — lead the way."
Numbers can lie, but people are better at lying with stories. The best balance is to use both in concert.
"One key way we Show Don’t Tell is through TL;DRs—executive summaries at the top of any important communication. We use them in many places, from feature performance analyses and meeting prereads to new policy announcements.
Crafting strong TL;DRs boosts the chances that your work will be seen and remembered. They make complex information more digestible and, importantly, encourage clearer thinking. To write a TL;DR, you have to distill your message down to its most essential points."
This is actually something a recent addition I've incorporated for my longer emails and memos.
Memorability is massively underrated in writing. People can't act on information or feelings that they don't remember, so you need to make sure your writing is memorable.
"Great Products Don’t Have to Explain Themselves Talking about ideas is rarely as effective as building them. Prototypes allow us to bring concepts to life, align on a shared vision, and move forward quickly. They’re especially important when dealing with complex challenges like integrating AI into an existing feature."
Great paragraphs also don't have to explain themselves.
Make it fun!
"A Product Built on Play There are lots of ways to teach a language. But none of them work if learners aren’t engaged. From the beginning, we made the decision to gamify the app. Over time, we’ve expanded this by introducing more and more engagement mechanics that keep learners coming back to further their progress. But these tactics aren’t the only thing that sets us apart. Duolingo feels like an entirely different universe from traditional education tools. Strange, unexpected things happen here. Lessons are formatted like talk shows and video games; sentences like “Your bear is drinking beer” verge on the absurd, and the character Lily sarcastically supports your progress with a slow clap. These moments of delight — characters, animations, absurd surprises — do more than entertain; they play a key role in keeping learners engaged."
I'm working on a longer essay on this exact insight, but the tl;dr is Duolingo has taken a very simple idea extremely seriously: learning that is fun is sustainable, and sustained learning results in maximal long-term learning and curiosity.
Sure, Duolingo isn't the most scientifically-optimal learning protocol, but it is shockingly effective in encouraging people to persevere with language learning, and for longer times than any other learning platform I've seen.
Just the other day, I met someone with a 1400+ day streak in Duolingo!
"Duality of Duo Our mascot was initially designed to encourage regular practice. But once the internet got their hands on him, he grew into a more complicated — even menacing — character with his own lore. He’s still cute and cuddly. But he’s also willing to temporarily relocate your family to ensure you finish your lessons.
By leaning into the joke, Duo has become a bona fide viral sensation. He’s shown up everywhere from Saturday Night Live to popular video games and celebrity Instagrams. There are galaxies of crazy memes, from Buff Duo to Anime Duo and more."
"Wholesome and Unhinged Over the years, we've experimented with different formats, tones, and design languages — eventually landing on our unique brand: wholesome and unhinged."
Someday, there's going to be an incredible HBS case study written on the evolution of Duo, the Duolingo owl mascot. It lives absolutely rent free in my head because it's so memorable.
"Wholesome and unhinged" is the exact oxymoronic juxtaposition that perfectly describes the Duo owl.
And this is the absolutely unhinged Duolingo Super Bowl commercial:
It's the most impactful and memorable five-second ad that I've ever seen.
"Committing to the Bit It took some time to find our voice, especially with our external marketing. Early on, we tried to appeal to the broadest possible audience, but we ended up with nothing distinctive to say. And in marketing, there’s nothing worse than being bland. So we changed tack, and our approach to marketing became weird, unexpected, and often funny.
Humor doesn’t scale perfectly. It’s subjective, sometimes polarizing. So to unleash the full power of Duo humor, we had to accept that not everyone would get the joke. What truly matters is that people who do get it love it—and we do everything we can to nurture that passion."
Find your core audience that fits your strong opinions and focus on them.
"You Can Be More Than One Thing Duolingo doesn’t fit neatly into one category. We’re not a game, but we’re not just an education product either. Along that blurry line lies the magic. The fact is, we’re competing with platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and online games for attention, so we have to make learning as fun as any of them. These platforms are designed to keep people endlessly scrolling and watching. What sets Duolingo apart is that our users come with a clear goal: learning. It’s not mindless entertainment; it’s a productive and purposeful use of your time. And the fun, the unexpected moments, and the quirky design are what make you stay."
I've always been fascinated with people and organizations that can't fit neatly into one category. There's a lot of alpha operating in the blurry vicinity between different categories.
And Duolingo has been so successful that it's created a category of its own!