Luis von Ahn, CEO of Duolingo, shared insights on adapting leadership styles as his company expanded from a small startup to over 800 employees. Initially, he practiced micromanagement, which he recognized should end after reaching around 30 employees to foster growth. Now, he describes his role as a culture leader and decision-maker, delegating tasks he doesn't enjoy or excel at to others. Under his management, Duolingo's user base surged to 46 million daily users, and the company diversified its offerings beyond language learning to include math, music, and chess, showcasing significant growth with a 205% rise in stock value.
If you're starting a company, you should be a micromanager up until about employee 30. I took it too far, I went to about 50.
At this point, I also have learned that most of my job is culture carrier, mascot, and just making some of the kind of tough philosophical decisions.
Two of my executive team are sitting here - head of people and head of finance. I am neither good at those things nor do I get energy from them.
Duolingo has expanded its offerings from languages to math, music, and recently, chess.
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