latin america

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

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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 

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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/scaling-duolingo-embracing-failure-and-insight-into-latin-americas-tech-scene-gina-gotthilf-la/#transcript

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Where to find Gina Gotthilf:

• X: https://twitter.com/ginag

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginafrombrazil/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gina/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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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

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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

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

Ana is one of the most powerful people in global finance. She runs one of the world’s largest banks with over 160 million customers and over 200 000 employees. Ana shares unique insight into the future of banking, how to create a global culture and answer the question of do we still need the banks?

The production team on this episode were PLAN-B’s Nikolai Ovenberg and Niklas Figenschau Johansen. Background research was done by Sigurd Brekke and portfolio manager Pablo De Castro

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Over two decades in office, the prime minister and her Awami League party have overseen impressive growth and reforms in a notoriously corrupt country—but that same firm hand may now be limiting Bangladesh’s progress. Our correspondent visits the frontier of a potentially transformative technology for reducing atmospheric carbon: direct air capture. And a listen to the astonishing boom in Spanish-language music.

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Mia Wong is once again joined by Robert Evans to continue their discussion the many crimes of Reverend Sun Myung Moon and his family.

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What’s up podcast. In this episode I share a Q&A from a press conference I did on my trip to Mexico. I talk about how social media gives everyone a voice and how some of you allow judgment to fold you. Listen and let me know if you have any questions via Twitter or text!!!

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