20VC: Duolingo Co-Founder on Why $3M is Harder than $100M to Raise | Why You Should Always Take Tier 1 VCs Even at Worse Terms | Why Europe Can't Win Unless the US Screws Up | How AI Impacts the Future of Work and Education with Severin Hacker

You should always try to raise money from the best tier one VCs, even if the terms are slightly worse, because so much signaling. It's harder to raise 3 million than it is to raise 100 million. But I can guarantee you, Duolinga would not have been able to raise any money in Europe. You know, we had zero dollar revenue for the first five years. How much was the Series A?

3 million at uh 15, yeah. I think we only had one offer. It was Unit Square or back to university. This is 20VC with me, Harry Stabbys. Now for years I've been battling with one of my dear friends, Nico Wittenborn and adjacent that consumer subscription does not yield mega mega outcomes.

Well, I've just come to the conclusion that I have really lost this debate, and the guest today proves that I am wrong. Duolingo is a $24 billion market cap company today with 100 million monthly active users. And joining me in the hot seat is their co-founder, Severin Hacker. This is such a wide-ranging discussion on everything from how AI changes the future of education companies to how to pick your life partner and the decline of Europe. Now that is topic breadth for you.

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