Business Development – At the Margins

Duolingo’s Next AI Opportunity is with What’sApp

Today’s post looks at Duolingo — a DTC ed-tech brand with a massive global user base and a freemium model that’s become the standard for language learning apps. The stock has pulled back roughly 65% from its $545 peak this past May, and while this isn’t an investment breakdown, it’s obvious that the market now values one thing above almost everything else: Duolingo’s AI engine and how it scales.

I see two product-led partnership opportunities that could help accelerate that engine:

A WhatsApp integration that brings Duolingo’s AI Roleplay experience directly into the world’s most-used messaging app
a fintech-driven rewards program with platforms like PayPal or Revolut to improve LTV/CAC by incentivizing consistent learning behavior.

The WhatsApp idea is the core focus here. The concept is simple: enable language learners to practice short, AI-powered conversations inside WhatsApp — where people already spend a significant portion of their daily screen time. This turns messaging into micro-practice, strengthens daily engagement, and meaningfully improves the value of their emerald customers in Duolingo Max.

Given Duolingo’s scale and WhatsApp’s dominance in markets like India and Brazil (~1B combined users), an initiative like this could drive engagement for ~20M learners and potentially generate $25–30M in incremental annual bookings through Max upgrades.

If Meta platform access, data restrictions, or the OpenAI agreement make that difficult, the fintech rewards angle offers a lighter-weight alternative that still deepens habit formation.

Both directions support Duolingo’s broader mission: make learning “fun and universally accessible,” increase daily engagement, and build differentiated, durable product experiences through partnerships.

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Utilizing AI to Help Build/Frame Partnerships

One of the most difficult aspects of doing partnerships or business development regardless of industry or sector is clearly understanding why two parties should get “married.” In my experience building numerous JV’s/partnerships, one theme continues to resonate, and that is how do you construct a winning partnership where each side feels as if they have gotten equitable value. Oftentimes, initial discussions tend to be more tactical or acutely focused on a very specific asset that one side seeks access to, when the focus should be framing the outcome from inception. This entails being able to articulate clearly the ‘gives’ and ‘gets’ of a deal and not jumping right into the weeds. Jeff Bezos has said, at Amazon, before any work is done on a new partnership, the press release is written. This accomplishes a couple key things.