Advice Line with Luis von Ahn of Duolingo

Intro

Guy Raz welcomes back Luis von Ahn, co-founder and CEO of Duolingo, for an Advice Line episode focused on founders who are building community-centered businesses. Since their 2020 conversation, Duolingo has gone public and reached a $13 billion market cap, but Luis maintains the same curiosity about how small businesses grow. The episode brings three callers with very different challenges, each seeking practical advice on product, marketing, and business model evolution.

Caller 1: Steph Krim & Good Things Vending

Steph Krim calls from Chicago, where she transforms old snack vending machines into small galleries for local art and vintage treasures. Her challenge is figuring out how to scale without losing the playful, community-driven spirit that makes the machines special. Luis encourages her to keep the experience surprising and to think of the machines as distributed art installations rather than retail outlets. He suggests collaborating with more artists and rotating stock frequently so customers keep returning. Steph also worries about operational logistics, and Luis recommends treating the vending routes like a game—making the work itself feel creative rather than administrative.

Caller 2: Blair Hastie & Bear

Blair Hastie calls from Atlanta with Bear, a design-driven brand making high-end tech accessories from merino wool felt, machined metal, and fine leather. Her first product, Tame, is a minimalist cable organizer for MacBook users, and she is developing a Vision Pro battery pack sling called Tote. Luis zeroes in on the importance of starting with one excellent product rather than spreading attention across too many SKUs. He advises Blair to build demand for Tame first, then use that credibility to launch Tote. He also pushes her to lean into the brand story—sustainability and precision craftsmanship—rather than competing on price or features alone.

Caller 3: Stephanie Carlson & NatureSpire Landscapes

Stephanie Carlson calls from Carmel, Indiana, where she turned a backyard garden-teaching side project into NatureSpire Landscapes, a biophilic design firm. The company now builds living walls, moss walls, and interior plantscapes for commercial and residential clients. Luis is fascinated by how the business evolved from education into full-service design, and he tells Stephanie to embrace that pivot instead of feeling guilty about drifting from the original mission. He recommends documenting transformation stories—before-and-after visuals of spaces—to help people grasp the value of biophilic design. Stephanie also worries about pricing, and Luis reminds her that design and wellness work commands premium rates when the results are visible.

Final Thought

Luis von Ahn closes with a founder-to-founder reminder: build something people can experience directly, then let that experience do the marketing. Whether it is a vending machine full of local art, a cable wrap made from sustainable materials, or a living wall that changes how a room feels, the best businesses turn the product itself into a story worth repeating.