Lessons from 20 years in the language learning business with Markus Witte from Babbel

Found

On today’s episode of Found, Dom and Becca talk to Markus Witte, co-founder of Babbel, a language learning app that had been operating since 2007. Babbel has become one of the most prominent language-learning apps but their first product was essentially just a vocab game and they quickly discovered that a multi-modal way of learning will always be more effective. Markus also talked about why he decided to step down as CEO and take on the role of chairman and how all four co-founders have worked together to stick to the original mission of Babbel even after nearly 20 years.

They also talked about:

• Being a very early adopter of a subscription business model
• The struggles of fundraising in Berlin in 2008 and how to operate intentionally lean
• How the company has implemented AI tools back when AI was still machine learning.
• Building a team that is deeply rooted to the original mission and how Markus developed the skills of an empathetic leader

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