Severin Guey

Severin Hacker (born July 6, 1984) is a Swiss-American computer scientist who is the co-founder and CTO of Duolingo, the world's most popular language-learning platform.

Biography

Hacker was born and raised in Zug and studied at ETH Zurich. In a 2020 interview, Hacker specified that gaming played a large role in his interest in computer science: "What originally drew me to computers was video games and the desire to build your own games and understand how those games are built. I was somewhat obsessed."

He moved to Pittsburgh to study at Carnegie Mellon University where he co-founded Duolingo with Luis von Ahn in 2009.

He received his BS in computer science from ETH Zurich in 2006 and his Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University in 2014.

Founding of Duolingo

Initially, Hacker and his former graduate advisor, Luis von Ahn, wanted to develop an application that could translate internet sites, so that they would be accessible for non-English speakers. They felt that automated translation software wasn't as effective as using the skills and knowledge of bilingual speakers. During Hacker's doctoral studies, Duolingo became a by-product of this idea, or "happy mistake." Hacker's goal for Duolingo was to make it "100% free" so the most disadvantaged person with an internet connection would still have access to it.

Retention Philosophy

There are two parts to Hacker's "Retention Philosophy" which is that learning should be fun and motivation should remain high. In 2014, Hacker was included in the MIT Technology Review's "Top Innovators under 35." In 2019, Hacker received One Young World's Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

External business ventures and investments

IAM Robotics, a robotics company focused on autonomous fulfillment. ViaHero, a trip-planning service creating personalized itineraries. Brainbase, a platform that helps companies manage and monetize their intellectual property. Gridwise, an app that provides information for driver demand throughout a city. Abililife, a company developing technologies to assist Parkinson's patients.