Severin Hacker, Duolingo's chief technology officer, follows a leadership strategy of 'reduce, automate, delegate' to balance between being in 'founder mode' and a manager.
Hacker focuses on evaluating tasks monthly or quarterly, automating what can be automated, and delegating tasks that cannot be automated.
He delegates most day-to-day engineering responsibilities to the head of engineering and focuses on AI's implications for Duolingo.
Duolingo has seen significant growth with over 46 million daily active users, expanding its offerings beyond languages to math, music, and chess.