How to find hidden growth opportunities in your product | Albert Cheng (Duolingo, Grammarly, Chess.com)
Descripción del Episodio
Albert Cheng has led growth at three of the world’s most successful consumer subscription companies: Duolingo, Grammarly, and Chess.com. A former Google product manager (and serious pianist!), Albert developed a unique approach to finding and scaling growth opportunities through rapid experimentation and deep user psychology. His teams run 1,000 experiments a year, discovering counterintuitive insights that have driven tens of millions in revenue.
What you’ll learn:
1. How to use the explore-exploit framework to find new growth opportunities
2. How showing premium features to free users doubled Grammarly’s upgrades to paid plans
3. What good retention looks like for a consumer subscription app
4. Why resurrected users drive 80% of mature product growth
5. Why “reverse trials” work better than time-based trials
6. The three pillars of successful gamification: core loop, metagame, and profile
—
Brought to you by:
Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security.
Jira Product Discovery—Confidence to build the right thing
Miro—A collaborative visual platform where your best work comes to life
—
Where to find Albert Cheng:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/albertcheng1/
• Chess.com: https://www.chess.com/member/Goniners
—
Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
—
Referenced:
• How Duolingo reignited user growth: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-duolingo-reignited-user-growth
• Inside ChatGPT: The fastest-growing product in history | Nick Turley (Head of ChatGPT at OpenAI): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-chatgpt-nick-turley
• Explore vs. Exploit: https://brianbalfour.com/quick-takes/explore-vs-exploit
• Grammarly: https://www.grammarly.com/
• Reforge: https://www.reforge.com/
• Chess.com: https://www.chess.com/
• Everyone’s an engineer now: Inside v0’s mission to create a hundred million builders | Guillermo Rauch (founder & CEO of Vercel, creators of v0 and Next.js): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/everyones-an-engineer-now-guillermo-rauch
• Building Lovable: $10M ARR in 60 days with 15 people | Anton Osika (CEO and co-founder): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-lovable-anton-osika
• Figma: https://www.figma.com/
• Cursor: https://cursor.com/
• The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can’t stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell
• Claude Code: https://www.anthropic.com/claude-code
• GitHub Copilot: https://github.com/features/copilot
• Noam Lovinsky on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noaml/
• The happiness and pain of product management | Noam Lovinsky (Grammarly, Facebook, YouTube, Thumbtack): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-happiness-and-pain-of-product
• Kyla Siedband on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylasiedband/
• The Duolingo handbook: https://blog.duolingo.com/handbook/
• Lenny’s post on X about the Duolingo handbook: https://x.com/lennysan/status/1889008405584683091
• The rituals of great teams | Shishir Mehrotra of Coda, YouTube, Microsoft: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rituals-of-great-teams-shishir
• Duolingo on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@duolingo
• Kasparov vs. Deep Blue | The Match That Changed History: https://www.chess.com/article/view/deep-blue-kasparov-chess
• Magnus Carlsen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Carlsen
• Elo rating system: https://www.chess.com/terms/elo-rating-chess
• Stockfish: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockfish_(chess)
• AlphaGo on Prime Video: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/AlphaGo/0KNQHKKDAOE8OCYKQS9WSSDYN0
• Statsig: https://www.statsig.com/
• The State of Product in 2026: Navigating Change, Challenge, and Opportunity: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/announcements/state-of-product-2026
• Erik Allebest on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikallebest/
• Daniel Rensch on X: https://x.com/danielrensch
• Chariot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chariot_(company)
• San Francisco 49ers: https://www.49ers.com/
• Breville Barista Express: https://www.breville.com/en-us/product/bes870
—
Recommended books:
• Snuggle Puppy!: A Little Love Song: https://www.amazon.com/Snuggle-Puppy-Little-Boynton-Board/dp/1665924985
• Ogilvy on Advertising: https://www.amazon.com/Ogilvy-Advertising-David/dp/039472903X
• Dark Squares: How Chess Saved My Life: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Squares-Chess-Saved-Life/dp/1541703286
—
Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].
Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com
Episodios Recientes
Más podcasts de Sociedad y Cultura
Ver toda la categoría →
Cuentos e Historias Infantiles
By shows
Cuentos e Historias Infantiles es un podcast creado con amor para todos los niños de habla hispana. Aquí encontrarás cuentos, fábulas, poesía e historias maravillosas que fomentan el gusto por la lectura y la comprensión lectora. Un espacio donde la imaginación cobra vida a través de la narración. ¡Acompáñanos en cada aventura!
La Crónica Oscura
By shows
La Crónica Oscura es un podcast donde hablamos de true crime: asesinatos, desapariciones y misterios que se quedarán dando vueltas en tu cabeza mucho después de escucharlos. Me interesa ir más allá del simple titular: entender qué pasó, quiénes eran las personas detrás de cada historia y por qué estos casos siguen dando de qué hablar tantos años después. Si te apasiona el true crime contado de forma cercana y con un punto de misterio, este es tu espacio. Aquí nos sentamos, analizamos y, sobre todo, intentamos comprender.
Julia en la onda
By shows
Julia Otero te trae toda la información y el humor de los fines de semana de Onda Cero
Pablo Torre Finds Out
By shows
<p>Follow Pablo down the rabbit hole, beyond the game — every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday — on his Pulitzer-winning video podcast, part of The Athletic Podcast Network.</p><br><p>You’ll get a deep-dive "talkumentary" episode, reported by Pablo and Curiosity Correspondents like Emmy-winning comedian Wyatt Cenac and Oscar-winning director Ezra Edelman, answering urgent questions such as: Are you smarter than an NFL quarterback? Does Giannis intentionally miss free throws to win free chicken for fans? And why does the FBI director play so much hockey? This storytelling has been honored by the Pulitzer Prizes, the Emmy Awards, the Peabody Awards and the Edward R. Murrow Awards. (Journalism!)</p><br><p>Plus: Pablo hangs out with handpicked figures from sports, culture and politics like Sue Bird, Action Bronson and U.S. Senators… plays Share & Tell with friends like Domonique Foxworth, Mina Kimes, Katie Nolan and Dan Le Batard (aka his boss)… and unveils the secrets of capitalism with David Samson and John Skipper on The Sporting Class.</p><br><p><br></p><p>Follow PTFO…</p><br><p>https://www.youtube.com/@PabloTorreFindsOut</p><br><p>https://www.instagram.com/pablotorrefindsout</p><br><p>https://x.com/pablofindsout</p><br><p>and subscribe to Pablo's newsletter: https://pablo.show</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
Monólogo de Latorre
By shows
El director informativo de Más de uno expone su reflexión sobre la actualidad del día
El Larguero
By shows
El deporte por dentro, el deporte como forma de vida, con Manu Carreño. Sin tremendismos, con humor y, a la vez, con rigor y pluralidad: escucharás distintos enfoques y puntos de vista. En directo de lunes a viernes a las 23:30 y a cualquier hora si te suscribes.
Nayo Escobar Podcast
By shows
Aquí tendremos historias asombrosas de personas que han logrado vivir feliz haciendo lo que le apasiona; tendremos también música para el alma, relatos de crecimiento, críticas culturales y discusiones sobre temas que, no nos atrevemos a hablar pero nos encanta escuchar.
Sastre y Maldonado
By shows
Una charla entre José Luis Sastre y Miguel Maldonado puede derivar por cauces imprevistos, derroteros impensables y argumentos que nunca imaginarías. En el piloto, Sastre le preguntó a Maldonado qué tendría este podcast que no tuvieran los demás: Que en otros podcasts no estamos tú y yo. Y es verdad. Maldonado está en otros podcasts y Sastre en otros programas. Pero juntos, sólo en este. Que se sepa.