Carlos Aravena, Poliglota | Technology and Community for Learning English, and Pivoting from In-Person to Online [Ep. 70]

The audio and video are in Spanish. These notes are a translation.

All of us Latinos are aware of the enormous impact that learning English can have on our professional and economic growth. However, the percentage of Latin Americans who can hold a fluent conversation in English is still very small.

Today’s guest wants to change this. Carlos Aravena is CEO and cofounder of Poliglota, the live language-teaching platform based on the social method.

We talked about why existing models have not had much success teaching English at scale and why social interaction is a key component in language learning. We also talked about Poliglota’s growth: from an in-person program in Starbucks cafes to pivoting to an online platform that close to 100 thousand students have gone through.

To date, Poliglota has raised close to 3 million dollars from capital funds such as Fen Ventures, Invexor Capital, and CLIN.

Thanks to José Sánchez of Poliglota, Cristóbal Silva of Fen Ventures, and Eduardo Amadeo of NXTP for their question recommendations.

What You Can Learn Today

• The inefficiencies of the English learning model
• How to pivot quickly
• How to create a scalable product

If you like the podcast, the easiest way to help us is by leaving a review with ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. It takes less than 1 minute and helps us convince the hardest guests to land, such as David Vélez, CEO and founder of Nubank, whom we would love to interview.

Youtube Timestamps*

About Carlos and Poliglota

• [1:27] - How did Carlos get into the world of startups?
  • He always imagined himself being a business owner
  • Carlos focuses on solving real, global problems, and in a cool way
• [2:14] - What is Poliglota?
  • It is the platform that lets you meet people to learn languages
  • Poliglota helps you learn in a natural and organic way
  • With the pandemic, it pivoted from an in-person model to an online one

The English Market

• [4:07] - Poliglota’s value proposition
  • In LatAm, on average, high school students spend 920 hours a year learning English
  • Only 2% of Latin Americans can hold a conversation in English
  • Content is important, but practicing the language is more important
  • Poliglota adds the social factor to the practical component, and it also makes it fun
  • The learning groups at Poliglota are multicultural
• [7:58] - Inefficiencies in the English learning model
  • Teaching focuses on content, not on practice
  • Latinos are very afraid of making a mistake
  • Educational institutions and governments invest in an inefficient education
• [12:33] - Suggestions for learning English and common mistakes
  • Being afraid of not being able to hold a conversation
  • Nothing happens if you make a mistake when speaking

Pivot from in Person to Online

• [14:12] - The first version of Poliglota
  • Pivoting requires a lot of resilience
  • Poliglota started as a social network to bring people together to practice their English in bars
  • In 2016, they started teaching classes at Starbucks
  • They opened offices in Santiago, Lima, and Mexico City
  • The business model was very good, but it was not scalable
• [18:04] - Raising capital
  • They decided to focus on selling, not on raising capital
  • At the start, Poliglota’s model was free
  • In 2016 they launched a paid subscription model
  • Between 2016 and 2020 they helped 4 thousand students, and they currently have 30 thousand
• [20:52] - Pivoting in 2 weeks
  • In March 2020 their model became unviable
  • They communicated with customers to inform them about the situation
  • They migrated their entire operation to an online platform
  • In April 2020 they sold USD $100 thousand, and they had been selling USD $150 thousand before the pandemic
  • At that point, Poliglota had 70 employees
• [25:20] - Product evolution
  • In April it was a Minimum Viable Product
  • After going through Y Combinator in 2021, they implemented many more technologies
  • On the platform, students can see their progress class by class
• [28:39] - Poliglota’s scalability
  • Poliglota’s method is standardized
  • Poliglota’s teachers tend to be travelers, because they take the importance of culture into account
  • Poliglota’s coaches live all over the world
• [32:30] - Recommendations for edtech startups
  • Every startup should have a differentiating product
  • Knowing the customer very well and putting them at the center
• [33:58] - Recorded classes vs. live classes
  • When learning languages, constant feedback is needed
  • Implementing a hybrid model is very effective
  • Content should complement the live classes

Poliglota’s Regional Expansion

• [36:22] - Why did Carlos move to Mexico?
  • Mexico is the main market for Poliglota
  • 1 in 10 Mexicans live in the United States
  • Together with his cofounders, they decided that Carlos should have a presence in Mexico
• [39:01] - Benefits of moving to Mexico
  • Poliglota is a 100% remote company
  • Founders need to understand the market
  • Business and networking opportunities
  • Mexico’s startup ecosystem is the largest
• [42:24] - Pulse of the market
  • Mexico is a strategic market
  • Money is handled differently
  • Changes are faster
  • Greater talent retention

**Tweet Round

• [46:22] -
  • Recommended books: Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh and Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
  • Changes in the Latin American startup ecosystem: that startups bet on a global reach
  • Founders to interview: Mario Bustamante of Instacrops and Pedro Pineda of Fintual

Episode Mentions

You can find Carlos on Twitter and LinkedIn

Recommended books: Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh and Profit First by Mike Michalowicz

Founders to interview: Mario Bustamante of Instacrops and Pedro Pineda of Fintual

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