![]() Lingo Live recently opened offices in San Francisco and Tokyo and also offers classes in Spanish, French, Japanese and Mandarin. Muse sees continued growth for his business as tech companies continue expanding internationally. Muse says that money has been reinvested across the board and allowed the business to double from 18 employees to 35. In the first quarter of 2017, Lingo Live closed a $5.2 million Series A round of venture funding led by Owl Ventures, Entrepreneurs Expansion Fund, Alpine Meridian Ventures and Fresco Capital. Lingo Live tripled in revenue year over year for its first four years, and has been able to double its revenue every year since. “The power of our product is within our community of coaches,” Muse said. ![]() The coaches work with over 1,400 learners at companies like Twitter, Outbrain, Zillow and Eventbrite, who pay Lingo Live per employee. Lingo Live has a roster of 150 coaches living all over the world who serve as independent contractors. ![]() Many coaches have master’s degrees, corporate experience and diverse cultural backgrounds. Lingo Live allows learners to work with their coaches via Skype, Google Hangouts, Facetime or whatever other platform they feel comfortable with. Learners typically meet with their coaches 2–3 times per week for 45-minute sessions. Courses can focus on pronunciation, culture, presentation, interpersonal communication, leadership and writing. Lingo Live works by matching learners with coaches based on their schedule, proficiency and professional interests. “We believe these are the skills you need to transform your career and they require a mentor or coach.”Ĭoach Rachel Zolotarsky working with a learner. “There are hundreds of non-native English speakers working in tech who struggle with articulating their ideas freely, advocating for themselves, and having a cultural understanding of what is or isn’t appropriate,” Muse said. The mission has remained the same: encourage meaningful human connections through learning. The business evolved to focus on enterprise, specifically tech companies with lots of international employees working in the U.S. Lingo Live participated in the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator in 2014 and set up a headquarters in Dumbo. “I thought the whole experience was really fun, convenient, cheap and effective,” Muse said. Muse started Lingo Live in 2012 after learning how to speak fluent Spanish through a tutor he communicated with virtually. What separates Lingo Live from other language learning services is that personalized, one-on-one interaction with coaches and “learners,” according to CEO Tyler Muse. “That helps me express myself more confidently in the real world.” “With Kristin I feel comfortable and I’m not afraid to make mistakes,” Oki said. Oki even earned praise from a company vice president. The presentation went off without a hitch. She helped Oki work through his pronunciation issues and also supplied him with some practical tips. He decided to Skype with Kristin Vincenzo, his coach at Lingo Live - a Brooklyn-based language learning service. “I thought how I was saying things would overshadow what I was trying to say,” Oki said. “Server” was “surfer.” “Other” was “udder.” The Indonesian native kept mispronouncing the words in his deck. Seattle software engineer Oki was having trouble preparing for a presentation he was supposed to give at a company conference.
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