Ex-Google guy builds English teaching app that adapts to student

Bloomberg

Yi Wang was hearing the same refrain over and over: Why are English classes in China so expensive? And why aren’t I proficient yet?
The former Google product manager decided to do something about it and started an app called LiuLiShuo, which basically means “speaking fluently” in Mandarin. The app, which claims more than 30 million users, is one of scores of English-learning startups looking to disrupt China’s hidebound language schools. To differentiate itself from products started by Internet giants like Baidu and Tencent, LiuLiShuo brings gaming and social media features to the genre. Users win points when they move to the next level and text each other encouragement and tips. Wang also touts artificial intelligence that analyzes the student’s learning idiosyncrasies and tailors the teaching program to his or her needs.
Virtually unknown outside China, the Shanghai startup has raised $42 million at a valuation of $200 million as of its last funding round last year. LiuLiShuo’s investors include IDG Capital Partners, GGV Capital and Trustbridge Partners, which have backed the likes of Airbnb, Slack, Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and Qihoo 360. Wang, a Princeton computer science graduate who worked at Google for two years before launching the app in 2013, plans eventually to produce versions in other languages, including Mandarin. “We want LiuLiShuo to be the go-to app for people across the world to learn any language,” Wang says. “The future of language learning is personalization.”
There are skeptics, especially in traditional education circles. Mastering a language requires experienced teachers, immersion in the native tongue, and habitual reading of English news and books, says Jiang Xueqin, a former teacher in China who now consults. “If we’re talking about people who work in the services industry and you want to ramp up their English, that’s the perfect app for that,” he says. “But if we’re talking about training students to think for themselves, that wouldn’t help.” Still, Jiang acknowledges that Chinese parents spend thousands of yuan an hour for English tutoring only to discover that their kids can’t speak colloquial English. Wang, 36, started LiuLiShuo after a chance encounter with a foot masseuse. In the summer of 2012, a mutual friend introduced him to Andreas Weigend, Amazon’s former chief scientist. They met at a foot massage place in Shanghai. Turns out Weigend’s masseuse wanted to learn English so he could leave his job for a better one. His plan: to use a textbook written in the 1960s. Wang noticed the masseuse had a knock-off Android phone. Would he pay 100 yuan ($15) a month for an app that would push him new content every day and teach him English? The masseuse said he’d obviously pay if the app worked. After the massage, Wang and Weigend chatted into the night, sketching the broad outlines of what would become LiuLiShuo.
Hundreds of tech startups have emerged in China promising to quickly teach people how to speak the language at a fraction of what they’d typically pay a human teacher. In recent years, China’s internet giants — Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent — as well as the country’s largest online media and gaming companies have invested in the online language learning market.