Chief Business Officer, Duolingo
Search every verified Robert Meese interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a 2017 interview, Bob Meese, then vice president of business at Duolingo, discussed his recent move back to Pittsburgh after eight years at Google in California. Meese said that Pittsburgh has experienced steady growth and that the university system, particularly Carnegie Mellon University, has been compelling in driving that growth. He described the presence of a Google office in the city as a powerful influence on Pittsburgh's development. Meese stated that the foundation created by universities and larger companies like Google has generated opportunities for companies such as Duolingo, by attracting talent and creating a broader talent pool. He also noted that the energy around the city has increased since his childhood, with downtown becoming a more densely packed urban environment that creates a "buzz" that spills over into other areas.
“Pittsburgh has experienced steady growth over time, but looking at what are those changes that can really drive big growth, the university system here has been really compelling.”
“The Google presence, the Google office here, it's something where I would come back there often during the last eight years as I was working at Google and just seeing that impact on the development of this city was very, very powerful.”
“That whole foundation creates the opportunities for companies like Duolingo to build on top of it, having people come out of CMU with interesting technologies and then having a broader group of people who are attracted by larger companies to come to this area and then creating the talent pool to grow successful compani...”
“One of the biggest differences as well too is just the energy around the city. When I was growing here, the city really wasn't, you know, downtown proper wasn't an area where people spent a whole lot of time, and just that piece too, having more densely packed urban environments creates a lot of the buzz on the city th...”
West View, Pa., native Bob Meese recently joined East Liberty startup Duolingo after spending eight years at Google in California.
Sign in to search the full transcript archive, filter by topic, and access every quote from Robert Meese.