Julie Hansen

CEO of Babbel

Claims

As speaker

Mentioned in

Key positions and views

Companies should focus engineering resources on their core competencies and buy, rather than build, non-core infrastructure like billing platforms.

AI is a disruptive force that will eliminate the need for casual language learners but offers significant opportunities to enhance the product for serious learners through tools like conversation coaches.

The U.S. market is a valuable leading indicator for European consumer and media trends, making it a strategic asset for global marketing planning.

To combat the negative SEO impact of AI Overviews, companies must create interactive experiences and tools that cannot be easily summarized or replicated by an AI.

For a mature, VC-backed company, delivering a liquidity event for early investors is 'unfinished business' that must be addressed.

Podcast consensus on Hansen

Points of consensus

▶Hansen consistently advocates for a 'buy versus build' strategy, arguing that the company should focus its engineering resources on its core competency of language learning tools while purchasing non-core infrastructure like billing platforms from specialized vendors.Apr 2026

▶She views the U.S. market as a crucial growth engine and a strategic bellwether for consumer and media trends, noting that patterns like TikTok adoption appear in the U.S. one to two years before Europe.Apr 2026

▶Hansen believes AI presents both a significant threat and a major opportunity. She sees it eroding organic search traffic via AI Overviews while simultaneously enabling new product innovations like personalized, non-judgmental conversation coaches.Apr 2026

▶Her strategy is to target 'serious' language learners who are motivated to become conversational, differentiating Babbel from competitors that may cater to more casual or transactional users.Apr 2026

Points of debate

▶Hansen must navigate the tension between the need for rapid AI tool adoption to innovate and the constraints imposed by stricter European privacy laws, which can slow down internal implementation.Apr 2026

▶There is an inherent conflict between Babbel's focus on 'serious' learners and product changes like shortening lessons to cater to declining attention spans, creating a challenge in serving both needs simultaneously.Apr 2026

▶The company faces dual pressures: long-term VC investors are seeking a liquidity event, while the company must also invest significant resources into modernizing legacy infrastructure, such as its 18-year-old billing system.Apr 2026

▶Hansen's strategy involves building AI-resistant interactive tools to combat the negative SEO impact of AI Overviews, creating a strategic race between Babbel's content innovation and the capabilities of search engine AI.Apr 2026

Key themes

▶Strategic Focus on Core CompetenciesApr 2026

Hansen champions a 'buy vs. build' philosophy, exemplified by the decision to replace an 18-year-old, internally-built billing platform with a third-party solution. This strategy directs engineering talent away from non-core infrastructure and toward what she considers Babbel's 'special sauce': creating the best possible language learning experience.

This capital-efficient approach allows Babbel to focus on product differentiation in a crowded market, but it also introduces dependencies on third-party vendors and potential integration complexities.

▶Navigating AI DisruptionApr 2026

Hansen presents a nuanced view of AI as both a threat and an opportunity. She acknowledges that AI Overviews in search have decimated organic traffic and that real-time translation may eliminate the need for casual learners, while also seeing immense potential for AI to act as a patient conversation coach and drive product personalization.

Hansen's strategy is not to compete with AI on its terms but to leverage it for core product enhancement and create interactive experiences, like a 'cognate finder,' that AI cannot easily summarize or replicate.

▶U.S. Market as a Growth Engine and BellwetherApr 2026

Hired to turn around a struggling U.S. division that leadership was considering shutting down, Hansen established the market as a key area of growth. The U.S. now serves as a leading indicator for European marketing trends and has directly influenced product development, such as the creation of a Mexican Spanish curriculum.

The success of the U.S. market under Hansen has shifted its role from a potential failure to a source of strategic influence within the European-centric company, demonstrating the value of market-specific adaptation.

▶Balancing Legacy Modernization with Future GrowthApr 2026

As a 19-year-old company, Babbel is grappling with modernizing legacy systems while also pursuing future growth. This is highlighted by the pressure from long-term VC investors for a liquidity event, which coincides with a major, resource-intensive project to replace its foundational billing platform.

This dual challenge requires Hansen to carefully allocate resources between paying down technical debt and investing in innovations that will drive the future growth necessary to deliver investor returns.

Source episodes

Timeline

Initial Hiring

Joined Babbel as employee #13 for its U.S. operations when the division was underperforming and at risk of being shut down by company leadership.

U.S. Market Turnaround

Successfully grew Babbel's presence in the U.S. market, where it was previously not well-known, transforming it from a struggling division into a key strategic region.

Strategic Influence

The U.S. market began to serve as a leading indicator for European trends and directly influenced global product strategy, leading to the development of a Mexican Spanish curriculum.

Infrastructure Modernization

Initiated a major strategic shift to 'buy, not build' for non-core infrastructure, culminating in the replacement of Babbel's 18-year-old, internally-developed billing platform with a modern, third-party solution.

Current Period

Is currently navigating the dual challenges of adapting product and marketing strategies to the rise of AI while managing pressure from long-term venture capital investors for a future liquidity event.

Suggested prompts

How does Hansen's 'buy vs. build' strategy for non-core infrastructure impact Babbel's long-term agility and vendor dependency risk? &nearr;What are the potential conflicts between targeting 'serious learners' and implementing product features like shorter lessons designed for shorter attention spans? &nearr;How will the pressure for a liquidity event from VC investors influence Babbel's strategic decisions regarding AI investment and market expansion in the next 2-3 years? &nearr;Given the threat of AI Overviews to organic traffic, what other user acquisition channels is Babbel likely to prioritize, and how will that affect its marketing mix? &nearr;

Key concepts

AI Strategy 1 ep Business Strategy (Buy vs. Build) 1 ep U.S. Market Expansion 1 ep Product Development & Innovation 1 ep Investor Relations & Liquidity 1 ep Legacy Systems Modernization 1 ep SEO & Traffic Acquisition 1 ep User Retention & Engagement 1 ep Competitive Landscape 1 ep

Notable quotes

“We build language learning tools. That is our special sauce. Other companies build billing management platforms. Let us buy. We should buy that. We should focus our efforts on creating the best language learning experience we can.”

Julie Hansen · “If Your Business Isn’t Changing, It’s Dying” | CEO of Babbel

“I later found out that at the time they were trying to figure out, should we just give up on the us um or should we try again and they were like okay we'll give her a chance”

Julie Hansen · “If Your Business Isn’t Changing, It’s Dying” | CEO of Babbel

“with the advent of AI overviews, most websites are receiving a fraction of the traffic that they used to receive.”

Julie Hansen · “If Your Business Isn’t Changing, It’s Dying” | CEO of Babbel

“candidly we a 19 year old startup we still have our VC investors So there has to be some kind of something that happens in our future And I very that feels like unfinished business to me”

Julie Hansen · “If Your Business Isn’t Changing, It’s Dying” | CEO of Babbel

Report last updated: Apr 28, 2026

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