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What Albert Cheng thinks about motivation

@albert-cheng · 26 positions · 0 changes of mind

Head of growth at Chess.com, previously growth and monetization lead at Grammarly and Duolingo and a product manager at Google.

Albert Cheng did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

3 dated positions, 2025, in their own words. Our reading of what Albert Cheng has said — not written or endorsed by them.

3 positions so far — this page is not yet offered to search engines.

  1. Our readingAfter a defeat people want encouragement, not a list of their mistakes — so a learning product should lead with what the user did well.

    Their wordsWhen you lose a game now as opposed to surfacing your blunders and your like horrible stuff that you did, we flip it on its head. And so we show you your brilliant moves, your best moves. And we have coach say something encouraging. You know, losing just part of learning like keep it up, that type of thing. That change alone was pretty dramatic for us. It grew game reviews by 25%, subscriptions by 20%

    ↗Finding hidden growth opportunities in your product | Albert Cheng (Duolingo, Grammarly, Chess.com)youtube.com 2nd of 26 in this recording

  3. Our readingDuolingo's real competence is motivation and habit formation, and language learning was only the first thing it applied that to.

    Their wordsI actually in many ways see language learning as like their first vehicle. And what they have a superpower in is that again, the motivation, the habits, etc.

    ↗Finding hidden growth opportunities in your product | Albert Cheng (Duolingo, Grammarly, Chess.com)youtube.com 14th of 26 in this recording

    language learning

  5. Our readingGamification needs three things at once — a tight core loop, a metagame to strive at, and a profile that accumulates the user's investment.

    Their wordsThen you need a metag game, which for Duolingo is kind of like the path, but it's also the leaderboard, achievements, kind of long-term things that you're going to strive to such that you have like long-term, I guess, motivation uh to continue doing the thing. And then the profile is also critical because you build up a profile over time. It's a reflection of your investment inside the product experience. And so when you nail those three things, you can end up with a long-term learning journey that can be quite successful.

    ↗Finding hidden growth opportunities in your product | Albert Cheng (Duolingo, Grammarly, Chess.com)youtube.com 23rd of 26 in this recording