How Teuida Tripled Their LTV in One Year

Tripling your lifetime value in twelve months isn't just impressive, it's virtually unheard of in the world of consumer apps. Yet that's exactly what Ji Woong and his team at Teuida managed to pull off, transforming their Korean and Japanese language learning platform from a product with solid user numbers into a revenue-generating machine.

On the latest episode of the Levels Podcast, Jason and Charlie sat down with Ji Woong to unpack how Teuida, which now boasts over half a million monthly active users, cracked the code on monetization without sacrificing growth. For pre-series A product teams wrestling with the perennial question of how to turn engagement into sustainable revenue, Ji Woong's insights offer a masterclass in strategic iteration.

The Product Behind the Numbers

Before diving into the monetization story, it's worth understanding what makes Teuida different. Unlike the AI-heavy language learning platforms that have flooded the market, Teuida takes a distinctly human approach. Users learn by speaking to pre-recorded videos of real people conducting everyday conversations—ordering coffee, asking for directions, navigating social situations.

As Charlie noted during the conversation, this sets them apart in a crowded space. The platform forces active participation rather than passive consumption, which creates stronger engagement patterns. But engagement alone doesn't pay the bills. The real breakthrough came when the team figured out how to transform that engagement into revenue.

From Engagement to Revenue

When Jason expressed his surprise at the LTV growth—"that's not something you hear very often, tripled LTV. That's not common"—he was highlighting what every startup founder knows: improving lifetime value is brutally difficult. Most teams celebrate 20-30% improvements. A 3x increase suggests something fundamental shifted in how Teuida approached monetization.

Charlie summarized the transformation succinctly:

they actually tripled their LTV within the space of a year, just kind of by figuring out how to monetize properly, get subscriptions working.

The key phrase here is "figuring out how to monetize properly." This wasn't about aggressive upselling or dark patterns. It was about understanding what users actually valued and building a subscription model that aligned with that value. When you get this alignment right, something remarkable happens: increased monetization actually drives user growth rather than throttling it.

The Growth Flywheel

What's particularly interesting about Teuida's story is how improved monetization became a growth driver. As Charlie observed, better LTV "led a whole new growth of users for them." This creates a virtuous cycle: better monetization means more resources to invest in acquisition and product development, which brings in higher-quality users, which further improves LTV.

For product teams stuck in the trap of choosing between growth and revenue, Teuida's experience demonstrates that this is often a false dichotomy. The right monetization strategy doesn't extract value from users—it crystallizes the value you're already providing and makes it obvious enough that users are willing to pay for it.

What This Means for Your Product

The tactical details of exactly how Teuida restructured their subscriptions weren't fully explored in this snippet of the conversation, but the strategic lesson is clear: if your engagement metrics are strong but your LTV is stagnant, the problem likely isn't your product—it's how you're packaging and presenting its value.

Start by asking what your most engaged users would pay for. Not what you think they should pay for, but what they're actually getting value from. Then build your monetization around those insights. The gap between current LTV and potential LTV in most consumer apps is enormous, not because users won't pay, but because the value proposition hasn't been properly articulated through the pricing and packaging.

Teuida's journey from a solid language learning app to a platform that tripled its LTV demonstrates that dramatic improvements in monetization are possible when you're willing to fundamentally rethink your approach. For teams with strong engagement but weak revenue, that should be encouraging news.

Key Points

• Teuida achieved a rare 3x increase in lifetime value within just one year by refining their subscription strategy and monetization approach
• The improvement came from "figuring out how to monetize properly" rather than aggressive upselling tactics
• Better monetization actually drove user growth rather than hindering it, creating a virtuous cycle
• Strong engagement metrics combined with weak LTV often indicates a packaging problem, not a product problem
• The gap between current and potential LTV in most consumer apps is larger than founders realize

Listen to the full conversation with Ji Woong on the Levels Podcast to hear more about Teuida's growth strategy and marketing insights.