Startup Spotlight #6: Hallo

Hallo is the future of language learning.

Jun 15, 2020

I got the chance to speak with Benjamin Dent and Joon Beh, co-founders of Hallo, about what they are working on at their startup, and any advice they have for emerging entrepreneurs.

Startup Spotlight: Hallo

Hallo cofounders (from left to right): Benjamin Dent and Joon Beh.

Problem: Language learners spend most of their time in textbooks, not speaking. It’s hard to find opportunities to practice with real people in order to overcome the fear of speaking and become fluent.

Market: There are over 1.5B English learners throughout the world, which is 20% of the world population. The global English market is already $39B, and it’s projected to be $55B by 2024.

Solution: At the click of a button, language learners can practice speaking with real people on live streams, audio calls, and video calls whenever and wherever they want.

Team: Hallo started with two co-founders (Joon and Ben) and has grown to 9 talented people in Utah. Eric Rea from Podium, Dave Grow from Lucid, and Derrin Hill from Revroad help advise the company.

Recent Success:

Dent and Beh: Hallo is all about community. Since the official launch in May 2019, we’ve found over half a million students and found 1M followers on social media with $0 spent on advertising.

Recent Struggle:

Dent and Beh: As a founder, you will experience trials and failures, fear and anxiety, loneliness and depression. Make sure you surround yourself with people who support and believe in you and find balance in life to ride the wave out.

Founder Advice:

Dent and Beh: You are the expert. Don’t outsource your work. Couple that with an insatiable appetite and desire to do good and you will create something that will leave a lasting positive impact in this world. Find a big problem you are passionate about solving and dedicate 10 years of your life to it.

Three Cool Founders You Should Know About:

Dent and Beh: Here are three founders you should check out next!

Grant Christensen, Founder of Neptune Plastics: Neptune Plastics is a recyclables startup that produces marine-biodegradable, edible plastic that's gone in FIVE days.
Pedros Goes, Founder of InEvent: InEvent is event analytics to transform attendees into customers, driving sales, profits, efficiency, and cost benefits for your company.
Jeron Paul, Founder of Spliff: Spiff automates and optimizes commissions plans (goodbye Excel spreadsheets) and motivates commissioned reps.

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