The Monthly Beat - January '25 Edition
A recap of the most interesting Pittsburgh tech news from the past few weeks and upcoming local tech events.
Happy New Year!
Hope you had a great holiday season. My New Year’s resolution is to get this monthly summary out to you all promptly on the first Monday of each month this year, rather than my usual completely random cadence.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at what happened in December.
What Happened this Past Month
The Big Story
Duolingo’s C-suite Cashes Out
According to SEC filings, members of the Duolingo C-suite sold a total of 495,047 Duolingo ($DUOL) shares in December 2024. Together, Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn, CFO Matthew Skaruppa, CTO Severin Hacker, and CEngO Natalie Glance sold more shares in December than they have ever sold since the company went public for a total of $163,944,017.23.
I found this notable, since shares skyrocketed in Q4 of last year to roughly double what they were worth just a few months earlier, in July.
So what exactly has Duolingo done since August that would cause the value of the company to double? First, they reported a lot of growth in Daily Active Users (DAUs) and revenue in Q3. However, per that same report, this only resulted in $0.49 diluted earnings per share in Q3. Second, the company started saying “AI.” We’ve seen this one before, folks. Duolingo’s Q4 2024 earnings have yet to be released, so we’ll see if “AI” did anything for their actual numbers when they are revealed later this quarter. Lastly (and I don’t think this is actually important but) they’re collaborating with Netflix on some Squid Game based content.
I should mention I’m not a finance guy or a financial advisor of any kind, and maybe I’m totally missing something. But personally, I don’t think the combination of these things could actually double company value. My suspicion is that the members of their C-suite realize that the market price of the company’s stock may be significantly over-valued at the moment and have decided to cash out at what they perceive to be the peak. On the flip side, this is just a hunch, and profit-taking is pretty normal for folks who have been at a company as long as Duolingo’s C-suite.
The Headlines
Towards the end of 2024, drone sightings were making a lot of headlines across the country. Pittsburghers also reported drone sightings this past month, sparking discussion and rumors on the Pittsburgh subreddit. Have you seen what you thought was a drone, or do you think it’s part of a mass hysteria event? Would love to hear your take in the comments!
Technical.ly published an article examining the implications of a national TikTok ban on Pittsburgh-local creators. The varied opinions in here are well worth the read, but as a Pittsburgh-based creator myself, I do feel obligated to state my opinion here as well: it should be banned. Maybe I’ll throw together a longer post on this at some point, but I agree with the Technical.ly authors, who conclude, “Creators are prepared for this. Just like they did in the past, they’ll adapt again.”
Ansys announced a collaboration with Sony to test autonomous vehicle sensors. Basically, Ansys’s tech is generating virtual scenarios complete with lighting, weather, and other variables, which are then fed to Sony’s sensors to test the accuracy of their perception. Personally, I’m hoping this helps Sony finish work on the next Gran Turismo, because I’ll likely be buying that before an actual autonomous vehicle.
Carnegie Robotics unveiled a personal military-grade AI computer system designed to be strapped to uniforms in the field and used during combat. Want one to try out for yourself? Be prepared to cough up a military-grade price of $8,000.
Aurora continued expansion of its operations across the country, opening a new LIDAR research facility in Montana. The building is “designed to support the continued development and testing of its proprietary FirstLight Lidar technology.”
The PA state government is now offering state employees generative AI training. The training will be self-paced and teach employees how to write good prompts for LLMs.
Last but not least, in tech-adjacent news, the PRT is looking for public opinion ahead of a sweeping redesign of the city’s bus system. Is your boss making you RTO and you had an easier way to bus to your office? You can comment on the interactive draft network map, fill out an online or paper survey, attend an event, email buslineredesign@rideprt.org or call 412-442-2000 to submit your feedback.
For the Days Ahead
January 11th, Code & Coffee will be meeting at Prototype PGH in Oakland. Code & Coffee is a monthly opportunity for you to practice your skills, meet new friends, and get help if you need it. Bring your laptop, your recent projects, and your programming problems!
January 15th, ProductTank Pittsburgh is hosting a Meetup on Navigating Burnout at Two Frays Brewery. CEO Jen Onofray, founder of the brewery, will be sharing her personal journey through burnout—sure to be encouraging to anyone in the midst of their own journey!
Want to manage your time better in 2025? Check out Confirmed, a locally owned and developed time manager/scheduler app. Plans start at $5/month for a single user, and you can get your first month free with offer code
techbeat!This past month, I had the privilege of attending the first “AI at Work” meetup at TechForge. It was a great place to learn how other local practitioners are making use of the latest tools, and the discussion groups were a blast. If you’d be interested in coming to the next event, drop a comment on this LinkedIn post.
As always, I’m looking for guest writers! I’m also hoping to start the podcast back up at some point this year. Do you have a local Pittsburgh tech topic you’d like to wax poetic about? Hit me up! Spoiler alert: It’s not a paid gig, but I would be more than willing to host or repost your piece if you want to publish it somewhere else as well.
That’s all for now. I’ll have a fun crowdsourced post for you later this month to help you get through the winter. If you’d like to contribute your thoughts to that ahead of time, check out the subscriber chat, where I’ve posted a discussion prompt.
Wishing you all the absolute best in 2025!
—Austin
Having been in a company that IPO'd and suddenly became subject to Sarbox and many reporting requirements, it is not at all unusual to see simultaneous selling like this. It's not that they don't believe in the company future. They are subject to SEC rules - in particular Rule 105b. It wouldn't surprise me if the order to sell was generated many months ago since timing is set by Rule 10b5-1 and involves preset plans for selling shares at least 90 days ahead of time. There were some rules changes as recently as 2022 in this as well.
Financial advisors will also recommend diversifying your own portfolio. If a large percentage of your financial status is in one stock, they recommend you sell some of that and shift into a variety of financial instruments including other equity and non-equity investments. There are also black-out dates around the times they can and cannot sell - including days after quarterly financial reports. There are also prohibitions on multiple plans. Mostly these have to do with ensuring they are not found to have sold due to material nonpublic information (Insider) information. I bet they spent a lot of time with lawyers and advisors (corporate and personal) to get this right.
So it's not necessarily a bad sign. In fact, they may be planning to spend, invest or donate proceeds which can be good for the local economy. That gets the economy stirring in a good way in addition to having created value in their company.
Makes me want to take up another language...