About Mango

We're here to get people talking

We're a company of risk-takers building for people who'd rather speak badly today than perfectly never. Everything here works back from one conviction: you learn a language for the connection at the end of it: to people, to places, and to the culture that makes the words mean something.

What we build

Language you can actually use out loud

Most language products will teach you to recognize a word. Ours is built to get you saying it. Intuitive Language Construction™, our methodology, comes out of second language acquisition research rather than a content plan, which is why lessons start from a real conversation and work outward, and why we count culture as a skill alongside speaking, listening, reading, and writing.

70+ languages and dialects, plus English for speakers of more than 20 others
Award-winning courses built by linguists, not licensed from a textbook
An independent study measured what learners actually gained

Read the research See how it works

The Mango course interface for Latin American Spanish, ringed by landmarks from around the world

Since 2007

How Mango started

Mango launched in August 2007, paid for by a web development company two brothers had built in Detroit. Mike Teshuba wrote the original product, Ryan Whalen designed the interface it ran on, and Mike Goulas hand-picked the native speakers who recorded the first courses.

By 2009 they had rebuilt it. The second launch ran on a course-construction pipeline that turned native-speaker recordings into full courses at pace, which is how a company this size ended up offering 70+ languages and dialects, and why we still build them with linguists and native speakers instead of licensing a textbook.

How we work

Mango core values

Three values, and what each one actually asks of us.

We take personal responsibility to create a healthy environment

We act with humility and respect.
We face reality and uncertainty with a positive attitude.
We act with high standards of integrity.
We act in alignment with the best interest of the Mango team.

We take initiative and ownership

We hold ourselves accountable to results.
We do what it takes to get the job done.
We take initiative.
We find a way.

We passionately pursue excellence and 改善

We bring passion to our work.
We strive for excellence.
We are constantly improving.
We innovate within our roles.

Leadership

The co-founders

Mango is led by the four people who started it, all four still doing the job they grew into.

Jason Teshuba
Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer
Jason launched Mango in 2007, after a web development company and, before that, a couch-selling operation at Michigan State. He's been named to Crain's 40 under Forty, and speaks six languages with Mandarin next.
Mike Teshuba
Co-founder & Chief Operating Officer
Mike built the first version of Mango as CTO, then the course-construction pipeline behind the 2009 relaunch. He has since run technology, product, and marketing here, and led the Mango Premiere launch in 2013.
Ryan Whalen
Co-founder & Business Development Strategist
Ryan designed the interface the original Mango ran on, and set the hand-built feel the product still has. He came to it from twenty years of prototyping online brands, and studied graphic design at Wayne State.
Mike Goulas
Co-founder & Director of Business Development
Mike hand-picked the native speakers who recorded Mango's first courses, and later recruited more than three quarters of the team as Chief of Staff. He ran a Michigan restaurant chain before this one.