The Tim Ferriss Show
#135: Luis Von Ahn on Learning Languages, Building Companies, and Changing the World

Luis von Ahn (@luisvonahn) is an entrepreneur and computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He is known for inventing CAPTCHAs, being a MacArthur Fellow ("genius grant" recipient), and selling two companies to Google in his 20's. Luis has been named one of the 10 Most Brilliant Scientists by Popular Science Magazine, one of the 50 Best Brains in Science by Discover, one of the Top Young Innovators Under 35 by MIT Technology Review, and one of the 100 Most Innovative People in Business by FastCompany Magazine.

Luis is currently the co-founder and CEO of Duolingo, a language learning platform created to bring free language education to the world. With more than 100 million users, it is the most popular way to learn languages in the world, and it is the most downloaded app in the Education category on both iTunes (5-star average, 3,300+ reviews) and Google Play.

I first met Luis as an early investor in Duolingo, and every time I meet him, I learn something new.

In this conversation, we talk about:

  • What 2-3 books and resources he'd recommend to entrepreneurs
  • Language learning tips
  • The clever way he caught cheating students at Carnegie Mellon
  • Early mentors and key lessons learned
  • The story of building and selling reCAPTCHA
  • How to recruit and vet technical talent
  • Duolingo's most surprising sources of users, and much more...

Enjoy!

Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast.

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Direct download: Tim_Ferriss_Show_-_Luis_von_Ahn.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:39pm EDT

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