# Luis von Ahn on Reddit (u/vonahn)

Part of Founders and CEOs on Reddit, researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-07. Interactive version: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/founders-on-reddit/luis-von-ahn

Luis von Ahn: Co-founder and CEO of Duolingo, inventor of CAPTCHA.

- Reddit account: [u/vonahn](https://www.reddit.com/user/vonahn/) (Personal account)
- How we know it's theirs: [His 2012 r/IAmA AMA, posted from this account](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/we7tq/)
- Where they post, in the records we retrieved: r/IAmA (18), r/AskReddit (4), r/Android (1), r/videos (1), r/technology (1), r/duolingo (1)
- Known activity in the posts we found: 2012 to 2022
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_von_Ahn

## Moments

### u/vonahn in r/IAmA, May 29, 2013 · Funny

Replying to a redditor:

> Is Duolingo actually making enough money the way it works now?

> The other day we found a quarter under the couch. I think that's the entirety of our revenue so far.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1fa3nu/iama_scientist_and_entrepreneur_named_luis_von/ca89oed/ · 439 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/vonahn in r/AskReddit, Aug 2, 2015 · Personal story

Replying to the post "Has anyone here completed a language in Duolingo? How well versed in the language were you, by the end?".

> I'm biased because I'm the co-founder and CEO of [Duolingo](http://www.duolingo.com) :) But, I'd say it worked very well for me in learning Portuguese.
>
> When I had done about half the course, I went to Brazil to give a talk about Duolingo (in English), and the first question I got afterwards was what language I was learning myself. I made the mistake of saying Portuguese, and they proceded to ask me all other questions in Portuguese. This was the first time I ever spoke it with a real human, and it was in front of an audience of more than 1k people! I was terrified. But in the end it worked out pretty well. I was able to understand 100% of what they asked, and answer most things in Portuguese (though I sounded very broken). To be fair, I'm very familiar with the usual questions people ask after one of my talks, but still...
>
> So for me, it has helped me go from 0 to a very decent level of understanding (reading and listening), but I'm shaky at speaking, mainly because I'm afraid of sounding stupid. This is something we're actively working to improve.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/3fgxoz/has_anyone_here_completed_a_language_in_duolingo/ctojpbr/ · 1,684 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/vonahn in r/AskReddit, Feb 23, 2013 · Funny

Replying to the post "What are the best websites for NOT wasting your time?".

> I made a site called [Duolingo](http://duolingo.com). It's free language education for the world! We think it's good for not wasting your time :) The subreddit is [/r/duolingo](http://reddit.com/r/duolingo).
>
> Edit: Thanks for the gold!!!

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/191ibc/what_are_the_best_websites_for_not_wasting_your/c8k1db5/ · 2,990 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/vonahn in r/IAmA, May 29, 2013 · The why

Replying to a redditor:

> crappy language learning software What exactly are the reasons that you find most language learning software deficient, and how does DuoLingo make up for these shortcomings?

> Because they don't motivate you to keep going! We spend a lot of effort making Duolingo addictive -- we think the hardest part about learning anything on your own is motivation.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1fa3nu/iama_scientist_and_entrepreneur_named_luis_von/ca89ks9/ · 603 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/vonahn in r/AskReddit, Jan 5, 2014 · Funny

Replying to the post "Reddit do you know any other websites I could visit while you are down? Or fun websites in general?".

> I helped make this site :) http://duolingo.com
>
> It feels like playing a game but instead of crushing candy you're learning languages.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1uff1f/reddit_do_you_know_any_other_websites_i_could/cehnmed/ · 535 points as of Nov 7, 2026