Luis von Ahn

Hi Kate, Thanks for your review of Voxy and overview of Paul Gollash. I found Gollash’s venture comparative to Luis von Ahn’s Duolingo's objective – to make learning languages easier and more engaging. The difference between the two being Voxy takes a task-based learning approach, vice Duolingo’s game-based approach. Voxy’s focus is also primarily helping the international market improve their English language skills. It’s clear that Gollash surrounded himself with the right team and experience to accomplish his venture’s objectives, as Voxy’s current client base includes, McGill University, AT&T, Walmart, and Melia Hotels Intl. No doubt these companies have done their due diligence with regard to employee professional development training, which speaks to the quality of Voxy’s product offered. I do agree with your comment and Lori’s concurrence that resilience is important in a venture leader/CEO, however I also hesitate to recommend him as a role model if his own employees don’t see him as such. This could certainly be a minority opinion within his team, however I’d be curious to learn more about his background and the mission behind Voxy before recommending him as a role model for budding entrepreneurs, or before theoretically investing at its seed funding stage back in 2010. There is also no mention of cost of use readily available on the product site that I’ve been able to easily uncover. Call me a skeptic, however I agree with your observation Kate that it’s tricky to track information down online for both his background and Voxy's 'fine print', as I was digging around as well! Nonetheless, you’ve made it work as the profile and venture description were an interesting read! Thanks again for sharing Kate, Reg