Herederos
Von Ahn wanted a Nintendo and his mother bought a computer
Fifth of thirty-one profiles. Luis von Ahn figured out how to use the seconds the world loses proving it is not a robot.
INCÍSOS SPECIAL · HEIRS · 05/31
Leer en español
Fifth of thirty-one profiles of Hispanics who changed something in the United States.
| What | Luis von Ahn invented the CAPTCHA, turned it into a mass digitization tool and founded the world’s largest education app. |
| Who | Guatemalan computer scientist, cofounder and chief executive of Duolingo. |
| When | He led reCAPTCHA from 2007 to 2009. He founded Duolingo in August 2011. |
| Where | Guatemala City; Duke; Pittsburgh. |
| Why | His work converted wasted time from millions of people into useful labor, and then into free education. |
| How | Human computation: designing systems where one person’s trivial task aggregates into a large result. |
The computer he did not ask for
He was eight years old in Guatemala City and he wanted a Nintendo. His mother, a physician and a single parent, bought him a computer.
He was annoyed. He has told the story many times, and says the annoyance did not last, because that machine changed his life once he learned to use it.
His mother did not earn much, but she spent whatever was left over on securing him the best education available in the country. That decision — a woman on her own putting every spare dollar into her son’s schooling — sits at the origin of a company that now teaches tens of millions of people.
The invention everyone hates
He studied mathematics at Duke and took a doctorate in computer science at Carnegie Mellon, where he became a professor.
There he invented the CAPTCHA: those distorted letters websites ask you to type to verify a human is on the other end. He solved a real security problem and, along the way, created one of the most universal daily irritations on the internet.
Then he ran the calculation that defines him. If each CAPTCHA takes a few seconds and hundreds of millions are solved daily, the world was burning hundreds of thousands of human hours a day proving it was not a robot.
Out of that came reCAPTCHA: instead of invented letters, show real words that optical recognition software could not decipher in scanned old books and newspapers. Every person proving they were not a machine was digitizing, without knowing it, one word of a historical archive. Millions of people transcribed entire books in fractions of a second each.
He ran reCAPTCHA until Google acquired it in 2009.
Duolingo
In August 2011 he founded Duolingo with Severin Hacker, applying the same logic to education: make language learning free and fund it through those who choose to pay.
The company went public in 2021. In 2025 it reported roughly $1.04 billion in revenue and net income of about $414 million. It passed 50 million daily active users for the first time, more than five times its total at the time of its public offering. It now teaches not only languages but math, music and chess.
It is the most used education app on the planet and it was founded by a Guatemalan who wanted a Nintendo.
The 2025 episode
In April 2025 von Ahn announced that Duolingo would be an «AI-first» company and that use of artificial intelligence would factor into employee performance reviews.
The reaction was strong. Longtime users publicly said they were deleting the app, and he later said he had not anticipated the scale of the backlash. In April 2026 he reported that the company had stopped evaluating staff on their use of artificial intelligence.
The episode belongs here rather than outside. It shows an executive who made an unpopular decision, defended it, measured the cost and partly reversed course. That sequence teaches more than any profile of uninterrupted success.
What holds the work up
He has said he wants to spend his life building a future in which, through technology, anyone on the planet has access to quality education, and in which people also want to spend time learning.
Coming from someone raised in a country where quality education is a matter of class, whose mother spent what she did not have to buy it for him, the line does not read as corporate slogan.
It reads like someone who knows exactly what it costs.
Primary sources: Duolingo Inc., leadership profile and investor communications. Public company financial reports for 2025. Interview published by TIME on July 26, 2026. Fortune coverage of April 13, 2026, on the change in performance evaluation policy. Carnegie Mellon University and Duke University public academic records.
Alfredo Yánez
9 libros que te cambian la perspectiva
Finanzas, emprendimiento, migración y más — disponibles en Amazon
VER LIBROS →
Herederos
Vaca founded with three hundred dollars the company she still runs
Ninth of thirty-one profiles. Nina Vaca’s story opens the entrepreneurship chapter of a textbook American business students read.
INCÍSOS SPECIAL · HEIRS · 09/31
Leer en español
Ninth of thirty-one profiles of Hispanics who changed something in the United States.
| What | Nina Vaca founded with $300 a workforce solutions company that now operates in six countries. |
| Who | Entrepreneur born in Quito, founder, chair and chief executive of Pinnacle Group. |
| When | Founded in 1996, at twenty-five. The company marks thirty years in 2026. |
| Where | Quito; Dallas; and operations in the United States, India, the United Kingdom, Canada, Latin America and Poland. |
| Why | Her trajectory is studied as a case in American business textbooks. |
| How | Technology staffing and workforce solutions for large corporations. |
The hardware store
The story does not begin in a boardroom. It begins in Quito, in her grandfather’s hardware store.
That was the first chapter of what became a three-generation entrepreneurial line. The second began in the United States in the 1960s, when her parents immigrated. Her father arrived with a job offer tied to the Pan American Games, but what ultimately secured the family’s place in the country was a business of their own.
Nina was one of six children. By age ten she was working in the family business.
She has said it gave her a front-row seat to the subtleties of entrepreneurship. Not the theory: the daily risk, the payroll, the client who does not pay.
Three hundred dollars
She studied at Texas State University. In 1996, at twenty-five, she founded Pinnacle Group with $300.
It was a one-woman workforce solutions firm — in plain terms, connecting companies with the professionals they need.
Thirty years later, Pinnacle Group has roughly 5,000 employees and operates in the United States, India, the United Kingdom, Canada, Latin America and Poland. It serves 20 percent of the Fortune 100.
The Women Presidents’ Organization named it the fastest-growing women-owned business in the United States in 2015 and again in 2018.
The detail that matters for this special
The story of Nina Vaca and Pinnacle Group opens the entrepreneurship chapter of the McGraw-Hill textbook Understanding Business.
It is worth pausing there.
That textbook is studied by business undergraduates across the country. When an American student opens the chapter on how a company is founded, the first thing he reads is the case of a woman born in Quito who started with $300.
She does not appear as a diversity example or in a sidebar. She appears as the case that explains the concept.
The rest of the record
She has served on the board of Comerica since 2008, Kohl’s since 2010 and Cinemark Holdings since 2014. Barack Obama named her a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship in 2014, an advisory group under the Commerce Department.
She belongs to the 2016 class of Henry Crown Fellows. She has been named one of the top hundred chief executives in STEM publications, Woman of Distinction by the National Women’s Business Council in 2017, and a trailblazing woman in labor and business by the National Women’s History Project.
In 2026 she entered the Tech Titans Hall of Fame, seventeen years after her first award from that organization, and the Minority Business Hall of Fame. She also appears on the list of the 250 most influential living immigrants in the United States, where she is the only Ecuadorian.
In June 2026 she served as vice chair of the organizing committee for the FIFA World Cup in Dallas.
She is a triathlete, and has said she applies the discipline of endurance sport to running a company: competing against yourself and reinventing constantly.
Why she is here
There is a figure in her biography that no September speech can improve on.
Three hundred dollars in 1996. Twenty percent of the country’s largest companies as clients in 2026.
Nobody left her that. And the country celebrating Hispanic heritage this month already teaches it in its classrooms as the example of how a company gets built.
Primary sources: Pinnacle Group, institutional profile of its founder. U.S. Department of Commerce, Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship program record. Aspen Institute, 2016 Henry Crown Fellows class. Tech Titans, 2026 Hall of Fame announcement. Forbes Ecuador profile published in 2026. The CEO Magazine interview published May 25, 2026.
Herederos
Vaca fundó con trescientos dólares la empresa que hoy dirige
Novena de treinta y una semblanzas. La historia de Nina Vaca abre el capítulo de emprendimiento de un libro de texto que estudian los universitarios estadounidenses.
Semblanza diaria · 09/31
Novena de treinta y una semblanzas de hispanos que cambiaron algo en Estados Unidos.
| Qué | Nina Vaca fundó con trescientos dólares una empresa de soluciones de personal que hoy opera en seis países. |
| Quién | Empresaria nacida en Quito, fundadora, presidenta y directora ejecutiva de Pinnacle Group. |
| Cuándo | Fundación en 1996, a los veinticinco años. La empresa cumple treinta años en 2026. |
| Dónde | Quito; Dallas; y operaciones en Estados Unidos, India, Reino Unido, Canadá, América Latina y Polonia. |
| Por qué | Su trayectoria se estudia como caso en los libros de texto de negocios del país. |
| Cómo | Dotación de personal tecnológico y soluciones de fuerza laboral para grandes corporaciones. |
La ferretería
La historia no empieza en una sala de juntas. Empieza en Quito, en la ferretería de su abuelo.
Ese fue el primer capítulo de lo que terminó siendo un linaje empresarial de tres generaciones. El segundo empezó en Estados Unidos en los años sesenta, cuando sus padres emigraron. Su padre llegó con una oferta de trabajo vinculada a los Juegos Panamericanos, pero lo que terminó dándole a la familia su lugar en el país fue el negocio propio.
Nina era una de seis hermanos. A los diez años ya trabajaba en el negocio familiar.
Ha dicho que aquello le dio asiento de primera fila para entender los matices del emprendimiento. No la teoría: el riesgo diario, la nómina, el cliente que no paga.
Trescientos dólares
Estudió en Texas State University. En 1996, a los veinticinco años, fundó Pinnacle Group con trescientos dólares.
Era una empresa de una sola persona dedicada a soluciones de fuerza laboral, es decir, a conectar empresas con los profesionales que necesitan.
Treinta años después, Pinnacle Group tiene alrededor de cinco mil empleados y opera en Estados Unidos, India, Reino Unido, Canadá, América Latina y Polonia. Atiende al veinte por ciento de las empresas del Fortune 100.
La Organización de Mujeres Presidentas la nombró la empresa de propiedad femenina de más rápido crecimiento de Estados Unidos en 2015 y en 2018.
El detalle que importa para este especial
La historia de Nina Vaca y de Pinnacle Group abre el capítulo de emprendimiento del libro de texto Understanding Business, de McGraw-Hill.
Conviene detenerse ahí un momento.
Ese manual lo estudian universitarios de negocios en todo el país. Cuando un estudiante estadounidense abre el capítulo sobre cómo se funda una empresa, lo primero que lee es el caso de una mujer nacida en Quito que empezó con trescientos dólares.
No aparece como ejemplo de diversidad ni en un recuadro aparte. Aparece como el caso que explica el concepto.
El resto de la trayectoria
Es directora de Comerica desde 2008, de Kohl’s desde 2010 y de Cinemark Holdings desde 2014. Barack Obama la nombró Embajadora Presidencial para el Emprendimiento Global en 2014, un grupo asesor del Departamento de Comercio.
Pertenece a la clase 2016 de becarios Henry Crown. Fue nombrada una de las cien mejores directoras ejecutivas en publicaciones sobre ciencia y tecnología, Mujer Distinguida por el Consejo Nacional de Empresas de Mujeres en 2017 y pionera en trabajo y negocios por el Proyecto Nacional de Historia de la Mujer.
En 2026 entró al Salón de la Fama de Tech Titans, diecisiete años después de recibir su primer premio de esa organización, y al Salón de la Fama de Negocios de Minorías. Figura además en la lista de los 250 inmigrantes vivos más influyentes de Estados Unidos, donde es la única ecuatoriana.
En junio de 2026 fue vicepresidenta del comité organizador del Mundial de la FIFA en Dallas.
Es triatleta, y ha dicho que aplica a la dirección de empresas la disciplina de los deportes de resistencia: competir contra uno mismo y reinventarse de forma constante.
Por qué está aquí
Hay una cifra en su biografía que ningún discurso de septiembre puede mejorar.
Trescientos dólares en 1996. Veinte por ciento de las empresas más grandes del país como clientes en 2026.
Eso no lo heredó nadie. Y el país que este mes celebra la herencia hispana ya lo enseña en sus aulas como el ejemplo de cómo se construye una empresa.
Fuentes principales: Pinnacle Group, perfil institucional de su fundadora. Departamento de Comercio de Estados Unidos, registro del programa de Embajadores Presidenciales para el Emprendimiento Global. Aspen Institute, clase 2016 de becarios Henry Crown. Tech Titans, comunicado de incorporación al Salón de la Fama de 2026. Forbes Ecuador, perfil publicado en 2026. The CEO Magazine, entrevista publicada el 25 de mayo de 2026.
Herederos
Cisneros wrote the book schools require and schools have banned
Eighth of thirty-one profiles. Sandra Cisneros wrote in her twenties the book that defined Chicana literature, and she is still arguing with the country that teaches it.
INCÍSOS SPECIAL · HEIRS · 08/31
Leer en español
Eighth of thirty-one profiles of Hispanics who changed something in the United States.
| What | Sandra Cisneros wrote the book that defined Chicana literature and made it required reading in American schools. |
| Who | Poet, short story writer and novelist born in Chicago to a Mexican father and a Mexican-American mother. |
| When | The House on Mango Street was published in 1984. National Medal of Arts in 2016. |
| Where | Chicago, Iowa, San Antonio and San Miguel de Allende. |
| Why | Her work put into the school canon an experience that canon did not record. |
| How | A short book, in vignettes, written in the voice of a girl from the neighborhood. |
The girl in the borrowed house
She was born December 20, 1954, in Chicago, to a Mexican father and a Mexican-American mother, the only daughter among seven children.
The family moved constantly between Chicago and Mexico City, following work and extended family. That back-and-forth has an effect on a child that Cisneros has described many times: she never quite belonged in either place, and in neither did she have a room of her own.
She has also said she wanted a bedroom door she could close completely, and that the size of the dresser in her room made it impossible.
Out of that absence came a book about a house.
Iowa
She attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, one of the most prestigious programs in the country. It was there, in a seminar where classmates spoke of childhood houses with attics, basements and staircases, that she understood her experience appeared nowhere in what counted as literature.
She did not write it against them. She wrote it because nobody else was going to.
The House on Mango Street was published in 1984. It is a short book, made of brief vignettes, narrated by Esperanza Cordero, a girl who lives in a poor Chicago neighborhood and wants a house of her own.
It has sold more than six million copies, has been translated into more than twenty languages, and is assigned reading in elementary schools, high schools and universities across the United States.
The paradox
Here is the fact that makes this profile part of this special’s argument.
The same book the American school system assigns as required reading has been pulled from and challenged in school libraries around the country. Cisneros has publicly denounced the banning of more than 1,600 school texts dealing with Hispanic roots, racism or gender identity.
A country can teach a book and remove it at the same time, in different districts, in the same school year. That is not an administrative contradiction. It is a dispute over what counts as shared history.
What she did with what she earned
Her list of honors is long: National Endowment for the Arts fellowships in poetry and fiction, a MacArthur fellowship, the Texas Medal of Arts, the PEN Center USA literary award, the PEN/Nabokov International Prize in 2018, and the National Medal of Arts, presented to her by Barack Obama in 2016.
What matters is what she did with that position.
She founded two nonprofits: the Macondo Foundation, which trains writers committed to their communities, and the Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Foundation, named for her father, which supports writers born in Texas or writing about Texas. She also convenes Los MacArturos, the group of Latino MacArthur fellows working as organizers in their communities.
Her literary papers are held at the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University.
Today
She is 71. She holds United States and Mexican citizenship and has lived for nearly a decade in San Miguel de Allende. She makes her living from her writing.
In 2022 she published Woman Without Shame, her first poetry collection in twenty-eight years. In interviews at the time she asked for something concrete: that people spend their money on books written by Latinos in the United States, and that those books reach Anglo readers and politicians.
She is still arguing with the country that teaches her book to its children.
That argument is not a heritage. It is an open conversation, with both parties alive.
Primary sources: The author’s official site and publisher. MacArthur Foundation fellow record. National Endowment for the Arts, 2016 National Medal of Arts record. Wittliff Collections, Texas State University. Statements by the author in press interviews around the publication of Woman Without Shame.
-
Entrevistas4 meses agoZair Mundaray: «Enfrenté al poder con ciencia»
-
Política3 meses agoDelcy Rodríguez enfrenta a la prensa internacional: la rueda de prensa que no cerró la brecha
-
Política4 meses agoEl economista, los bonos y Citgo
-
Política4 meses agoRoberto Smith Perera: «La reconstrucción no puede esperar a la elección»
-
Política2 meses agoEl semáforo de las estructuras: qué significa cada color tras el terremoto
-
Especiales3 meses agoMedia vuelta… mar.
-
Inciso5 meses agoLa paciencia de Washington
-
Inciso1 mes agoMárquez sabe qué pasó el 28 de julio