# Luke Heine

> Personal site of Luke Heine — angel investor, startup founder, and builder from northern Minnesota.

## Bio

Luke Heine is from Moose Lake, Minnesota. He studied Sociology and Computer Science at Harvard University. At 22, he dropped out to join Y Combinator (W18) and co-founded SwipeHouse, a social consumer company that piggybacked off TikTok's early growth. He made $20K/year for three years sleeping in a bunkbed with his cofounder in Mountain View, CA. The company was acquired.

After the exit, Luke moved to Mexico and Colombia, learned Spanish, volunteered as a sailing instructor at Community Boating in Boston, and finished his Harvard degree remotely during COVID from Colombia.

He joined Microsoft where he helped commercialize DALL-E and Stable Diffusion into Microsoft Designer, then was part of the founding team that built Microsoft 365 Copilot from 0 to 100M+ MAU. He was promoted within 6 months and hired as a VP exception during a company-wide freeze.

Luke is now an angel investor and LP/Venture Partner at Pioneer Fund, focused on healthcare, robotics, compliance, and pain-solver startups. He co-founded the Fair Opportunity Project, a federally funded nonprofit providing free college admissions and financial aid help in all 50 states.

## Key Facts

- Forbes 30 Under 30 (2017)
- Harvard University — Sociology & Computer Science
- Y Combinator W18 — SwipeHouse (exited)
- Microsoft — Founding team of M365 Copilot (100M+ MAU)
- Microsoft — Shipped DALL-E into Microsoft Designer
- Pioneer Fund — LP & Venture Partner
- Fair Opportunity Project — Co-founder, 10+ years, $5M+ in scholarships (2024)
- Featured in Forbes, NYT, CNN, CNBC, TechCrunch, Kiplinger
- Ran 180 miles from Moose Lake, MN to Canada
- Has built 50+ projects across consumer, fintech, SaaS, climate, and community

## Links

- Website: https://lukeheine.com
- Projects: https://lukeheine.com/projects
- Press: https://lukeheine.com/press
- Research: https://lukeheine.com/research
- Writing: https://lukeheine.com/writing
- Advising: https://lukeheine.com/advising
- X/Twitter: https://x.com/lukeheine
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/lukeheine
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/heine.luke

## Sections

- [Projects](https://lukeheine.com/projects): 50+ shipped projects across consumer, fintech, SaaS, climate, community, and more
- [Press](https://lukeheine.com/press): Media coverage in Forbes, NYT, CNN, CNBC, TechCrunch, Harvard Gazette, and others
- [Research](https://lukeheine.com/research): Venture capital mapping, cybersecurity markets, comparative advantage economics
- [Writing](https://lukeheine.com/writing): Books on college admissions, social entrepreneurship, and academic publications
- [Advising](https://lukeheine.com/advising): Seed-stage startup advising, nonprofit board work, and angel investing
- [About](https://lukeheine.com/about): Full background, education, and experience