Nosek, Luke

2011 Young Alumni Achievement Award

For visionary innovation and outstanding leadership in developing and supporting web and high-technology enterprises.

In 1998, Luke Nosek co-founded PayPal and served as its vice president of marketing. While at PayPal, he oversaw the company’s marketing efforts at launch, growing the user base to 1 million customers in the first six months. Luke also created “Instant Transfer,” PayPal’s most profitable product.

In 2005, Luke helped co-found Founders Fund, where he remains a managing partner. At Founders Fund, Luke was the initial architect of the “founder friendly” strategy, and later built Founders Fund’s biotechnology practice from scratch.

In 2009, Luke joined Halcyon Molecular, a Founders Fund portfolio company pursuing a novel approach to ultra-fast complete genome sequencing, as president. He is currently its chairman. Luke also sits on the boards of Pathway Genomics and SpaceX.