# Luke Skurman

> Luke Skurman is the Pittsburgh-based founder and CEO of Niche, the school-and-neighborhood discovery platform that began in 2002 as a student-written guidebook business called College Prowler. A painstaking college search first gave him the idea; a series of blunt pivots - from books to subscriptions, free web content, school marketing and now direct admissions - kept it alive. He also serves on Carnegie Mellon University's Board of Trustees and has helped support Pittsburgh entrepreneurship through Ascender and the Global Shapers Pittsburgh Hub.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at Niche
- **Organizations:** Niche, Carnegie Mellon University Board of Trustees, Ascender, Global Shapers Pittsburgh Hub
- **From:** New York City, United States
- **Education:** B.S. in Business Administration, concentration in Entrepreneurship, Carnegie Mellon University, M.S. in Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon University
- **Known for:** Founded the business that evolved from College Prowler's print guides into Niche's national school and neighborhood platform., Led the 2013 rebrand and expansion from college information into K-12 schools and places to live., Serves on Carnegie Mellon University's Board of Trustees and has served as vice chair of its Research Innovation and Entrepreneurship Committee.

## Career timeline

- **2000** — As a Carnegie Mellon sophomore, wrote down the idea of modernizing college choice in a journal.
- **2002** — Co-founded College Prowler after completing the business plan in an undergraduate entrepreneurship course.
- **2004** — Secured a $500,000 investment from Glen Meakem; the guidebook business expanded its distribution.
- **2007** — Moved roughly 50,000 pages of college content behind a paid web subscription.
- **2009** — Removed the paywall and shifted toward advertising and opt-in lead generation.
- **2013** — Rebranded College Prowler as Niche and expanded into K-12 schools, later adding places to live.
- **2016** — Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
- **2017** — Niche began building the recurring-revenue school marketing business that drove its next growth period.
- **2020** — Niche raised a $35 million Series C led by Radian Capital with participation from Salesforce Ventures.
- **2022** — Niche tested direct admissions with two unpaid college pilots and a small operating team.
- **2023** — The company aimed to grow the direct-admissions program to about 100 paid college clients.
- **2024** — Received the Pittsburgh Venture Capital Association Outstanding Entrepreneur award.

## Achievements

- Founded the business that evolved from College Prowler's print guides into Niche's national school and neighborhood platform.
- Led the 2013 rebrand and expansion from college information into K-12 schools and places to live.
- Serves on Carnegie Mellon University's Board of Trustees and has served as vice chair of its Research Innovation and Entrepreneurship Committee.
- Co-founded Ascender, a Pittsburgh nonprofit supporting entrepreneurship, and served on its board.
- Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia in 2016.
- Received the Pittsburgh Venture Capital Association Outstanding Entrepreneur award in 2024.
- Led Niche's development of a direct-admissions platform that had delivered at least one offer to more than 930,000 students by October 2024, according to TIME.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Shared Niche's research on the state of fall 2026 college enrollment with his LinkedIn network.
- **2025-02** — Appeared on the Future U podcast to discuss the growth, benefits and risks of direct admissions.
- **2024-10** — TIME reported that more than 930,000 students had received at least one offer through Niche Direct Admissions.
- **2024-04** — Received the Pittsburgh Venture Capital Association Outstanding Entrepreneur award.

## Links

- Website: https://www.niche.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skurman

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/luke-skurman
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-28