Swift, 35, had held the title since she was named a billionaire in late 2023. She and Guo are two of only six self-made women billionaires worldwide under the age of 40.
The bulk of Guo’s wealth stems from her $1.2 billion stake in Scale AI, a startup she co-founded but left years ago. The rest is tied to other ventures, including her newer startup, Passes.
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Lucy Guo, founder of Passes. Photo from Lucy Guo’s Instagram/@guoforit |
While Guo has built her career around tech startups, her initial draw to the industry was a practical one. Raised frugally by Chinese immigrant parents who were electrical engineers but lost their jobs early in her life, she only saw tech as a fast track to wealth at first.
“I was bullied in school for being poor,” Guo told Business Insider. “So I was like, okay, I need to make money.”
She began coding in middle school and went on to study computer science and human-computer interaction at Carnegie Mellon University. Over time, she discovered what she described as “the itch to build a company.”
That growing drive led her to drop out of college in 2014, when she was just a few courses shy of completing a double major, to join the Thiel Fellowship, a program created by billionaire investor Peter Thiel to fund young entrepreneurs’ startups.
The following year, Guo landed a role as a product designer at the Q&A platform Quora, where she met Alexandr Wang. The two teamed up in 2016 to co-found Scale AI, a company that also turned Wang into the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, according to Forbes. At the time, Guo was 21 and Wang was 19.
Scale started as a service that employed low-paid contractors to label datasets for AI training, particularly in the self-driving vehicle sector. The startup quickly gained major clients, including Cruise and Tesla, and expanded its contractor base to meet growing demand. It later secured contracts with the U.S. government, assisting with satellite image analysis during the war in Ukraine, and with OpenAI, helping train large language models like ChatGPT.
“We used a team of humans to label the data and, simultaneously, we were able to train machine learning models,” Guo explained to the New York Post.
“Machine learning makes the best guess, and the humans go in and correct the machine learning’s mistake.”
The idea behind the startup emerged from a suggestion by one of their roommates, who proposed creating an “API for humans,” according to Guo.
With Wang taking on the role of CEO and Guo leading operations and product design, Scale AI’s grew rapidly, propelling its cofounders onto Forbes’ Under 30 list in 2018. However, that same year, a dispute over the company’s direction reportedly led to Wang firing Guo.
“We had a difference of opinion, but I am proud of what Scale AI has accomplished,” Guo said.
She still holds a stake of nearly 5% in the company, which is currently concluding a tender offer that values it at $25 billion.
After her departure, Guo launched Backend Capital, a small venture capital fund that backs early-stage startups. Among its wins is a six-figure investment in 2020 in financial software firm Ramp, which is now worth $13 billion.
But the “itch” to build companies again led her to start Passes, a platform that helps creators earn money through channels such as subscriptions, livestreams, one-on-one calls, and online stores.
“Creators are entrepreneurs,” Guo said. “If you have a thousand superfans willing to spend $5 a day on you, that’s an income.”
Passes quickly picked up steam, raising $50 million across three funding rounds in 2022–24 and reaching a valuation of $150 million.
Guo’s long-term plan for the firm is to support “creators to become entrepreneurs and start creating generational wealth.”
A day in Guo’s “pretty boring” life
Beyond her professional pursuits, Guo is active on social media, where she leans into a party-loving, high-energy persona. She once threw an elaborate birthday festival for herself, dubbed Lucypalooza, and made headlines for hosting a wild party, complete with a live lemur and snake, at her luxury Miami apartment.
In a Fortune interview, she described commuting either by electric skateboard or being driven by her assistant. Her daily routine starts with a workout, followed by 12-hour workdays that stretch to 10 p.m. She does not cook, relying entirely on Uber Eats for meals.
She is no stranger to thrill-seeking, having taken up skydiving from 10,000 feet as a hobby. She has also embarked on 24-hour trips around the world.
Still, Guo insists her life is “pretty boring,” often glued to her laptop or phone, juggling emails and responding to creators’ questions.
“I’ve never really had a real vacation,” she said, explaining that she works at least eight hours per day even on vacation.
While her lavish lifestyle contrasts sharply with her frugal upbringing, she did not start splurging right after she began earning money. Instead, after she made her first million, she continued to live cheaply until she had amassed $10 million.
Hence, her advice to those looking to build their wealth is to “live below your means.”
“A lot of people up their lifestyles when they start making more money, which causes them to not save as much,” she said. “The more money you save, the more you can invest, which compounds over the years.”