Lucy Guo’s advice to other billionaires: ‘Act – Business News
Tech entrepreneur Lucy Guo, 30, not too long ago dethroned Taylor Swift because the youngest self-made feminine billionaire on the planet. But don’t anticipate her to be popping Champagne bottles.
“I feel like the title changes every year,” Guo informed The Post in regards to the Forbes magazine rating. “It means almost nothing to me personally.”
Guo’s billion-dollar bounty comes from Scale AI, the artificial intelligence data-labeling startup she launched in 2016 with Alexandr Wang, when she was simply 21. She left two years later however held onto an estimated 5% stake — a small slice that become a huge windfall this April when insider shares valued Scale AI at $25 billion, making Guo’s cut value an estimated $1.2 billion.
Tech entrepreneur Lucy Guo, 30, not too long ago dethroned Taylor Swift because the youngest self-made feminine billionaire on the planet. Margot Judge for NY Post
So, yeah. She’s formally a billionaire, however doesn’t really feel like one.
Guo’s motto? “Act broke, stay rich.”
The coder-turned-founder nonetheless clocks 90-hour workweeks with a schedule that begins at 5:30 a.m. and ends at midnight — together with up to 4 Barry’s Bootcamp lessons a day. Guo credit her “no sleep” DNA to her dad and mom, Chinese immigrants who labored as engineers within the San Francisco Bay space.
Guo made the quilt of Forbes in April. Her billion-dollar bounty comes from Scale AI, the AI data-labeling startup she launched in 2016 with Alexandr Wang, when she was simply 21. guofortit/Instagram
The fast-talking tech trailblazer doesn’t consider in losing time.
“I don’t watch TV or scroll TikTok,” Guo admitted. “So that gives me many extra hours in a day. I’m constantly on the go, whereas a lot of people build in relaxation time. I do fill in my schedule with fun stuff, like at 10 p.m. maybe I’ll go get dinner with friends.”
While she might not splurge on Bentleys or Birkins, Guo has no scarcity of pursuits — together with Barry’s, EDM music festivals, skateboarding, skydiving, accumulating Pokémon plushies and building startups from scratch.
Her newest skilled ardour project is Passes, the creator-driven platform she based in 2022 that’s already producing six-figure incomes for influencers, YouTubers, podcasters, astrologers and even golfers.
The Post beforehand photographed Guo at home in 2022. Sonya Revell for The New York Po
“Passes is a full-stack business platform for creators,” Guo defined. “They can sell merch, subscriptions, unreleased YouTube videos, live streams and group chats to their superfans all in one place.”
The concept for Passes got here to her during the pandemic whereas operating a start-up incubator. Guo noticed creators like Logan Paul and Kylie Jenner building nine-figure manufacturers and realized the true energy lay in possession.
“Creators are very unique. They can sell anything, and they don’t have the typical customer acquisition costs that normal people have,” she mentioned. “They are these small businesses that can become larger businesses, but they’ve been mismanaged. No one was helping them get equity or build generational wealth.”
Among her extracurricular passions — studying to DJ. guofortit/Instagram
With Passes, Guo goals to repair that. She’s launched a suite of instruments to help creators monetize their manufacturers, from in-house design to AI. Most considerably, creators keep 90% of their earnings.
“We’ve become 80% to 100% of the creator’s income,” Guo mentioned with apparent pleasure. “Even creators who have millions of followers on other platforms tell us that we are the most consistent income they have, and the majority of their income as well.”
Unlike Instagram or TikTok, Passes is targeted on the connection between creators and their superfans, with monetization baked in. “Instagram builds for breadth,” Guo mentioned. “Passes builds for depth. We’re more like Patreon.”
Still, comparisons to one other platform, OnlyFans, persist. She insist’s that not correct.
Guo posted a picture with Bill Gates on her Instagram, joking, “One of my guilty pleasures is being the dumbest person in the room.” guofortit/Instagram
“Our feature set is vastly different from OF. And even if you’re not doing nudes on OF, the type of creator we attract would never go on OF because they don’t want that as part of their brand.”
The digital disruptor additionally factors out that Passes has a no-nudity coverage and stricter pointers than OF. Nevertheless, there’s been some controversy at Passes. A category-action lawsuit this 12 months alleged underage content material slipped by means of the cracks — claims Guo calls “a shakedown.”
“We filed a motion to dismiss,” she mentioned, denying the allegations. “Their claims don’t match the investigation that we found. Bad actors are always going to be bad actors, and we just do our best to try to prevent this.”
Guo can be an avid skateboarder. Sonya Revell for The New York Po
Passes at the moment has round 50 workers, 1000’s of creators and hundreds of thousands of subscribers. The greatest moneymakers embrace golfer Charley Hull, YouTuber Sssniper Wolf and a stunning area of interest: astrologers who sell every day horoscopes.
“Our creators are doing amazing things,” Guo mentioned. “And we’re just getting started.”
Her profession has at all times been forward of the curve. She started coding in second grade, studied laptop science and HCI at Carnegie Mellon — after which dropped out after incomes a $100,000 Thiel Fellowship. The California native interned at Facebook, grew to become the primary feminine designer at Snapchat and met her Scale AI cofounder, Wang, at Quora. The relaxation is billion-dollar historical past.
But regardless of her self-made standing, Guo continues to be generally underestimated.
She based the platform Passes — which occupies a 25,000-square-foot workplace in Los Angeles. Margot Judge for NY Post
“People don’t understand how much work it takes to get here,” she mentioned. “They see the headlines, but they don’t see the 18-hour days.”
And the billionaire has had her truthful share of headlines, together with the time she hosted a wild rager at her $6.1 million luxurious condominium in Miami, replete with a lemur and snake. The occasion didn’t win over her neighbors like David Beckham, and she or he was reprimanded by the building’s HOA.
Soon after, Guo moved back to the West Coast, and acquired a $4.2 million, five-bedroom mansion in Los Angeles that boasts a dipping pool and screening room.
Being in LA additionally permits her to personally work together with creators in Passes’ 25,000-square-foot state-of-the-art workplace.
guoforit/Instagram
“They come to our office to shoot content and record podcasts,” she mentioned. “It’s a relationship-driven business. We’re even building a music studio.”
Guo’s love of music, particularly EDM, runs deep. Her obsession started at age 20, when she noticed Major Lazer at Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
“When I was living in San Francisco, I was not as happy as a person,” she admitted. “But I was blown away by my first EDM experience. I think it’s been proven that EDM makes you happier based off the BPM. It’s all very positive, happy energy.”
The billionaire has had her truthful share of headlines, together with the time she hosted a wild rager at her then-home in Miami, replete with a lemur (pictured) and a snake.
Guo’s now studying to DJ and sometimes hops behind the decks when pals carry out: “I played for 30 minutes at a club in LA recently and people were like, ‘That set was so good!’”
She at all times retains a music-filled USB in her bag, and can fly to a music pageant on a minute’s discover, particularly for her favourite DJs like Layton Giordani, Kygo, Gryffin, Mau P. and Zedd.
Already this summer time, she hit Europe for a month of VIP entry at numerous music festivals. Guo additionally attended the A-list launch of the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection in Barcelona, alongside Tom Brady, Sofía Vergara and Naomi Campbell. She’s subsequent planning to go to Kenya and witness firsthand the great migration of wildlife throughout the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem.
Guo collects Pokémon plushies. guofortit/Instagram
“I pick destinations based on views or mountains,” she mentioned. “If it has a Barry’s Bootcamp, even better.”
Guo can be a low-key Swiftie — although she jokes that beating Taylor Swift on the billionaire listing hasn’t modified issues a lot for her.
“The only difference is my DMs are popping,” she mentioned. “Lots of celebrities trying to hang out. But now I’m more cautious. Do they think I’m hot? Do they want advice? Or are they just hoping for a PJ ride? It’s made me put up my guard more.”
“I’ve been on all sides — engineer, VC, founder — but what excites me the most is product,” Guo mentioned. Margot Judge for NY Post
Guo was even mistakenly linked to Orlando Bloom in a tabloid as a result of they had been noticed subsequent to every other at a occasion.
“I turned around and glanced at a wall, and the paparazzi snapped a photo,” she mentioned, laughing. “I’m definitely not dating Orlando Bloom.”
The 30-year-old insists she doesn’t have time to date, actually.
“I’ve been on all sides — engineer, VC, founder — but what excites me the most is product,” she mentioned. “Figuring out the next feature, building tools people actually use, helping creators go big. That’s what I love.”
Just don’t anticipate Guo to gradual down anytime quickly.
“I have too much energy to burn.”
