Lucy Guo

Lucy Guo
Guo in 2025
Born (1994-10-14) October 14, 1994
California, U.S.
EducationCarnegie Mellon University (Dropped out)
Known forCo-founding Scale AI and Passes Inc.

Lucy Guo is an American social media influencer and engineer who co-founded Scale AI in 2016 before being fired[1] in 2018. In 2022, she founded an OnlyFans competitor known as Passes.[2] Guo was the youngest self-made female billionaire until late 2025.[3][4][5]

Early life and education

Guo was raised in Pleasanton, California, by Chinese immigrant parents who worked as electrical engineers. She began coding at a young age; as a teenager she taught herself programming and earned money by developing bots for the online game Neopets and selling the in-game assets for profit.[6] Guo enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University where she studied computer science[6] but dropped out in 2014 after being selected for the Thiel Fellowship,[7][8] a two-year $100,000 grant for young people to pursue entrepreneurial projects instead of completing their studies.[6]

Career

After leaving Carnegie Mellon, Guo interned at Facebook before joining Snapchat as the company's first female designer.[9] At Snapchat, she helped develop Snap Maps.[10] She then moved to Quora where she met Alexandr Wang.[11] They co-founded Scale AI in 2016, but she was fired two years later in 2018.[1] When Meta bought Scale AI for $25 billion in May 2025, Guo replaced Taylor Swift to become the world's youngest self-made female billionaire.[12][13][14] She was one of only six self-made female billionaires to reach the milestone before age 40 as of 2025, according to Forbes.[15][16]

In 2018, Guo launched an app called Apply to Date allowing users to create a dating resume.[17]

In 2022, Guo founded Passes, an OnlyFans competitor.[18][19][2] As a Miami party girl, she used her connections with Miami-based entertainment agencies to launch the company.[18] It raised a $40 million Series A in 2024.[20] Passes acquired other creator platforms, including Fanhouse, founded by Rosie Nguyen.[21]

Passes was reported in 2024 to have allowed an account featuring a 12-year-old selling bikini photos after she had been banned by another platform. The account was removed only after the New York Times requested comment.[22] In 2025, Passes and Guo were sued by another creator who stated that they had distributed sexually abusive material of her when she was a child.[23][24][25] Guo's Passes platform claims that it does not allow nudity or sexual content and said the claim was "defamatory".[26]

In 2019, she launched Backend Capital,[27] originally called Backend Ventures,[28] a venture capital firm that primarily funded early-stage engineering startups.[29]

Personal life

She was "living as a digital nomad" for a number of years before buying a $6.7 million apartment in 2020 in Miami where her parties caused conflict with neighbors.[30][31] She was described by the New York Post in 2022 as Miami's number one party girl.[11]

As of 2024, she was residing in Los Angeles after purchasing another home in West Hollywood for $4.2 million.[32][33][34][35]

In 2026, she released a tech house track, Champagne On Me.[36]

References

  1. 1 2 Weinberg, Cory (June 28, 2024). "Fame, Feud and Fortune: Inside Billionaire Alexandr Wang's Relentless Rise in Silicon Valley". The Information. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  2. 1 2 Martin, Iain. "How Underage Creators Threatened Lucy Guo's OnlyFans Rival Passes". Forbes. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  3. ↑ Dolan, Kerry A. (April 17, 2025). "This AI Founder Has Unseated Taylor Swift As The World's Youngest Self-Made Woman Billionaire". Forbes. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  4. ↑ Braun, Sara (April 18, 2025). "A 30-year-old AI founder who followed the FIRE movement to build wealth is now the youngest self-made woman billionaire". Fortune. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  5. ↑ Blum, Sam (April 17, 2025). "Lucy Guo Is Now the World's Youngest Self-Made Woman Billionaire, Beating Taylor Swift". Inc. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 Muppidi, Sri (August 23, 2024). "Lucy Guo's second act: After the 29-year-old left Scale AI, she has the 'itch to build' something new". Business Insider. Retrieved March 28, 2025.
  7. ↑ Thier, Jane. "Multimillionaire Lucy Guo's only regret: Investing in 'every startup that's gone to zero'". Fortune Europe. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  8. ↑ Bowman, Wendy (September 20, 2024). "A 29-Year-Old Tech Tycoon Snaps Up a $4.2 Million Designer Abode in L.A." Robb Report. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  9. ↑ NA, NA (June 20, 2022). "Who is Lucy Guo, second richest self-made woman under 40 after Kylie Jenner?". South China Morning Post. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
  10. ↑ Powers, Jacquelynn (May 21, 2022). "How Lucy Guo conquered tech and became Miami's No. 1 party girl". New York Post. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
  11. 1 2 Megía, Carlos (June 10, 2022). "Alexandr Wang is the new youngest self-made billionaire". EL PAÍS English. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  12. ↑ "The youngest self-made female billionaire thinks you should take more risks". Newsweek. July 30, 2025. Retrieved July 31, 2025.
  13. ↑ Bhaimiya, Sawdah (August 31, 2025). "Billionaire founder Lucy Guo first made money as a kid on the playground". CNBC. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  14. ↑ Cannella, Cara (March 10, 2026). "The Only Unicorns That Are Truly Rare? Female Billionaires". Inc. Archived from the original on March 10, 2026. Retrieved March 13, 2026.
  15. ↑ Braun, Sara (April 18, 2025). "A 30-year-old AI founder who followed the FIRE movement to build wealth is now the youngest self-made woman billionaire". Fortune. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  16. ↑ Bhaimiya, Sawdah (August 23, 2025). "Inside billionaire Lucy Guo's intense daily routine: 5:30 a.m. wake-ups, double gym sessions, and no lunch breaks". CNBC. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  17. ↑ Thompson, Rachel (March 16, 2018). "You can now create a shareable dating resume so anyone can apply to date you". Mashable. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  18. 1 2 "Passes: the $9.5M/year softcore OnlyFans growing 1166% year-over-year". sacra.com. March 1, 2024. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  19. ↑ Harmon, Grace (March 25, 2024). "Passes: Bypassing the Brands". Los Angeles Business Journal. Retrieved May 30, 2025.
  20. ↑ Jones, Rachyl. "Exclusive: 29-year-old self-made millionaire Lucy Guo follows up her unicorn Scale AI with a $40 million Series A for new creator economy venture, Passes". Fortune. Retrieved March 15, 2025.
  21. ↑ Silberling, Amanda (July 14, 2023). "Passes acquired Fanhouse, but some creators are apprehensive". TechCrunch.
  22. ↑ Valentino-DeVries, Jennifer; Keller, Michael H. (November 10, 2024). "She Was a Child Instagram Influencer. Her Fans Were Grown Men". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 23, 2025.
  23. ↑ Silberling, Amanda (March 3, 2025). "Creator monetization platform Passes sued over alleged distribution of CSAM". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  24. ↑ "Influencer Sues Social Media Platform Passes for Allegedly Exploiting Her as a Minor". People. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  25. ↑ "Passes: the $9.5M/year softcore OnlyFans growing 1166% year-over-year". sacra.com. March 1, 2024. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  26. ↑ https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/03/creator-monetization-platform-passes-sued-over-alleged-distribution-of-csam/
  27. ↑ "Who is Lucy Guo? Meet the programmer who surpassed Taylor Swift's billion-dollar fortune". MSN. April 28, 2025. Retrieved May 30, 2025.
  28. ↑ Jones, Rachyl. "Exclusive: 29-year-old self-made millionaire Lucy Guo follows up her unicorn Scale AI with a $40 million Series A for new creator economy venture, Passes". Fortune. Retrieved March 15, 2025.
  29. ↑ Thier, Jane. "Multimillionaire Lucy Guo's only regret: Investing in 'every startup that's gone to zero'". Fortune Europe. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  30. ↑ DeLuca, Alex. "Tech Bros, Exotic Animals: HOA Pissed After Silicon Valley Transplant's Wild Party". Miami New Times. Retrieved March 15, 2025.
  31. ↑ Staff, T. R. D. (February 9, 2022). "Party poopers? Techie Lucy Guo's wild jamboree at One Thousand Museum riles condo association". The Real Deal. Retrieved March 15, 2025.
  32. ↑ Bowman, Wendy (September 20, 2024). "A 29-Year-Old Tech Tycoon Snaps Up a $4.2 Million Designer Abode in L.A." Robb Report. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  33. ↑ Bowman, Wendy (September 20, 2024). "A 29-Year-Old Tech Tycoon Snaps Up a $4.2 Million Designer Abode in L.A." Robb Report. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  34. ↑ Vaziri, Aidin (April 23, 2025). "Lucy Guo on surpassing Taylor Swift, building a billion-dollar fortune". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 30, 2025.
  35. ↑ "LA500 2024: Lucy Guo". Los Angeles Business Journal. June 3, 2024. Retrieved May 30, 2025.
  36. ↑ https://edm.com/interviews/how-lucy-guo-once-youngest-self-made-female-billionaire-turned-fandom-into-dj-career/
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.