Lucy Guo, a tech entrepreneur, has claimed the title of the youngest self-made woman billionaire, overtaking global pop icon Taylor Swift. At just 30 years old, Guo has secured the coveted spot on Forbes’ list of self-made women billionaires, joining only six under the age of 40.
Swift, 35, remains one of the world’s richest entertainers with a reported net worth of $1.6 billion, according to Forbes.
Guo’s fortune stems primarily from Scale AI, a company she co-founded in 2016. The San Francisco-based startup specialises in labelling data used to train artificial intelligence systems. Though Guo stepped away from the company in 2018, she retained an estimated 5 per cent equity stake, one that has grown significantly in value.
After leaving Scale AI, Guo went on to co-found Backend Capital, a venture capital firm that backs up-and-coming engineering talent. Later, she launched Passes, a creator-focused platform offering monetisation tools, positioning it as a modern alternative to platforms like Patreon and OnlyFans. Today, she serves as CEO of the growing venture.
According to the Entrepreneur, Guo grew up in Fremont, California, the daughter of Chinese immigrants who both worked as electrical engineers. From a young age, she had a knack for building and hustling. Whether it was selling Pokémon cards or creating mock streaming websites packed with strategically placed ads, Guo spent her early years creating opportunities.
By second grade, she started earning money online through PayPal by leveraging browser-based games like Neopets and RuneScape. By the time she entered middle school, she had self-trained in coding. Guo then enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University, majoring in computer science and human-computer.
Later, she dropped out after being accepted into the prestigious Thiel Fellowship, a program that offers $100,000 (Rs 83.5 lakh) to young students to pursue innovation outside of college. Her journey then took her through high-profile internships at Facebook and Snapchat, before landing a role at Quora. It was there that she met Alexandr Wang, and together they co-founded Scale AI in 2016, the report said.
Share
