Lucy Guo, founder and CEO of Passes.
Passes
Lucy Guo could be a billionaire, however as a substitute of a lifetime of luxurious and luxury, she swears by a relentless work ethic and strict day by day routine.
At simply 30 years outdated, the California-born-and-raised entrepreneur has achieved what many will spend their lifetimes chasing. In April, Guo’s web price soared to $1.3 billion after her first enterprise, Scale AI, wrapped up a take care of tech big Meta that valued the corporate at $25 billion. She was named the youngest self-made lady billionaire, a title beforehand held by pop star Taylor Swift.
“Truthfully, I nonetheless really feel the identical as that little lady, like my life pre-money and post-money, it hasn’t actually modified that a lot,” Guo advised CNBC Make It in an interview.
Guo co-founded Scale AI, an AI knowledge labeling firm, alongside Alexander Wang in 2016. Guo, who headed up the operations and product design groups on the Silicon Valley startup, left the corporate in 2018.
“We had disagreements round merchandise and gross sales,” Guo defined. “The place Alex was very sales-driven on bringing in additional prospects, I used to be very centered on like ‘hey, we have to prioritize the merchandise or serving to make it possible for scalers [employees] receives a commission on time, their hours are being counted accurately, however that wasn’t the place the sources had been being poured in.”
Nonetheless, Guo held on to her stake, which is price slightly below 5%. When Meta agreed to amass 49% of Scale AI, the deal pushed Guo’s stake to a skyrocketing $1.25 billion.
“I believe most individuals might have work-life steadiness in the event that they minimize out what most individuals waste their time on after they get again house.”
Lucy Guo
Founder and CEO of Passes
A serial entrepreneur and a graduate of the Thiel Fellowship program, Guo wasn’t out of the sport for lengthy and based Backend Capital, a enterprise capital agency investing in early-stage tech startups in 2019. Her most up-to-date firm, Passes, a content material creator monetization platform based in 2022, has raised over $65 million in funding.
Since turning into a billionaire, Guo hasn’t taken her foot off the work pedal. “I’m nonetheless working very lengthy work days,” she mentioned.
‘I’ve extra hours in a day’
Guo belongs to a class of founders who optimize their days to be as productive as attainable, and her newfound billionaire standing is not an excuse to decelerate.
A mean day for Guo contains waking up at 5:30 a.m. and going to Barry’s Bootcamp for 2 exercise classes back-to-back. Lunches are a luxurious for the startup founder, and she or he usually eats throughout conferences as her schedule would not at all times enable for a break, she mentioned.
“I believe most individuals might have work-life steadiness in the event that they minimize out what most individuals waste their time on after they get again house, which is, lots of people doom scroll on TikTok, lots of people simply sit and watch TV mindlessly,” she mentioned.
Within the curiosity of work-life steadiness, Guo offers herself in the future off on the weekends, the place from midday to six p.m., she’s completely centered on spending time along with her associates, after which it is again to work straight after.
“I believe I’ve extra hours in a day as a result of I am gonna be sincere, I am completely blessed. I do not want that a lot sleep…regardless that I am working these lengthy hours, I really feel like I’ve work-life steadiness.
“I might theoretically work till midnight, after which I might exit to the membership till 2 a.m., after which I might fall asleep, after which get up at like 6 a.m. and do Barry’s.”
Lucy Guo attends as Passes presents Lucypalooza 2024 throughout LA Tech Week on October 16, 2024, in Beverly Hills, California.
Gonzalo Marroquin | Getty Pictures Leisure | Getty Pictures
The younger founder embodies the Silicon Valley mantra of working 24 hours a day, seven days per week, just like China’s notorious 996 work tradition, which incorporates working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days per week.
“9 a.m. to 9 p.m., to me that is nonetheless work-life steadiness,” Guo commented. “At 9 p.m., you may go to dinner with your folks. You’ll be able to invite them to a potluck. You needn’t sleep from 9 to 9. That is a ridiculous quantity of sleep.”
“If anybody thinks that is not work-life steadiness, I do not know what to say since you actually have 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. to hang around with your folks, and then you definately sleep from 2 a.m. to 9. That is seven hours of sleep, which is greater than sufficient.”
However not everybody agrees with the pursuit of a 996 work schedule. Some founders beforehand pushed again towards the development, telling CNBC that the views are outdated and pointless to realize success.
An always-on tradition decreases retention and creates a revolving door of expertise, Sarah Wernér, co-founder of Husmus, advised CNBC.”
Suranga Chandratillake, common accomplice at Balderton Capital, added that 996 is about “a fetishization of overwork slightly than sensible work…it is a fable.”
New founders have to work 90-hour weeks
Kate Goodlad and Lucy Guo converse onstage in the course of the “The View from 2050” panel dialogue at SXSW London on June 02, 2025, in London, England.
Jack Taylor | Getty Pictures Leisure | Getty Pictures
Startup founders’ working hours are a much-contested challenge. Not too long ago, some enterprise capitalists had been even pushing European founders to step up the work tempo to maintain up with their counterparts within the U.S. and China.
“Usually, if you’re first beginning your organization, it is close to inconceivable to do it with out doing that [996], like you are going to have to work like 90-hour work weeks to get issues off the bottom,” Guo mentioned.
As an organization grows, hires extra expertise, and finds stability, Guo says it’s attainable to work much less afterward.
She famous that turning into a billionaire is not about intense working hours. In case you constantly make investments a whole lot of hundreds into the S&P 500, it might develop to billions by the top of your lifetime, based on Guo.
“I do not suppose you’ll want to work these hours to change into a billionaire, per se. It is how you decide to do it. In case you decide to start out a tech firm, you are gonna be working these hours to start with. In case you’re like, principal technique is doing it through investing, you are not gonna be working these hours,” she mentioned.
Guo’s newest startup, Passes, turned embroiled in controversy in February after a class motion lawsuit was filed towards her and the corporate, alleging that she distributed little one sexual abuse materials on the platform to paying subscribers.
“I believe it is a complete shakedown. I by no means met this individual, by no means talked to this individual,” Guo mentioned concerning the lawsuit.
A spokesperson from Passes advised CNBC Make It through e-mail: “As defined within the movement to dismiss filed on April 28, Ms. Guo and Passes categorically reject the baseless allegations made towards them within the lawsuit, which was solely filed towards them after they rejected a $15 million fee demand.”
Clark Smith Villazor, the New York-based litigation agency that introduced the lawsuit towards Passes, has but to reply to CNBC’s request for remark.
