Lucy Guo, founder and CEO of Passes.
Passes
Lucy Guo may 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At simply 30 years outdated, the California-born-and-raised entrepreneur has achieved what many will spend their lifetimes chasing.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 internet value soared to $1.3 billion after her first enterprise, Scale AI, wrapped up a cope with tech big Meta that valued the corporate at $25 billion. She was named the youngest self-made girl billionaire, a title beforehand held by pop star Taylor Swift.
“Truthfully, I nonetheless really feel the identical as that little woman, like my life pre-money and post-money, it hasn’t actually modified that a lot,” Guo instructed 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 targeted on like ‘hey, we have to prioritize the merchandise or serving to guarantee that scalers [employees] receives a commission on time, their hours are being counted appropriately, however that wasn’t the place the assets have been being poured in.”
Nonetheless, Guo held on to her stake, which is value slightly below 5%. When Meta agreed to accumulate 49% of Scale AI, the deal pushed Guo’s stake to a skyrocketing $1.25 billion.
“I believe most individuals may have work-life steadiness in the event that they reduce out what most individuals waste their time on after they get again residence.”
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 stated.
‘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 median 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 typically eats throughout conferences as her schedule does not at all times permit for a break, she stated.
“I believe most individuals may have work-life steadiness in the event that they reduce out what most individuals waste their time on after they get again residence, which is, lots of people doom scroll on TikTok, lots of people simply sit and watch TV mindlessly,” she stated.
Within the curiosity of work-life steadiness, Guo provides herself sooner or later off on the weekends, the place from midday to six p.m., she’s completely targeted on spending time together with her pals, 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 trustworthy, 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 may theoretically work till midnight, after which I may exit to the membership till 2 a.m., after which I may 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 Photos Leisure | Getty Photos
The younger founder embodies the Silicon Valley mantra of working 24 hours a day, seven days every week, much like China’s notorious 996 work tradition, which incorporates working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days every week.
“9 a.m. to 9 p.m., to me that is nonetheless work-life steadiness,” Guo commented. “At 9 p.m., you possibly can go to dinner with your folks. You may 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 in opposition to the development, telling CNBC that the views are outdated and pointless to attain success.
An always-on tradition decreases retention and creates a revolving door of expertise, Sarah Wernér, co-founder of Husmus, instructed CNBC.”
Suranga Chandratillake, common associate at Balderton Capital, added that 996 is about “a fetishization of overwork somewhat than sensible work…it is a delusion.”
New founders have to work 90-hour weeks
Kate Goodlad and Lucy Guo communicate 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 Photos Leisure | Getty Photos
Startup founders’ working hours are a much-contested problem. Not too long ago, some enterprise capitalists have been even pushing European founders to step up the work tempo to maintain up with their counterparts within the U.S. and China.
“Usually, while 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 stated.
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. If you happen to constantly make investments a whole bunch of 1000’s into the S&P 500, it may develop to billions by the tip of your lifetime, in line with Guo.
“I do not suppose that you must work these hours to develop into a billionaire, per se. It is how you choose to do it. If you happen to choose to begin a tech firm, you are gonna be working these hours at first. If you happen to’re like, important methodology is doing it by way of investing, you are not gonna be working these hours,” she stated.
Guo’s newest startup, Passes, grew to become embroiled in controversy in February after a class motion lawsuit was filed in opposition to 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 stated in regards to the lawsuit.
A spokesperson from Passes instructed CNBC Make It by way of e-mail: “As defined within the movement to dismiss filed on April 28, Ms. Guo and Passes categorically reject the baseless allegations made in opposition to them within the lawsuit, which was solely filed in opposition to them after they rejected a $15 million cost demand.”
Clark Smith Villazor, the New York-based litigation agency that introduced the lawsuit in opposition to Passes, has but to reply to CNBC’s request for remark.
