Lucy Guo | |
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| Born | October 14, 1994 California, U.S. |
| Education | Carnegie Mellon University (Dropped out) |
| Known for | Co-founding Scale AI |
Lucy Guo is an American entrepreneur and engineer who co-founded Scale AI. [1] In 2022, she founded her second start-up, known as Passes. [2]
Guo was born October 14, 1994 and raised in Fremont, California, by Chinese immigrant parents who worked as electrical engineers. [3] [4] 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. [5] Guo enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University where she studied computer science [5] but dropped out in 2014 after being selected for the Thiel Fellowship, [6] [7] a two-year $100,000 grant for young people to pursue entrepreneurial projects instead of completing their studies. [5]
Guo interned at Facebook before joining Snapchat as the company's first female designer. [8] At Snapchat, she helped develop Snap Maps. [9] She then moved to Quora where she met Alexandr Wang. [10] They co-founded Scale AI in 2016, where Guo led operations and product design efforts. [11] She left two years later due to disagreements with Wang, but with a 5% stake in the company. [1] [12] 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. [13] [3] She is one of only six self-made female billionaires on Earth, according to Forbes. [14]
In 2018, Guo launched an app called Apply to Date allowing users to create a dating resume. [15] In 2019, she launched Backend Capital, [16] originally called Backend Ventures, [17] a venture capital firm that primarily funds early-stage engineering startups. [18] The firm has funded startups such as the fintech company Ramp. [17] [18]
In 2022, Guo founded Passes, a social platform that allows creators to post content for paid subscribers. [19] Passes acquired other creator platforms as part of its growth strategy, including Fanhouse, founded by Rosie Nguyen. [20] Passes raised a $40 million Series A in 2024. [21]
Guo's Passes platform does not allow nudity or sexual content, and takes a ten percent margin from creator earnings. [22] The platform includes deals with talent ranging from Shaquille O'Neal to gymnast Olivia Dunne. [14]
As of 2024, Guo lives in Los Angeles. [23] [24] [25]
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. [26] [27]
In 2024, she purchased another $4.2 million home in West Hollywood, [28] and then purchased a $30 million home in Hollywood Hills in 2025. [29]
Despite her wealth, Guo has been an advocate for a frugal lifestyle, including early influence from the FIRE movement. [14] She claims to drive a Honda Civic and shop at Shein. [30]