Taylor Swift is the undisputed Queen of Pop, but she was recently bumped out of the top spot on a different list. Scale AI co-founder Lucy Guo has just replaced Swift as the world's youngest self-made female billionaire. According to Forbes, Guo is worth an astonishing $1.3 billion. Guo founded Scale AI with Alexandr Wang in 2016 when she was only 21. The company uses sophisticated data modeling to help develop AI applications.
Life is a question of timing, and Guo is reaping the rewards of building a successful AI company when the sector is a magnet for investor capital. It should be noted, however, that she's not an overnight success story. She may be only 30, but Guo has spent more than half her life working with computers. According to the New York Post, Guo first took up coding while attending middle school in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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She was an outstanding student who earned the right to attend Carnegie Mellon University. However, she dropped out after receiving a prestigious Thiel Fellowship worth $100,000. The grant allowed her to solidify her tech credentials, first as an intern with Facebook, and then as Snapchat's first female designer. Guo moved on from Snapchat to take a position at Quora, where she met Wang.
The two co-founded Scale AI in 2016, but Wang was the CEO. The partnership soured due to philosophical differences and Wang would eventually fire Guo in 2018, but she didn't leave empty-handed. Guo retained a roughly 5% stake in Scale AI, which continued to build on its success in her absence. The company's client list includes the U.S. Department of Defense, Meta, and the Qatari government.
Guo, an admitted workaholic, is not short on personality and has a frugal streak that belies her net worth. "I don't like wasting money," Guo told Fortune. Although she admits to having a few fancy designer dresses in her closet, Guo notes they are the exception and not the rule. "Everything I wear is free or from Shein…Some of them aren't going to be that great quality, but there's always like two pieces or so that really work out, and I just wear them every day," she said.
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The Post also reports that Guo has a giant collection of Pokémon memorabilia that includes everything from slippers to stuffed animals. She also enjoys skateboarding. It might seem a little pedestrian, but that fits into Guo's penchant for understated living. She loves a good time but doesn't spend lavishly. Nor does she feel the need to flaunt her wealth.
"Who you see typically wasting money on designer clothes, a nice car, et cetera, they're technically in the millionaire range," Guo told Fortune. "All their friends are multimillionaires or billionaires, and they feel a little bit insecure, so they feel the need to be flashy to show other people, ‘Look, I'm successful.' I'm not showing off to anyone, right?"
Despite her $1 billion-plus fortune, Guo is not resting on her laurels. She also runs a company called Passes, which bills itself as a PG-rated version of OnlyFans. That's in addition to her time running Backend Capital, an investment firm that raises seed money for startups. All things considered, Guo has already enjoyed a full career, but if her past success is any indication, she has only just begun.
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