Lucy Guo

Lucy Guo
Born (1994-10-14) October 14, 1994
California, U.S.
EducationCarnegie Mellon University (Dropped out)
Known forCo-founder of Scale AI

Lucy Guo is an American social media influencer and engineer who co-founded Scale AI in 2016 before being fired[1] in 2018. In 2022, she founded an OnlyFans competitor known as Passes.[2] As of 2025, Guo is the youngest female billionaire, due to her stake in Scale AI.[3][4][5]

Early life and education

Guo was raised in Fremont, California, by Chinese immigrant parents who worked as electrical engineers. 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.[6] Guo enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University where she studied computer science[6] but dropped out in 2014 after being selected for the Thiel Fellowship,[7][8] a two-year $100,000 grant for young people to pursue entrepreneurial projects instead of completing their studies.[6]

Career

After leaving Carnegie Mellon, Guo interned at Facebook before joining Snapchat as the company's first female designer.[9] At Snapchat, she helped develop Snap Maps.[10] She then moved to Quora where she met Alexandr Wang.[11] They co-founded Scale AI in 2016, but she was fired two years later in 2018.[1]

In 2018, Guo launched an app called Apply to Date allowing users to create a dating resume.[12]

In 2022, Guo founded Passes, an OnlyFans competitor.[13][14][2] As a Miami party girl, she used her connections with Miami-based entertainment agencies to launch the company.[13] It raised a $40 million Series A in 2024.[15] Passes was reported in 2024 to have allowed an account featuring a 12-year-old selling bikini photos after she had been banned by another platform. The account was removed only after the New York Times requested comment.[16] In 2025, Passes and Guo were sued by another creator who stated that they had distributed sexually abusive material of her when she was a child.[17][18][19]

In 2019, she launched Backend Capital,[20] originally called Backend Ventures,[21] a venture capital firm that primarily funded early-stage engineering startups.[22]

Personal life

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.[23][24] She was described by the New York Post in 2022 as Miami's number one party girl.[11]

As of 2024, she lived in Los Angeles after purchasing another $4.2 million home in West Hollywood.[25][26][27][28]

References

  1. ^ a b Weinberg, Cory (June 28, 2024). "Fame, Feud and Fortune: Inside Billionaire Alexandr Wang's Relentless Rise in Silicon Valley". The Information. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  2. ^ a b Martin, Iain. "How Underage Creators Threatened Lucy Guo's OnlyFans Rival Passes". Forbes. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  3. ^ Dolan, Kerry A. (April 17, 2025). "This AI Founder Has Unseated Taylor Swift As The World's Youngest Self-Made Woman Billionaire". Forbes. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  4. ^ Braun, Sara (April 18, 2025). "A 30-year-old AI founder who followed the FIRE movement to build wealth is now the youngest self-made woman billionaire". Fortune. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  5. ^ Blum, Sam (April 17, 2025). "Lucy Guo Is Now the World's Youngest Self-Made Woman Billionaire, Beating Taylor Swift". Inc. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  6. ^ a b c Muppidi, Sri (August 23, 2024). "Lucy Guo's second act: After the 29-year-old left Scale AI, she has the 'itch to build' something new". Business Insider. Retrieved March 28, 2025.
  7. ^ Thier, Jane. "Multimillionaire Lucy Guo's only regret: Investing in 'every startup that's gone to zero'". Fortune Europe. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  8. ^ Bowman, Wendy (September 20, 2024). "A 29-Year-Old Tech Tycoon Snaps Up a $4.2 Million Designer Abode in L.A." Robb Report. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  9. ^ NA, NA (June 20, 2022). "Who is Lucy Guo, second richest self-made woman under 40 after Kylie Jenner?". South China Morning Post. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
  10. ^ Powers, Jacquelynn (May 21, 2022). "How Lucy Guo conquered tech and became Miami's No. 1 party girl". New York Post. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
  11. ^ a b Megía, Carlos (June 10, 2022). "Alexandr Wang is the new youngest self-made billionaire". EL PAÍS English. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  12. ^ Thompson, Rachel (March 16, 2018). "You can now create a shareable dating resume so anyone can apply to date you". Mashable. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  13. ^ a b "Passes: the $9.5M/year softcore OnlyFans growing 1166% year-over-year". sacra.com. March 1, 2024. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  14. ^ Harmon, Grace (March 25, 2024). "Passes: Bypassing the Brands". Los Angeles Business Journal. Retrieved May 30, 2025.
  15. ^ Jones, Rachyl. "Exclusive: 29-year-old self-made millionaire Lucy Guo follows up her unicorn Scale AI with a $40 million Series A for new creator economy venture, Passes". Fortune. Retrieved March 15, 2025.
  16. ^ Valentino-DeVries, Jennifer; Keller, Michael H. (November 10, 2024). "She Was a Child Instagram Influencer. Her Fans Were Grown Men". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 23, 2025.
  17. ^ Silberling, Amanda (March 3, 2025). "Creator monetization platform Passes sued over alleged distribution of CSAM". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  18. ^ "Influencer Sues Social Media Platform Passes for Allegedly Exploiting Her as a Minor". People. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  19. ^ "Passes: the $9.5M/year softcore OnlyFans growing 1166% year-over-year". sacra.com. March 1, 2024. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  20. ^ "Who is Lucy Guo? Meet the programmer who surpassed Taylor Swift's billion-dollar fortune". MSN. April 28, 2025. Retrieved May 30, 2025.
  21. ^ Jones, Rachyl. "Exclusive: 29-year-old self-made millionaire Lucy Guo follows up her unicorn Scale AI with a $40 million Series A for new creator economy venture, Passes". Fortune. Retrieved March 15, 2025.
  22. ^ Thier, Jane. "Multimillionaire Lucy Guo's only regret: Investing in 'every startup that's gone to zero'". Fortune Europe. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  23. ^ DeLuca, Alex. "Tech Bros, Exotic Animals: HOA Pissed After Silicon Valley Transplant's Wild Party". Miami New Times. Retrieved March 15, 2025.
  24. ^ Staff, T. R. D. (February 9, 2022). "Party poopers? Techie Lucy Guo's wild jamboree at One Thousand Museum riles condo association". The Real Deal. Retrieved March 15, 2025.
  25. ^ Bowman, Wendy (September 20, 2024). "A 29-Year-Old Tech Tycoon Snaps Up a $4.2 Million Designer Abode in L.A." Robb Report. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  26. ^ Bowman, Wendy (September 20, 2024). "A 29-Year-Old Tech Tycoon Snaps Up a $4.2 Million Designer Abode in L.A." Robb Report. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  27. ^ Vaziri, Aidin (April 23, 2025). "Lucy Guo on surpassing Taylor Swift, building a billion-dollar fortune". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 30, 2025.
  28. ^ "LA500 2024: Lucy Guo". Los Angeles Business Journal. June 3, 2024. Retrieved May 30, 2025.
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