Lucy Guo
Born 1994 · Age 31
American entrepreneur, engineer and social media influencer; co‑founder of Scale AI and founder & CEO of Passes. As of 2025 she is reported to be the world's youngest self-made female billionaire due to her retained stake in Scale AI.
Compare Your Trajectory
See how your career milestones stack up against Lucy Guo and other industry leaders.
Life & Career Timeline
Born in California
Lucy Guo was born in California to Chinese immigrant parents who worked as electrical engineers.
Began learning to code (second grade)
Reported early exposure to programming; began learning to code in elementary school.
Earned money developing Neopets bots
As a teenager she taught herself programming and monetized skills by developing bots and selling in-game assets for Neopets.
Built early web/mobile projects (Pokecrew, AccessURL, FriendSwipe)
Freelance developer work and consumer web/mobile apps created while young; reported to have generated five-figure revenues in high school from internet projects.
Enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University
Entered Carnegie Mellon to study computer science and human-computer interaction.
Product designer at Snapchat (first female designer)
Worked at Snapchat as the company's first female designer; contributed to product work including Snap Maps (company product she helped develop).
Awarded Thiel Fellowship ($100,000)
Selected for the Thiel Fellowship, a two-year $100,000 grant encouraging young entrepreneurs to leave college and build companies.
Dropped out of Carnegie Mellon
Left Carnegie Mellon University after receiving the Thiel Fellowship to pursue entrepreneurial projects.
Interned at Facebook
Internship at Facebook after leaving university (timeline reported as post-Thiel Fellowship).
Joined Quora as product designer; met Alexandr Wang
Moved to Quora for product design work; met future Scale AI co-founder Alexandr Wang while at Quora.
Co‑founded Scale AI
Co-founded Scale AI with Alexandr Wang to provide labeled data and infrastructure for training ML models.
Ran operations & product design at Scale AI
Served in operational and product design leadership roles in early Scale AI days.
Recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30 (cofounder)
Named to Forbes' Under 30 list for founders/cofounders of Scale AI (source dates vary; cofounder recognition circa 2017–2018).
Departed / was fired from Scale AI
Left Scale AI amid reported differences in vision with cofounder Alexandr Wang; retained an equity stake after departure.
Launched Apply to Date app
Launched a dating-resume app called Apply to Date (covered by Mashable on March 16, 2018).
Founded Backend Capital (originally Backend Ventures)
Started Backend Capital, a venture firm focusing on early-stage engineering startups.
Purchased Miami apartment for $6.7M
Bought a $6.7 million apartment in Miami (reported in 2020); hosted high-profile events that generated condo association disputes.
Early investment in Ramp (Backend Capital)
Backend Capital made a six‑figure seed/angel investment in Ramp (later a high‑value fintech unicorn); reported as a notable early win.
Founded Passes (creator monetization platform)
Launched Passes, a platform for creators to monetize content and subscriptions; positioned as an OnlyFans/Patreon competitor.
One Thousand Museum party dispute & HOA conflict reported
Real-estate/HOA disputes reported in Miami tied to parties she hosted at an expensive condominium (reported Feb 2022).
Named among America's wealthiest self-made women (press coverage)
Included in press lists and coverage (Forbes / other outlets) recognizing her among wealthier self-made women; media attention to her Scale stake and Passes.
Passes signs celebrity partnerships
Passes signed deals and partnerships with celebrities and creators including Olivia Dunne, Shaquille O’Neal and Kygo to be on the platform.
Profiled in major outlets (Business Insider, Fortune, Robb Report)
Multiple in-depth profiles published in 2024 about Guo's career, lifestyle and Passes’ growth.
Passes: $50M total raised and $150M valuation reported
Forbes reports Passes raised roughly $50M across 2022–2024 from investors including Bond Capital and Menlo Ventures and was valued at ~$150M.
Passes raises Series A ($40M reported)
Passes completed a $40 million Series A round (reported by multiple outlets in 2024).
Included in LA500 list (Los Angeles Business Journal)
Named to LA500 (list of influential L.A. business leaders) on June 3, 2024.
Purchased West Hollywood home for $4.2M
Bought a designer residence in West Hollywood for $4.2 million (reported September 20, 2024).
Media: widely profiled after billionaire designation
Extensive media coverage in Forbes, Fortune, BusinessWeek and other outlets profiling Guo as the youngest self-made female billionaire and covering her career arc and investments.
Purchased Hollywood Hills spec house (~$30M)
Reported purchase of a Los Angeles Hollywood Hills spec house for nearly $30 million in 2025 (reported in property press / WSJ coverage later).
Passes bans underage creators and purges content
Before and during the litigation, Passes reportedly implemented policy changes banning underage creators and purged related content (reported March 2025).
Passes accused in lawsuit over alleged underage content (filed Feb 2025)
A creator sued Passes and Guo alleging the platform hosted/distributed nude photos of her before her 18th birthday; covered in press Feb–Mar 2025.
TechCrunch reports Passes CSAM allegations coverage
TechCrunch published a report on March 3, 2025 about a lawsuit alleging Passes hosted alleged child sexual abuse material; Passes denied wrongdoing.
Public social/personal milestone: 3,000 classes at Barry's Bootcamp
Shared public fitness milestone (Instagram) of completing 3,000 classes at Barry's Bootcamp in early April 2025; covered in press as a personal detail.
Declared youngest self-made female billionaire
Media outlets including Forbes reported Guo became the world's youngest self-made woman billionaire in April 2025, principally due to her retained Scale AI stake (~just under 5%) and holdings in Passes.
Scale AI tender-offer values company at $25B (reported)
Forbes reported a tender offer set to allow early employees/investors to sell shares, valuing Scale AI at about $25 billion (reported April 17, 2025; completion slated by June 1).
Key Achievement Ages
Explore what Lucy Guo and others achieved at these notable ages:
Similar Trajectories
Madison Beer
Born 1999 · Age 26
American singer-songwriter and author who rose to fame after Justin Bieber shared her YouTube cover; released EP 'As She Pleases' (2018), albums 'Life Support' (2021) and 'Silence Between Songs' (2023), co-founded skincare brand Know Beauty, voiced Evelynn in virtual band K/DA, and published memoir 'The Half of It'.
Justin Jefferson
Born 1999 · Age 26
American professional football wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings; starred at LSU (CFP national champion 2020), drafted in 2020, multi-time Pro Bowler, 2022 AP Offensive Player of the Year, record-setting receiver through his first five NFL seasons.
Dream
Born 1999 · Age 26
American YouTuber, Twitch streamer, Minecraft speedrunner and musician known as Dream; creator of Minecraft Manhunt and the Dream SMP; active online since 2014 and rose to major popularity 2019–2021.
Sualeh Asif
Born 1999 · Age 26
Karachi-born mathematician and computer scientist; MIT-educated co‑founder and Chief Product Officer of Anysphere, maker of Cursor, an AI-native IDE valued at roughly $9.9B in 2025.
James Charles
Born 1999 · Age 26
American beauty YouTuber, makeup artist, and influencer known for popularizing male beauty content on social media; first male CoverGirl ambassador; creator of Sisters Collection with Morphe; host/producer of YouTube Originals 'Instant Influencer'.
Ana Sayre
Born 1999 · Age 26
Anamaria Sayre is a Mexican-American multimedia producer, reporter and co-host of NPR Music's Alt.Latino. She produces El Tiny (the Latin Tiny Desk series) and has produced Tiny Desk concerts and stories elevating Latinx artists and culture.