Tech takes the crown: Lucy Guo beats Taylor Swift in billionaire race
Taylor Swift
, the name synonymous with sold-out stadiums and record-breaking hits, experienced a monumental career high as her "
Eras Tour
" catapulted her into billionaire status in 2024 with a total net worth of $1.6 billion, making her
youngest self-made woman billionaire
at 33.
However, the crown of "youngest self-made woman billionaire" has now been passed on to
Lucy Guo
, the 30-year-old co-founder of the artificial intelligence powerhouse
Scale AI
.
Guo's journey to billionaire status is a stark contrast to Swift's stadium-filling trajectory. The daughter of Chinese immigrant parents, she honed her coding skills in the tech-saturated San Francisco Bay Area from a young age.
Her academic path at Carnegie Mellon University, where she studied computer science and human-computer interaction, was unconventional.
Driven by an entrepreneurial fire, Guo dropped out before graduating to become a Thiel Fellow, a program funded by billionaire investor Peter Thiel that empowers promising young minds to build companies instead of finishing college – a path she shares with India's OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal.
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The twist in Guo's billionaire tale? She hasn't been actively involved with Scale AI for years. Co-founding the company in 2016 at just 21 alongside Alexandr Wang, she played a crucial role in its early success, even landing both on Forbes' Under 30 list by 2018.
However, that same year brought a reported falling out with Wang, leading to her departure. Despite this separation, Guo held onto a significant stake in Scale AI.
Adding her other assets, Forbes pegs her total net worth at $1.25 billion. This makes her a unique figure – a billionaire largely thanks to a company she helped build but no longer operates.
Life after Scale AI has been equally dynamic for Guo. She co-founded
Backend Capital
, a venture capital firm focused on backing emerging companies. Leveraging her tech acumen and investment insights, she then launched her own venture, Passes.
This platform, drawing parallels to Patreon and OnlyFans, connects creators and celebrities with fans who pay for exclusive online interactions like chats and videos. Passes has already attracted notable names like basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal, DJ Kygo, and former Disney star Bella Thorne, showcasing Guo's ability to navigate the creator economy.
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