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Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Scale AI's 30-year-old billionaire cofounder has a warning for anyone who craves work-life balance: ‘maybe you're not in the right work'
The billionaire cofounder of Scale AI, , has a message for anyone who craves work-life balance: Maybe you're in the wrong job. This millennial wakes up at 5:30 a.m. and doesn't clock off until midnight—and it's a philosophy that's catching on among founders now openly embracing China's 996 grind. Work-life balance has become the holy grail of modern employment. It's the non-negotiable perk that trumps salary and title—with Gen Z and millennial workers willing to walk away from jobs that don't deliver it in abundance. But what if instead of walking out on jobs that don't provide balance, they should leave the jobs that make them crave it instead? That's because, according to Lucy Guo, the 30-year-old billionaire cofounder of Scale AI, the need to clock off at 5 p.m. on the dot to unwind might signal that you're in the wrong job altogether. Guo, who dropped out of college and built her fortune in the tech industry, says her grueling daily schedule—waking up at 5:30 am and working until midnight—doesn't feel like work to her at all. 'I probably don't have work-life balance,' Guo tells Fortune. 'For me, work doesn't really feel like work. I love doing my job.' 'I would say that if you feel the need for work-life balance, maybe you're not in the right work.' That doesn't mean she's completely ignorant to life outside the office. The uber successful millennial, just dethroned Taylor Swift as the youngest self-made woman on the planet, according to Forbes' latest rankings. The 5% stake she held on to when she left her post at Scale AI is now worth an estimated $1.2 billion. Now, she's busy running another venture, the creator community platform Passes. Yet even when working '90-hour workweeks,' she says she still finds 'one to two hours' to squeeze in family and friends. 'You should always find time for that, regardless of how busy you are.' That, she suggests, is about making time for life—not running from your work. 5:30 a.m.: Wake upOn the morning of our interview in London, LA-based Guo says was up all night: 'I'm so jet lagged.' But she typically wakes up at around 5:30 and does two to three high-intensity workouts at Barry's every day. 9 a.m. onwards: In the office'Every day looks very different,' Guo says. 'Some days, I am doing more marketing pushes. I'm talking to our PR, I'm doing podcasts, etc. Other days I am more product-focused… Reviewing designs, giving user experience feedback.' She has her daily black coffee hit and lunch al desko. Midnight: BedtimeThe founder says she's typically working until 12 a.m.—when she finally will shut the laptop and go to sleep. The thing keeping her up so late? Keeping a beady eye on the customer support inbox. She gives her team just five minutes to respond to their customers before responding to them herself. 'Having that white glove customer service is what makes startups stand out from big tech,' Guo explains. 'While you have less customers, it's very possible for the CEO to answer everything which makes people more loyal. It's impossible for like the Uber CEO to do this nowadays. So that's the kind of mentality I have.' 'If you want to grow, your reputation is everything, and the best thing you do for your reputation is, offering the best, support to your customers. So I'm constantly doing that.' While Guo's routine may sound extreme to the regular worker, for founders, it's the new norm. Entrepreneurs have been taking to LinkedIn and claiming that the only way to succeed in the current climate is by copying China's 996 model. That is, working 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week. Harry Stebbings, founder of the 20VC fund, ignited the latest debate at the start of the month when he said Silicon Valley had 'turned up the intensity,' and European founders needed to take notice. '7 days a week is the required velocity to win right now. There is no room for slip up,' Stebbings wrote on LinkedIn. 'You aren't competing against random company in Germany etc but the best in the world.' 'Forget 9 to 5, 996 is the new startup standard,' Martin Mignot, partner at Index Ventures echoed on the networking platform. 'Back in 2018, Michael Moritz introduced the West to China's '996' work schedule… At the time, the piece was controversial. Now? That same schedule has quietly become the norm across tech,' Mignot added. 'And founders are no longer apologizing for it.' But it's not just startup chiefs that are having to put in overtime to get ahead, CEOs admitted to Fortune at our recent Most Powerful Women Summit in Riyadh that they work well beyond the 40-hour benchmark. 'I don't know that I finish work psychologically,' Leah Cotterill CEO of Cigna Healthcare Middle East and Africa revealed, adding that she fully immerses herself into work all day and night 'Monday through Thursday' but tries to 'ease that off' on Friday for the weekend. Others put a number on the hours they work, from up to 12 a day to 80 a week. But like Guo, many said they do it—not in reaction to the current market conditions, but because they're passionate about what they do. 'I'm always working 24/7 I'm a workaholic, so I don't stop working because I enjoy what I do,' Princess Noura bint Faisal Al Saud, Culture House's CEO added. And the next generation of workers probably needs to take note. Unfortunately for work-life balance-loving young people, experts have stressed that 40-hour workweeks aren't enough if they want to climb the corporate ladder. In a leaked memo to Google's AI workers, Sergey Brin suggested that 60 hours a week is the 'sweet spot'. This story was originally featured on
Forbes
07-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
What The Richest Self-Made Women Can Teach Us About Ownership
What The Richest Self-Made Women Can Teach Us About Ownership Every year Forbes releases their list of the richest self-made women in America, and it's a mix of household names and quiet giants. Women who have built empires from nothing, turned ideas into industries, and claimed their spots at tables that they were not always invited to. And how did these women build their wealth? Through ownership of assets. Ownership, not effort, is the common thread among the richest women in America. When people hear 'self-made' they often visualize an entrepreneur grinding for 16 hours a day, sacrificing everything, and eventually making it big. And yes, hard work definitely plays a role in success, but the difference between high earners and the ultra-wealthy isn't just hard work, it's owning assets. The richest women on this list didn't just have jobs, they created assets. They build companies, brands, and intellectual property. That's the wealth-building secret that sets you up for financial success. For example, Rihanna created Fenty, and Judy Faulkner founded Epic Systems. Then there's Sara Blakely who built Spanx from nothing and retained control in the business until she sold a majority stake in a billion-dollar deal. The industries vary for the women who made the America's Richest Self-Made Women list, but what unites these women is that they built businesses and brands with value beyond themselves. For many entrepreneurs there's a heavy focus on income and ways to earn more. That is survival thinking. What separates survival mode from wealthiness is ownership thinking. Ownership thinking is what unlocks the potential for real, sustainable wealth. This is where equity, licensing, intellectual property, and brand value come into play. You build fortunes off these assets, even if you are starting small. Most women-owned businesses in North America are solo operations and service-based, and they are earning under six figures annually. That's not because women lack talent or ambition, it's because many are building businesses that depend on them. What you need to do is build assets that can scale, sell, and earn while you sleep. Women get less than 3 percent of venture capital funding, and women of color receive even less. We're encouraged to be grateful, careful, and selfless; not bold, strategic, or profit driven. Many women juggle caregiving, aging parents, and financial responsibilities alone. Betting on yourself can feel terrifying. Ownership, equity, and business valuation aren't topics that get discussed enough in women's networks. It's important to remember that these barriers are not permanent and that pushing through them is not only possible, but also powerful. Here are four ways to start shifting your strategy now: Create offers, products, or intellectual property that can grow beyond you. Think licensing, digital products, or even franchising. Don't just pay yourself, fund growth. The goal is to turn today's income into tomorrow's assets. Visibility drives value. People buy into people before they buy from companies—especially in the early stages. Even if you're not planning to sell, you should be building toward an asset with real market value. That means tracking your numbers, increasing margins, and documenting systems. The bottom line is that you don't need to be famous to get rich, but you do need to think like a founder. You need to treat your business like an asset. And most importantly, you need to stop waiting for permission to play big. Women will never close the wealth gap if we don't own more of what we're building. Ask yourself: What am I building that will still make money when I stop showing up? Achieving that means ownership, equity, and wealth, and every woman deserves a shot at that.
