Lucy Guo Unseated Taylor Swift As the Youngest Self-Made Female Billionaire. Here’s a Look at Her Intense Daily Schedule.

Lucy Guo is a leading innovator, entrepreneur and influencer, recently named by Forbes as the youngest self-made female billionaire, bumping a certain megastar from the top spot. (No, Taylor Swift did not send her a congratulations note.)

After dropping out of Carnegie Mellon, Guo co-founded Scale AI (acquired by Meta), and now serves as the founder and CEO of Passes, a platform that offers infrastructure to creators to maximize their business and their brand — everything from AI insights to wealth management.

Lucy joined me on How Success Happens to discuss her fearless journey from selling Pokémon cards on the playground as a kid to becoming a tech billionaire. She shared why she thinks risk-taking isn’t that big of a deal, the value of making yourself the dumbest person in the room, and why, despite her massive bank account, she thinks owning a private jet is a pretty dumb move.

You can watch our entire conversation above or listen here, and check out below for Guo’s success tips and insights on the realities of entrepreneurship (i.e., never sleeping.)

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Stop Freaking Out About Risk-Taking
Guo challenges traditional thinking on risk, sharing, “I think people over-index on the risk. Like they think that things are riskier than they actually are.” Her own decision to drop out of college was grounded in a chance to learn, not fear of failure. “Worst case scenario, you gain a bunch of knowledge and then go back to school. Best case scenario? Life-changing money.”
Takeaway: Reframe risks as learning opportunities.

Surround Yourself With Greatness
Guo says success accelerates when you’re “the dumbest person in the room.” And if you’re not the dumbest person in the room, she advises, “find a different room to hang out in.” For her, winning the Thiel Fellowship in 2014 not only gave her a $100,000 grant to work with, but it also connected her to a super-smart and ambitious network that propelled her forward.
Takeaway: Seek out communities that challenge and stretch your thinking, even if it’s uncomfortable.

Rest Isn’t Really Her Thing
Her daily habits are exhausting to even read about. Guo says she thinks she inherited a gene from her parents that doesn’t require her to get much sleep. “I go to bed around 1 a.m. and generally wake up at 5 or 6 in the morning,” she says, making it clear that she doesn’t prescribe this sleep schedule to anyone. And once she’s up, she likes to kick off the work day with back-to-back workout sessions at Barry’s Bootcamp. (If you’ve ever done one Barry’s session, you know how insane that is.) “It keeps me energized all day long,” she says, adding, “As a founder, you can go a little crazy when you’re putting in a bunch of effort into a project and you’re not necessarily seeing the results. But with exercise, the output you get is the input you put in.”
Takeaway: When it comes to health and fitness, do what works for you!

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