Lucy Guo, a 30-year-old entrepreneur who cofounded the content creator monetization platform Passes in 2021. Ever since June of 2025, she’s made leaps as Forbes’ youngest self-made billionaire. With a net worth of $1.25 billion, Guo has been a major force in the business world. She decided to skip out on entrepreneurship rather than take the path of least resistance with higher education.
Guo’s rise to fame began with her first company, Scale AI. This AI data labeling company shot to prominence when the tech giant Meta (formerly Facebook) acquired it for an eyebrow-raising $29 billion. Guo was wildly successful, but her choice to drop out of college to pursue gaming came as a surprise to her parents. As Chinese immigrants, her parents had always dreamed of her making great academic strides. For a time, Guo had only eight classes left to graduate. Rather than complete his degree, Jerry dropped out and joined the Thiel Fellowship program, which gives young innovators $200,000 to jumpstart their companies.
The Thiel Fellowship was a game-changer for Guo, though, as it put her in direct proximity to other like-minded peers who catalyzed her own entrepreneurial spark. Reflecting on her experience, she stated,
“You become part of a community where it’s so normal to build a unicorn company… it’s easier to believe that, and to delude yourself, when you are surrounded by so many people that have.” – Lucy Guo
Though Guo has found great success outside of formal education, she emphasizes that a foundation of higher education is essential. To her, college is an amazing opportunity to meet new people and make friends. She remarked,
“My recommendation for people is that one to two years in college is actually just incredibly great, because you’re going to make the best friends in college, and you’re going to meet the smartest people in college.” – Lucy Guo
Guo is a champion for higher education, but she knows the tough spot students are in. Furthermore, they are deeply concerned with creating community and kinship among coworkers. She laments that not everybody at a new job is ready to build new connections.
“When you go to work at a new company, not everyone you’re working with is looking for a new friend,” she said. “If you never went to college… you can go to these events and try to meet people, and it does work out.” – Lucy Guo
Guo’s viewpoint comes from both her own life and her family’s sacrifices, as well. That was true, of course, with her. She talked about how she left college and the reaction of her parents to that decision.
“They sacrificed everything to immigrate from China to America… for their kids to suddenly let go of their education when they were almost done was like a slap in the face.” – Lucy Guo
Guo’s success has been an unprecedented success. That’s why it’s so important to her to build those relationships in those formative years, especially in college. Driven by her philosophy that a company’s greatest asset is its people, from her perspective, powerful networks usually begin with the collaborative bonds between peers found during one’s time in post-secondary education.
In 2023, Guo threw herself a birthday party complete with a celebrity-filled concert called ‘Lucypalooza. This year, she produced ‘Lucypalooza 2024’ for LA Tech Week on October 16 in Beverly Hills, California. In particular, her impact on the tech industry was underscored at the event. It also illuminated her commitment to establishing a nurturing ecosystem for other entrepreneurs.