Inside billionaire Lucy Guo’s intense each day routine: 5:30 a.m. wake-ups, double health club periods, and no lunch breaks

Lucy Guo may be a billionaire, however as an alternative of a lifetime of luxurious and luxury, she swears by a relentless work ethic and strict each day routine.

At simply 30 years previous, the California-born-and-raised entrepreneur has achieved what many will spend their lifetimes chasing. In April, Guo’s web price soared to $1.3 billion after her first enterprise, Scale AI, wrapped up a deal with tech big Meta that valued the corporate at $25 billion. She was named the youngest self-made lady billionaire, a title beforehand held by pop star Taylor Swift.

“Actually, I nonetheless really feel the identical as that little lady, like my life pre-money and post-money, it hasn’t actually modified that a lot,” Guo informed CNBC Make It in an interview.

Guo co-founded Scale AI, an AI information labeling firm, alongside Alexander Wang in 2016. Guo, who headed up the operations and product design groups on the Silicon Valley startup, left the corporate in 2018.

“We had disagreements round merchandise and gross sales,” Guo defined. “The place Alex was very sales-driven on bringing in additional prospects, I used to be very centered on like ‘hey, we have to prioritize the merchandise or serving to guarantee that scalers [employees] receives a commission on time, their hours are being counted accurately, however that wasn’t the place the sources had been being poured in.”

Nevertheless, Guo held on to her stake, which is price just below 5%. When Meta agreed to amass 49% of Scale AI, the deal pushed Guo’s stake to a skyrocketing $1.25 billion.

A serial entrepreneur and a graduate of the Thiel Fellowship program, Guo wasn’t out of the sport for lengthy and based Backend Capital, a enterprise capital agency investing in early-stage tech startups in 2019. Her most up-to-date firm, Passes, a content material creator monetization platform based in 2022, has raised over $65 million in funding.  

Since turning into a billionaire, Guo hasn’t taken her foot off the work pedal. “I’m nonetheless working very lengthy work days,” she stated.

Guo belongs to a class of founders who optimize their days to be as productive as potential, and her newfound billionaire standing is not an excuse to decelerate.

A median day for Guo consists of waking up at 5:30 a.m. and going to Barry’s Bootcamp for 2 exercise periods back-to-back. Lunches are a luxurious for the startup founder, and he or she usually eats throughout conferences as her schedule would not at all times enable for a break, she stated.

“I believe most individuals might have work-life stability in the event that they reduce out what most individuals waste their time on after they get again residence, which is, lots of people doom scroll on TikTok, lots of people simply sit and watch TV mindlessly,” she stated.

Within the curiosity of work-life stability, Guo provides herself sooner or later off on the weekends, the place from midday to six p.m., she’s completely centered on spending time along with her pals, after which it is again to work straight after.

“I believe I’ve extra hours in a day as a result of I am gonna be sincere, I am completely blessed. I do not want that a lot sleep…though I am working these lengthy hours, I really feel like I’ve work-life stability.

“I might theoretically work till midnight, after which I might exit to the membership till 2 a.m., after which I might fall asleep, after which get up at like 6 a.m. and do Barry’s.”

The younger founder embodies the Silicon Valley mantra of working 24 hours a day, seven days every week, much like China’s notorious 996 work tradition, which incorporates working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days every week.

“9 a.m. to 9 p.m., to me that is nonetheless work-life stability,” Guo commented. “At 9 p.m., you possibly can go to dinner with your mates. You may invite them to a potluck. You need not sleep from 9 to 9. That is a ridiculous quantity of sleep.”

“If anybody thinks that is not work-life stability, I do not know what to say since you actually have 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. to hang around with your mates, and you then sleep from 2 a.m. to 9. That is seven hours of sleep, which is greater than sufficient.”

However not everybody agrees with the pursuit of a 996 work schedule. Some founders beforehand pushed again towards the development, telling CNBC that the views are outdated and pointless to attain success.

An always-on tradition decreases retention and creates a revolving door of expertise, Sarah Wernér, co-founder of Husmus, informed CNBC.”

Suranga Chandratillake, normal accomplice at Balderton Capital, added that 996 is about “a fetishization of overwork relatively than sensible work…it is a fable.”

Startup founders’ working hours are a much-contested subject. Lately, some enterprise capitalists had been even pushing European founders to step up the work tempo to maintain up with their counterparts within the U.S. and China.

“On the whole, if you’re first beginning your organization, it is close to unattainable to do it with out doing that [996], like you are going to have to work like 90-hour work weeks to get issues off the bottom,” Guo stated.

As an organization grows, hires extra expertise, and finds stability, Guo says it’s potential to work much less afterward.

She famous that turning into a billionaire is not about intense working hours. In case you constantly make investments lots of of hundreds into the S&P 500, it might develop to billions by the tip of your lifetime, in accordance with Guo.

“I do not assume you could work these hours to turn into a billionaire, per se. It is how you choose to do it. In case you decide to begin a tech firm, you are gonna be working these hours at first. In case you’re like, predominant technique is doing it by way of investing, you are not gonna be working these hours,” she stated.

Guo’s newest startup, Passes, grew to become embroiled in controversy in February after a class motion lawsuit was filed towards her and the corporate, alleging that she distributed little one sexual abuse materials on the platform to paying subscribers.

“I believe it is a whole shakedown. I by no means met this particular person, by no means talked to this particular person,” Guo stated in regards to the lawsuit.

A spokesperson from Passes informed CNBC Make It by way of e-mail: “As defined within the movement to dismiss filed on April 28, Ms. Guo and Passes categorically reject the baseless allegations made towards them within the lawsuit, which was solely filed towards them after they rejected a $15 million cost demand.”

Clark Smith Villazor, the New York-based litigation agency that introduced the lawsuit towards Passes, has but to reply to CNBC’s request for remark.