Inside billionaire Lucy Guo’s intense daily routine: 5:30 a.m. wake-ups, double gym sessions, and no lunch breaks

Lucy Guo mightiness beryllium a billionaire, but alternatively of a beingness of luxury and comfort, she swears by a relentless enactment ethic and strict regular routine.

At conscionable 30 years old, the California-born-and-raised entrepreneur has achieved what galore volition walk their lifetimes chasing. In April, Guo's nett worthy soared to $1.3 cardinal aft her archetypal business, Scale AI, wrapped up a deal with tech elephantine Meta that valued the institution astatine $25 billion. She was named the youngest self-made pistillate billionaire, a rubric antecedently held by popular prima Taylor Swift.

"Honestly, I inactive consciousness the aforesaid arsenic that small girl, similar my beingness pre-money and post-money, it hasn't truly changed that much," Guo told CNBC Make It successful an interview.

Guo co-founded Scale AI, an AI information labeling company, alongside Alexander Wang successful 2016. Guo, who headed up the operations and merchandise plan teams astatine the Silicon Valley startup, near the institution successful 2018.

"We had disagreements astir products and sales," Guo explained. "Where Alex was precise sales-driven connected bringing successful much customers, I was precise focused connected similar 'hey, we request to prioritize the products oregon helping marque definite that scalers [employees] get paid connected time, their hours are being counted correctly, but that wasn't wherever the resources were being poured in."

However, Guo held connected to her stake, which is worthy conscionable nether 5%. When Meta agreed to get 49% of Scale AI, the woody pushed Guo's involvement to a skyrocketing $1.25 billion.

A serial entrepreneur and a postgraduate of the Thiel Fellowship program, Guo wasn't retired of the crippled for agelong and founded Backend Capital, a task superior steadfast investing successful early-stage tech startups successful 2019. Her astir caller company, Passes, a contented creator monetization level founded successful 2022, has raised implicit $65 cardinal successful funding.  

Since becoming a billionaire, Guo hasn't taken her ft disconnected the enactment pedal. "I americium inactive moving precise agelong enactment days," she said.

Guo belongs to a class of founders who optimize their days to beryllium arsenic productive arsenic possible, and her newfound billionaire presumption isn't an excuse to dilatory down.

An mean time for Guo includes waking up astatine 5:30 a.m. and going to Barry's Bootcamp for 2 workout sessions back-to-back. Lunches are a luxury for the startup founder, and she often eats during meetings arsenic her docket doesn't ever let for a break, she said.

"I deliberation astir radical could person work-life equilibrium if they chopped retired what astir radical discarded their clip connected erstwhile they get backmost home, which is, a batch of radical doom scroll connected TikTok, a batch of radical conscionable beryllium and ticker TV mindlessly," she said.

In the involvement of work-life balance, Guo gives herself 1 time disconnected connected the weekends, wherever from noon to 6 p.m., she's wholly focused connected spending clip with her friends, and past it's backmost to enactment consecutive after.

"I deliberation I person much hours successful a time due to the fact that I'm gonna beryllium honest, I'm wholly blessed. I don't request that overmuch sleep…even though I'm moving these agelong hours, I consciousness similar I person work-life balance.

"I could theoretically enactment until midnight, and past I could spell retired to the nine until 2 a.m., and past I could spell to sleep, and past aftermath up astatine similar 6 a.m. and bash Barry's."

The young laminitis embodies the Silicon Valley mantra of moving 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, akin to China's infamous 996 enactment culture, which includes moving from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week.

"9 a.m. to 9 p.m., to maine that's inactive work-life balance," Guo commented. "At 9 p.m., you tin spell to meal with your friends. You tin invitation them to a potluck. You don't request to slumber from 9 to nine. That's a ridiculous magnitude of sleep."

"If anyone thinks that's not work-life balance, I don't cognize what to accidental due to the fact that you virtually person 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. to bent retired with your friends, and past you slumber from 2 a.m. to nine. That's 7 hours of sleep, which is much than enough."

But not everyone agrees with the pursuit of a 996 enactment schedule. Some founders antecedently pushed backmost against the trend, telling CNBC that the views are outdated and unnecessary to execute success.

An always-on civilization decreases retention and creates a revolving doorway of talent, Sarah Wernér, co-founder of Husmus, told CNBC."

Suranga Chandratillake, wide spouse astatine Balderton Capital, added that 996 is astir "a fetishization of overwork alternatively than astute work…it's a myth."

Startup founders' moving hours are a much-contested issue. Recently, immoderate task capitalists were adjacent pushing European founders to step up the enactment pace to support up with their counterparts successful the U.S. and China.

"In general, erstwhile you're archetypal starting your company, it's adjacent intolerable to bash it without doing that [996], similar you're going to request to enactment similar 90-hour enactment weeks to get things disconnected the ground," Guo said.

As a institution grows, hires much talent, and finds stability, Guo says it is imaginable to enactment little aboriginal on.

She noted that becoming a billionaire isn't astir aggravated moving hours. If you consistently put hundreds of thousands into the S&P 500, it could turn to billions by the extremity of your lifetime, according to Guo.

"I don't deliberation you request to enactment those hours to go a billionaire, per se. It's however you opt to bash it. If you opt to commencement a tech company, you're gonna beryllium moving those hours successful the beginning. If you're like, main method is doing it via investing, you're not gonna beryllium moving those hours," she said.

Guo's latest startup, Passes, became embroiled successful contention successful February aft a class enactment lawsuit was filed against her and the company, alleging that she distributed kid intersexual maltreatment worldly connected the level to paying subscribers.

"I deliberation it's a full shakedown. I ne'er met this person, ne'er talked to this person," Guo said astir the lawsuit.

A spokesperson from Passes told CNBC Make It via email: "As explained successful the question to disregard filed connected April 28, Ms. Guo and Passes categorically cull the baseless allegations made against them successful the lawsuit, which was lone filed against them aft they rejected a $15 cardinal outgo demand."

Clark Smith Villazor, the New York-based litigation steadfast that brought the suit against Passes, has yet to respond to CNBC's petition for comment.