Youngest self-made billionaire Lucy Guo advocates 90-hour workweek for startup founders

Lucy Guo, who has often been as much noted for her disciplined lifestyle as her professional achievements, described a tightly regimented daily routine.

Lucy Guo, the 30-year-old entrepreneur who co-founded artificial intelligence firm ScaleAI, had recently been propelled into the spotlight after becoming one of the youngest self-made female billionaires. Her fortune rose sharply to an estimated $1.3 billion following a significant investment in the company by Meta, placing her net worth ahead of pop star Taylor Swift.

Guo, who has often been as much noted for her disciplined lifestyle as her professional achievements, described a tightly regimented daily routine that begins at 5:30 am with back-to-back fitness sessions at Barry’s Bootcamp. She explained that she deliberately avoided taking lunch in order to sustain her pace through the working day.

Speaking to CNBC, she said: “Most people could have work-life balance if they cut out what they waste time on after work—like doom scrolling or watching TV.”

Her schedule, however, extends well beyond ordinary office hours. Guo frequently works until midnight before socialising until around 2 am, yet still insists on maintaining her early morning start. She attributes her ability to thrive on minimal sleep to an expanded working window, giving her what she believes were more productive hours than her peers.

Alongside her personal regimen, Guo offered advice for founders in the technology sector. She advocated for extremely long hours in the early stages of a start-up, recommending a 90-hour working week as a necessity to establish momentum.

“When you’re first starting your company, it’s near impossible to do it without doing that,” she argued, adding that extraordinary effort was vital for founders who wanted to build something lasting.

Her perspective recalled the controversial “996” approach once common in parts of China’s technology industry, where employees were expected to work from 9 am to 9 pm, six days each week.

Although her unyielding discipline had won admiration in certain circles, Guo’s philosophy also prompted criticism. Mental health campaigners and seasoned voices in the start-up community cautioned that such an approach risked promoting unsustainable work patterns and fuelling burnout.