Lucy Guo co-founded Scale AI nine years ago and became a billionaire by age 30. She founded Passes Inc., a platform that lets celebrities and influencers connect directly with fans to monetize fame. Passes has raised $50 million since its December 2022 launch and targets creators popular on TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat with often edgy content. The platform positions itself between Patreon, Cameo and OnlyFans and emphasizes service and infrastructure to run creator businesses. The West Hollywood headquarters are designed to mirror influencer culture with neon signs, a nightclub-style bar and a water feature. Guo began coding young, won a Thiel Fellowship, dropped out of Carnegie Mellon and worked at Facebook and Snapchat.
Now the Carnegie Mellon University dropout is building another business, Passes Inc., a platform where celebrities like Olivia Dunne and Bella Thorne can help turn fame into fortune by connecting directly with their fans. But this time, Guo is running into well-established competitors and legal challenges in a business where success is far from certain. Backed by $50 million in funding since its December 2022 launch, Passes is vying in a field that's already crowded.
Patreon is known for working with podcasters, while Cameo, a former highflier, focuses on celebrities and OnlyFans is big in porn. Passes is between those poles. It's used mainly by influencers already popular on TikTok and Instagram, and the content tends to be edgy. Guo says its strength is service. "We just want to be like a superfan club for creators," Guo, Passes' chief executive officer, said in an interview. Her aim is to provide influencers "the entire infrastructure to be a business."
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