Alexandre Wang (Scale AI), a tech entrepreneur founder and CEO of Scale AI made global headlines recently as he was named the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. He is now 25 years old. The tech-whizz created his company during a summer off from MIT. It’s currently worth $7.3 Billion.
So who is this young Asian American billionaire and how did they make their fortune? We take a closer glance.
How Alexandre Wang Setup Company
Wang began studying for his BSc in Mathematics and Computer Science (aka MIT) at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology. After finishing his first year as a student at the prestigious New England university, Wang began Scale together with his fellow Lucy Guo, another young techie.
Forbes states that the co-founders met while at Quora, an online question and answers platform. The venture was founded by the entrepreneur duo, who received investment from the US startup accelerator Y Combinator.
Forbes asked Wang to recount the story of Scale’s founding. “I told my parents that Scale was going to be something I did for the summer… I never went to school again.”
Alexandr Wang’s Net Worth
Wang received US$350 million in investment financing last year. The scale has already generated US$100 million of revenue and this financial backing brought the company’s value to a staggering US$7.3 trillion.
Forbes’ one-per cent share of the company has resulted in Forbes estimating that his net wealth is now US$ 1 billion. That’s a lot for a 25-year-old. He ranked 2,534th on Forbes’ list of world billionaires at the time that he wrote.
Scientific Family of Alexandr Wang
Perhaps the family background that led to the young billionaire’s technological and scientific achievements is what contributed to his success. Prestige reports that Wang was born in New Mexico to physicist parents who worked on projects related to the American military.
Wang was an obvious inheritor of a strong intellect, and would regularly participate in maths competitions at school. Wang was coding full-time for Quora by 17 years of age when most high-school students are likely to be preparing for their journey toward university.
Alexandr Wang’s Previous Appearance on Forbes
Wang had been named in Forbes 2018 Under 30 list before his notable achievement of becoming the youngest self-made millionaire. The annual list recognizes stars, bright minds, young entrepreneurs, and stars across many industries.
Wang and Lucy Guo, his Scale AI cofounder were both on the elite list in Enterprise Technology. More than 300 companies have used the technology from his company. Scale’s About page states that Scale is a company dedicated to the “acceleration of the development of AI applications”.
Fortune magazine claims that Scale AI provides data preparation services to help businesses train AI systems. Because it is the largest company within the sector, its use extends to multiple industries including mapping, robotics and virtual reality, as well as government and self-driving cars.
The scale will donate its technology right now to help analyse satellite imagery of the impact of Russian attacks on Ukraine.
Forbes was told by Wang that “Every industry is sitting on huge amounts of data. Scale’s goal is to help them unlock the potential of the data and supercharge their businesses with AI.”
Scale technology is so effective and valuable, that more than 300 companies have already used it. General Motors is just one of many big companies that Wang’s company has helped to develop their technology. Others include PayPal, Toyota and SAP as well as Lyft and the American Armed Forces.
Final Thoughts
Alex has demonstrated that it’s possible to create something meaningful with openness and willingness to take on risks. He was starting at MIT and didn’t know what Scale AI would look like after three years.
He had the technical expertise and the will to build a company. However, he still made mistakes as founders do and quickly responded to set the course for success again and again.
After listening to Alex’s story, you may think: “What criteria make a risk too difficult for me to accept?”
Many of those parameters can include opportunity cost. What happens if I manage to build a business? It would not be less financially sustainable than just working for one company for a couple of years.
It’s true, but there are also opportunity costs. You won’t be able to know until it’s tried.