Phoebe Gates, daughter of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, was reportedly a member of a secretive, invitation-only Stanford course nicknamed "So You Think You Can Rule the World?" The unofficial 10-week class, which admits only 12 students, focuses on identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities in systems of power, according to former students cited by The Stanford Daily. The course is not publicized, has no enrollment code, and requires referrals and an intensive interview process.
This revelation comes as Gates' AI-powered shopping startup, Phia, faces allegations of exploiting loopholes in online affiliate marketing. Testing by Bloomberg, affiliate-marketing researcher Ben Edelman, and Capital One Shopping found that Phia's browser extension allegedly took credit and commissions for sales it did not generate by using "cookie stuffing." This practice involves tagging users with cookies to make it appear as though the app referred customers who arrived from other sources.
Internal messages reported by Bloomberg suggest that Gates and Phia co-founder Sophia Kianni were aware of the automatic cookie-dropping features months before the company claimed to have discovered the issue. In a Slack message dated December 18, Gates expressed concern that the practice might be "an issue across the board," while Kianni stated, "Whatever we can do to keep these cookies dropping will be amazing thank you." Phia has since blamed the practice on a software issue. While Gates and Kianni have not been charged with any crimes, legal experts suggest that civil claims and repayment demands are more likely than criminal prosecution.
Phia's alleged commission practices generated substantial revenue. In June, these practices accounted for approximately 51% of the company's earnings. Following the disabling of these features in July, average daily revenue reportedly decreased significantly. Phia attributed this drop partly to the disabling of other monetization methods.
The controversy threatens to overshadow the rapid rise of Phia, which raised $43.5 million before its launch from venture firms and celebrity investors, including Kris Jenner and Khloé Kardashian. Gates' father, Bill Gates, was not a direct financial backer but reportedly provided support on engineering and hiring matters.
Some in the venture capital world had previously expressed unease with Phia's marketing, which heavily featured celebrity investors while omitting institutional backers. This approach led some to believe the company was disregarding traditional Silicon Valley financiers. One tech investor described Phia's presentation style as "movie theater-esque" and felt his firm had "dodged a bullet" by not investing.
Gates and Kianni also attempted to document their entrepreneurial journey through a podcast called "The Burnouts," launched in April 2025 under Alex Cooper's Unwell Network. The partnership with Unwell reportedly ended after about a year, though the podcast continued independently.
Born in 2002, Phoebe Gates grew up with significant privilege. She graduated from Stanford in 2024 with a degree in human biology, with her mother, Melinda French Gates, delivering the commencement address. Despite her father's decision to drop out of Harvard, her parents insisted she complete her college education. Gates has previously acknowledged her privileged background but expressed a desire to forge her own identity, aiming for Phia's success to be independent of her family name.