It was an unusual pairing: Makan, a disarming, strong-willed investor with a world-class Rolodex and a commitment to absolute discretion, and West, a

Inside Iconiq: How Mark Zuckerberg's banker built a secret Silicon Valley empire and made billions

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2021-06-21 22:30:04

It was an unusual pairing: Makan, a disarming, strong-willed investor with a world-class Rolodex and a commitment to absolute discretion, and West, a maximally bombastic and unrestrained rapper whose life has played out almost entirely in the public eye.

The two were brought together as a result of Makan's constant drive to expand his network of clients, a list that includes Mark Zuckerberg and Tom Hanks. At stake for West was admission to Silicon Valley's most exclusive club: Iconiq Capital.

Makan's standards are exacting, however, and Yeezy didn't make the cut. An initial meeting between the two went nowhere, and in subsequent conversations with his employees, the Iconiq founder was dismissive of West, whose frequent tabloid appearances and brushes with controversy had the potential for a public-relations risk. (A spokesperson for West declined to comment.)

Over the past decade, Makan has quietly built an unrivalled network of billionaire and celebrity clients through his high-end wealth-management firm, Iconiq Capital. By leveraging an early connection to Facebook's founding team, the South African-born businessman transformed himself from a rising star wealth manager at Morgan Stanley into a free-wheeling counselor to billionaires, responsible for $40 billion in funds under management.