VCs Are Lining Up To Meet Kanye West, But They Don't Actually Want To Invest In His 'Trillion-Dollar' Startup

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kanye west at fancy

Instagram (with permission from user)

Investors donta wanta DONDA, Kanye West's startup, according to Gawker's Nitasha Tiku.

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As Business Insider previously reported, West has been chatting up investors for a new creative agency, DONDA. The startup was named after West's late mother and inspired by Dr Dre's ability to redesign headphones. DONDA will house experts from 22 departments including architecture and medicine.

"I am assembling a team of architects, graphic designers, directors musicians, producers, AnRs, writers, publicist, social media experts … app guys, managers, car designers, clothing designers, DJs, video game designers, publishers, tech guys, lawyers, bankers, nutritionist ... doctors, scientist,teachers," West tweeted at the end of 2012.

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West recently spoke at The Fancy and told employees his goal was to build a "trillion-dollar company." While investors are excited to meet West, they aren't actually interested in DONDA, Tiku reports.

Part of the reason investors are skittish about DONDA is West's attitude. He recently ripped Zappos' Tony Hsieh for offering West entrepreneurial advice the rapper found hypocritical. Tiku also heard from two second-hand sources that West called himself "the next Steve Jobs" during an investor dinner at Laurene Powell Jobs' home. Tiku wasn't able to confirm the story with West's team.

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Another problem is West's inability to explain precisely what DONDA will be.

"Kanye is not good at articulating what DONDA is," Rap Genius co-founder Mahbod Moghadam told Tiku. Moghadam shares a friend with West, Andreessen Horowitz partner Ben Horowitz. Moghadam and West met in late October.

For more on DONDA, here are all of West's tweets from 2012 explaining the company he's started to build.

Via Vibe [all sic]:

  • "I have started a new company and I'm so excited about the name…. it's got the best name ever of all companies of all time!!!…."
  • "The name of the company is DONDA. DONDA is a design company which will galvanize amazing thinkers and put them in a creative space to bounce there dreams and ideas.
  • "I used to blog all the time an fit was a way to get my opinion out…Dr Dre redesigned headphones and made more impact off of one product."
  • "I am assembling a team of architects, graphic designers, directors musicians, producers, AnRs, writers, publicist, social media experts…app guys, managers, car designers, clothing designers, DJs, video gameVCs Are Lining Up To Meet Kanye West, But They Don't Actually Want To Invest In His 'Trillion-Dollar' Startup designers, publishers, tech guys, lawyers, bankers, nutritionist ..doctors, scientist,teachers."
  • "DONDA will be comprised of over 22 divisions with a goal to make products and experiences that people want and can afford…I want to put creatives in a room together with like minds that are all waaaay doper than me."
  • "We want to help simplify and aesthetically improve everything we see hear, touch, taste and feel..."
  • "To dream of, create, advertise and produce products driven equally by emotional want and utilitarian need.. To marry our wants and needs."
  • "This will all take time but I wanted everyones to know what I really care about… I care about people. I care about my fans..I care about people who have never heard of me… There are over 7 billion people on the planet now."
  • "The Watch the Throne tour was a small example of what a Donda Experience can be. This one of our projects to be released this year called 2016 OLYMPIC's …It's a semi sic-fi since 2016 is only 4 years away. We would also like' to design the MTV awards. We're taking everything 10 steps at a time LOL!"
  • "I wanted to put this in the world in hopes that the people who can actually make a difference will stand up and reach out. We need as many amazing powerful smart talented wealthy people to be involved… Come get on board… don't just sit there… reach out."
  • "We can collectively effect the world trough design. We need to pick up where steve jobs left off.When I said wealthy I wanted to point out there are so many billionaires in the world that can come together and help to redesign it. Help education. School systems were designed to turn people into factory workers."
  • "Schools should be designed to prep human beings for real life. Spike Jonze and I want to do a Summer school that tries new forms of cuuriculim. Math classes should teach addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, accounting and money management aaaaaand cut!!!"
  • "I know this is not a very rapper thing to say but I haven't bought a new car or piece of jewelry in about 2 years…I invest every dime back into creativity… hiring amazing creatives paying for flights, offices … etc…My area of expertise is in music, my passion is in music design film and products… my strength is connectivity…"
  • "There are so many broken systems from the economy to school systems jail systems… we need experts for this…We need scientist and top world designers to directly affect governments. If anyone would like to reach out email us at contactDONDA@gmail.com"