Image via Complex Original
Kanye West is not just a rapper. As part of his all-encompassing plan to bring more awesomeness to the world, he’s been expanding his "kingdom of dopeness," adding fashion designers, artists, and architects to his social circle in the hopes of learning from their expertise. But in addition to learning about lamps in Paris and buildings in Brazil, he’s been spending a lot of time with San Francisco’s tech elite. From mega-venture capitalist Ben Horowitz to Instagram founder Kevin Systrom, ‘Ye’s soaking up Silicon Valley knowledge like crazy. Here’s a guide to the most important players in his tech world crew.
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Mark Zuckerberg
Company: Facebook
Position: Co-founder, Chairman, CEO
We really can't imagine what they have in common but Kanye West and Mark Zuckerberg are pretty good friends, it would appear. Kanye famously visited Facebook in 2010 on his My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy promo run, after which he wrote a public note thanking "all [his] friends at Facebook." Since then, though, 'Ye's mentioned his friendship with Zuckerberg quite a few times.
Ben Horowitz
Company: Andreessen Horowitz
Position: Co-founder, General partner
It's no surprised that the rap-obsessed half of Andreessen Horowitz, who once said in an interview that he idolizes Yeezy, is pals with Kanye. It's unclear whether the VC has invested in any of Kanye's allegedly brilliant business ideas, but their friendship earned him an invitation to AT&T Park proposal last month.
Joseph Einhorn
Company: TheFancy
Position: Founder, CEO
A Kanye West co-sign went a long way in helping Einhorn's TheFancy social e-commerce startup gain momentum last year. After a photo of Kanye hanging out with Einhorn circulated, there were rumors that West was investing in the business. "“He gave some advice to our CEO Joe Einhorn, who looks up to Kanye the way most tech folks idolize Steve Jobs,” the company told BetaBeat last year. “It’s all about building the future of commerce. Social, mobile, swag.”
Hunter Lee Soik
Company: Shadow
Position: Founder, CEO
Designer and entrepreneur Hunter Lee Soik worked as a creative consultant for Kanye West and Jay Z's Watch the Throne project. Soik has since gone on to found Shadow, an app that's both an alarm clock and a digital dream journal and which recently closed a successful round of Kickstarter funding.
Nick Knight
Company: Showstudio
Position: Founder, Director
The designer, photographer, and director of web fashion platform Showstudio.com worked with Kanye on the video for Black Skinheads, an interactive project whose result was a compelling visual that users could control and manipulate on Kanye's website. Knight's Showtudio initiative has worked with fashion and arts luminaries to give fashion a digital makeover.
Biz Stone, Jack Dorsey & Evan Williams
Company: Twitter
Position: Founders
In the run-up to the release of MBDTF, Kanye visited Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco, where he performed for members of the company's staff. He also signed up for an account that day, marking the beginning of a now-legendary relationship with Twitter.
Kevin Systrom
Company: Instagram
Position: Co-founder
'Ye has admitted that he's reluctant to join Instagram, but that hasn't stopped him from hanging out with the photo-sharing network's founder. The two recently had lunch in San Francisco and Kanye mentioned him in his interview with Power 106 last month. An unofficial source tells us Systrom is a fan of Kim K's IG account (naturally).
Matt Mullenweg
Company: WordPress
Position: Co-founder
Matt Mullenweg didn't reveal anything about the details of his relationship with Kanye, but the WordPress co-founder posted a photo of him hanging with a smiling 'Ye to his blog late last month. Dare we say a partnership is on the horizon?
Mark Pincus
Company: Zynga
Position: Co-founder, Chief Product Officer
Along with other high-level members of San Francisco's tech scene, the founder of Zynga—the now-struggling social gaming company behind Farmville—was a guest at Kanye's proposal to Kim Kardashian. Unlike YouTube co-founder Chard Hurley, Pincus knows how to read a non-disclosure agreement.
Mahbod Moghadam
Company: Rap Genius
Position: Co-founder
The Rap Genius co-founder is known as much for his music annotation site as for frequently being obnoxious on Twitter. But that's no matter to Kanye, who apparently invited him to witness his proposal to Kim Kardashian in San Francisco.
Steve Wozniak
Company: Apple
Position: Co-founder
The next-best thing after a friendship with primo inspiration Steve Jobs is getting chummy with Steve Wozniak, Jobs' Apple co-founder and the more technologically minded of the two. So much so that the Woz was one of the few people to be invited to meet North West immediately after her birth. Wozniak's visit with Kimye was reportedly at the behest of Kim Kardashian, who wanted to surprise Kanye for his birthday.
