Recently, Kanye West publicly asked Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Page to fund his ideas and his company DONDA. There have been many reactions. I want to tell you why he deserves the funding and what it would mean to myself and the world.

In Kanye West and DONDA, you will find a proven track record, a team of world class creatives, a broad vision for the common good, years of experience in multiple industries and disciplines, with unrivaled resolve and determination.

Movement is probably a better term to describe DONDA’s vision rather than company. Numerous pundits and articles have gone on for so long about the inevitable death of America’s spirit of invention and idealism. The negative consequences of capitalism have been debated to death, while the private sector is constantly pitted against the government and its priorities regarding public services. The most significant thing that these critical issues have in common is a disconnect. We’re in an age where so many people feel that most corporations and products lack integrity. Most things are seen as cold, fake, and easily disposable. Either employees are treated with unfairness by their employers, or customers are treated as walking wallets. There is no semblance of life, joy, or what could be more vaguely described as soul in most services and products that are used nowadays. This has been such a longstanding issue that this state has been taken for granted within the entire global culture. It even permeates interpersonal relationships; this is clearly indicated by the fact that while living in an age of ubiquitous connection, people are dissatisfied with their daily experiences, and are not fulfilled in many ways.

Kanye’s mission involves opposing every issue brought up in the aforementioned paragraph. Music, fashion, and the various other technical and artistic pursuits that have highlighted Kanye’s career are disciplines that require an extraordinary perception of what people can connect to on emotional, visual, spiritual, and physical levels. By delivering time after time so successfully, it’s extremely obvious that he has a deep understanding of the process of creating a product, and it simply cannot be dismissed due to the realms he is currently isolated to. He wants to induce love in a person when they use his products and creations, rather than addiction. They are not merely meant to fulfill instant gratifications, but are part of a vision that involves centuries of lasting power. Kanye’s fans are almost as notorious as his haters in their fervor to defend him — I am very guilty of this myself — and while there are many trolls among them, one big reason is the bond the rest of us feel towards his output. It could be a song, a pair of shoes, a video game, or a tweet but regardless of medium, we as consumers know that we’re getting something created with passion, that we can utilize on a regular basis, and most of all, something that is irreplaceable by the competition. Authenticity, beauty, and necessity are found in every one of his endeavours. You cannot fake or replicate this level of courage and honesty, especially considering that it’s found in someone with a massive amount of talent, intelligence, and determination.

His whole life has been spent surrounding himself with mentors and those more skilled than himself. By dedicating his time, he absorbs everything that they have to offer and creates a product that is completely unprecedented, and more importantly, necessary. His signature is to innovate in a way that the majority of the world can be completely receptive to. As an inventor, I see him as someone that makes art by bridging worlds, rather than clashing them. Whether it involves connecting sonics from the 1970s and the 2100s (yes) or showcasing a clothing collection that only has parallels in The Matrix films, Kanye is a master at translating ideas that are ahead of their time with an accessible and purposeful aesthetic. This ability to bridge seemingly mismatched worlds with consistent success is arguably the most important factor to why Kanye West has the potential to lead the most valuable company in recent history.

In Peter Thiel’s brilliant book Zero to One, he highlights some key factors regarding success when building a company; these include creating a monopoly, scaling after dominating a specific niche, and contributing to an industry versus becoming a disruption. Not only does Kanye have a clear record of accomplishing all these things in the fields he’s participated in, he also fits the model of what is described in the book as a definite optimist. I’ve spent a lot of my time watching interviews and listening to podcasts of people I respect and appreciate from several disciplines. Alongside Kanye West, venture capitalists such as Chamath Palihapitiya, Marc Andreessen, and Ben Horowitz are individuals who have helped me glean numerous insights, specifically regarding the personality and qualities of a good founder. A solid amount of idealism, a great deal of courage, unflinching focus, honesty and faith to motivate themselves and their peers to execute a task. Kanye West has every single one of these in spades. Any of his missteps have mostly involved exercising these characteristics within environments that shun them and would rather maintain and tolerate some clearly decaying status quo. On top of all of this, Kanye understands the importance and value of having a set of principles, believing in them, and never compromising on them for money, fame, or short-lived rewards.

I’m always seeing posts referring to the short supply of talent in the world, and important problems of the world that go unaddressed in the realms of healthcare and education. From scouting talent in every corner of the world to resorting to incubators in every other city, many options are being tried to combat this problem. While they are definitely important and must be explored further, why would you deny the opportunity to someone who is explicitly asking you for a chance? I’m not a proponent of the mentality “What’s the harm in giving them a shot?” because time is limited just like any other resource. But this situation doesn’t involve some random person making ridiculous claims. On both qualitative and quantitative terms, Kanye West has demonstrated that he’s capable of bringing his vision to reality, and due to the fact that he needs funding now more than ever to broaden his organization’s scope, it is something that at the very least, needs to be discussed. I do not intend for this to function as some sort of Kickstarter mirror where a bunch of people beg for handouts for some half-baked idea and then sit around waiting for the inevitable letdown. It’s already extremely frustrating to watch someone consistently be denied opportunities for decades in multiple industries, amazingly break into them anyway, and then produce something that completely overshadows all the competition. The only thing more absurd is the possibility that it could happen again. Instead of mindlessly letting history repeat itself, please re-examine your notions as to why you don’t take Kanye West seriously, and I’m sure there’s a gap somewhere in there that could be used to spark an actual discussion with the DONDA team.

There have been some clear trends that I’ve noticed when it comes to failed systems and models within any field from education to art to healthcare. Continuous ineffectiveness, unnecessary complexity, and a basic dishonesty eventually leads to a dangerous amount of cynicism and apathy on the part of the public. This can be seen towards the government, schools, courts, and other organizations of several countries in our world today. As a person skilled in bridging gaps, Kanye West can occupy a unique position by helping translate many of these solutions in a feasible and accessible manner. He’s said time and again that he’s willing to try, and that he’s here to serve above anything else. If given the proper backing, I don’t see why that decision wouldn’t lead to one of the most successful innovators of all time. Kanye is also immensely concerned with shifting culture, and this has to do with mindsets above all. By providing inspiration and courage, backed by a record of high quality products that are also progressive, his vision is one that is meant for the common good. In an age where many want to move at breakneck speeds while ignoring everything but profit or greed, having a high sense of ethics and honour might be what stops the necks from actually breaking.

Kanye has spoken a lot regarding the similarities he seems between himself and Steve Jobs, and has made it very clear that he loves and respects Jobs to a high degree. Though he was a technologist first, Steve Jobs had a holistic understanding of how people connect to a product. He knew what was missing from his industry and he wanted to create something that people would love. Aside from heavily contributing to the design and aesthetic of Apple’s products -from typefaces to colour schemes to hardware body- he also successfully ran Pixar and turned it into one of the most revered and successful animation/film-making studios in history. If a technologist was capable of having such a profound effect on an artistic agency, why is it so hard for people to believe that Kanye West, as an artist first, could have just as profound an effect on agencies in technology or education, or any of the number of areas DONDA wants to contribute to? His artistic sensibilities would definitely be an unrivaled asset to a company operating in nearly any industry.

As a people, we must re-learn forgiveness and realize how insane it is to consistently censor people by forcing them into a corner out of unfounded prejudice. Recently, Marc Andreessen made a comment about India regarding its government’s attitude towards Facebook’s Free Basics plan. His words were taken completely literally and assumed to be said out of malicious intent. People acted in toxic ways by shouting out their outrage, making unreasonable demands of him and his organization, and eventually many people involved were forced to make public apologies due to the fact that their silence might be taken for compliance. I am an Indian, and I support the government’s decision. Even so, it’s extremely hard for me to believe that Marc Andreessen conceived that comment out of ill intent and actually meant what people were accusing him of. It was a clear and obvious misunderstanding but people chose to prioritize political correctness over a healthy evolution of ideas, due to fear of public perception. I’m sure that Marc’s ideas and further comments regarding the situation need to be discussed openly in order to actually reach a more sensible and harmonious solution. Kanye West is absolutely no stranger to this type of occurrence and his journey over the last 2 decades has been mired by this deranged philosophy. I for one think it is about time that we as a society learn to support people who sacrifice their public perception in order to stand behind their principles and fight for virtuous ideas.

Funding DONDA and Kanye West would be the first step towards letting people know that with a proven track record, you won’t have unnecessary obstacles to take your vision to a higher level. It would also work towards ending our unfortunate system of keeping highly cultured individuals and polymaths isolated to one discipline, and underestimating an artist’s capability due to a general lack of understanding with respect to abstract thought. It’s all about the product. As individuals and companies with the power to grant opportunities, you have a certain level of responsibility to founders and ideas with broad and helpful visions. The people are begging you to see what we see. I mean how often do you see an article like this, written by a fan somewhere, with no real personal gain associated with this task? Give creativity, art, love, and virtue a chance. Thanks beyond words for reading this.