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Shervin Pishevar, an investor who left Silicon Valley for Miami after being accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women in 2017, has resurfaced in a job that can appear acquainted to anybody who has tracked his profession. Based on new studies, Pishevar is now “vice chairman” of Yeezy, the patron model managed by Kanye West, who legally modified his identify to Ye final yr.
In a Fox Enterprise report in the present day about Ye’s determination to finish his relationship with the Hole (he terminated their partnership early and plans to launch his own retail stores), Pishevar was quoted as an government talking on Ye’s behalf, saying: “There is just one Ye . . . His fingerprints are throughout our trendy lives, our tradition, our garments, our gadgets, our music. His affect has modified the very design of our trendy lives, and just one different one that I can consider has that skill, and that was Steve Jobs.”
Whereas there’s little question that Ye is the last word influencer, Pishevar has by no means been at a loss for occasionally grandiose language, as longtime trade watchers will know.
He’s additionally recognized for hitching his wagon to energy gamers, and for flexing his personal attendant energy — typically in unsettling methods.
A serial entrepreneur who sold a cell social video games firm in 2011 for an undisclosed quantity, Pishevar joined Menlo Ventures later that very same yr, persuading the agency to guide the Collection B spherical of Uber. With Uber’s star on the rise, Pishevar — a self-promoter who has said he put $4 million of his personal cash into the corporate — turned a sort of de facto spokesman for the agency, routinely tweeting about his relationship to then-CEO Travis Kalanick (he continues to do this) and, lower than three years later, utilizing his fast-accruing wealth to cofound his personal enterprise agency, Sherpa Capital.
Issues have been very a lot going Pishevar’s manner — he was attracting extra and larger tales about himself on a regular basis within the media — till one in every of his tasks, Hyperloop One, backfired in a giant manner, with a lawsuit filed by his cofounder within the endeavor accusing Pishevar of nepotism and worse. (Probably the most salacious claims made by the cofounder was that Pishevar’s brother, introduced aboard as the corporate’s high-paid common counsel, threatened the cofounder by leaving a noose on his chair.)
Not lengthy after got here these assault accusations together with an allegation of rape in London. Pishevar was by no means charged with a criminal offense; in the meantime, none of 5 girls who talked with Bloomberg in 2017 about Pishevar, saying he used his more and more highly effective place within the tech world to pursue romantic relationships and undesirable sexual encounters, would establish themselves publicly for worry of repercussions.
Their worry was not unfounded, seemingly. Pishevar has been recognized to be litigious. He may also be intimidating, as this editor skilled firsthand earlier than an on-stage event with him in 2016. (Whereas Pishevar was charming main as much as the sit-down, as soon as backstage, Pishevar and a number of other of his associates encircled me as he warned in no unsure phrases that he would depart the stay interview if I requested sure questions on his enterprise dealings.)
Both manner, Pishevar left California after that, and he appears to have efficiently reinvented himself in Miami, residing lavishly, discovering a new audience for his tales, and investing in startups, not all of which have labored out.
Most manifestly, Pishevar lists Bolt Mobility on his LinkedIn web page. However the startup, cofounded by famed Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, ran out of cash this summer time and deserted tons of of unusable electrical scooters and bicycles in a minimum of eight U.S. cities.
Attaching himself to Ye — a towering, combative determine that, like Kalanick, does issues his personal manner — completes the image in a manner. Now to see how lengthy it lasts.