Divesh Makan, who founded the secretive $80 billion wealth management firm Iconiq Capital back in 2011, has declined to talk to reporters for more than a decade.
There are some obvious reasons. For one, Iconiq’s clients include some of the wealthiest Americans—many of whom would rather keep quiet about where they park their money. It’s well-known that Makan made his name within the Facebook universe, managing the wealth of Facebook cofounders Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz. And Makan started working with Sheryl Sandberg before she joined Facebook. Other clients have been reported over the years, including Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, General Motors CEO Mary Barra, as well as Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively.
So when Makan agreed to chat with me for a story I was writing on Iconiq’s venture capital arm and its latest (and largest) $5.75 billion fund—Iconiq Growth—I was a bit surprised, and I asked him why, after all this time, he was changing his tune.
Makan said that the partnership kept getting feedback from entrepreneurs that they wanted the firm to talk more about itself. While he didn’t address whether the firm’s secrecy has hurt the fund’s efforts to get into hot deals, he said that founders told them that “every other firm” had a brand people recognized, while Iconiq Growth did not.
“We left a white space that, if you don’t fill it, someone else fills it for you,” Makan said. “So suddenly, everyone else is telling our story.”
In my latest feature story, Makan and Iconiq Growth founding partner Will Griffith share details of Iconiq Growth’s history in the venture capital world, the people behind its launch, Iconiq’s advisory council, and the network Iconiq says has set it apart from the competition when it comes to getting on a cap table.
You can read about the fund, and what its partners plan to do with its latest $5.8 billion, here.
Scoop...Fortune’s Allie Garfinkle last night was first to report that Wiz, valued at $12 billion, has walked away from a $23 billion deal with Google parent Alphabet. Read the whole story here.
See you tomorrow,
Jessica Mathews
Twitter: @jessicakmathews
Email: jessica.mathews@fortune.com
Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here.
Joe Abrams curated the deals section of today's newsletter.
