Invest in African American led enterprises because it’s good business

Don’t invest in African American led companies because of diversity, but because they’re a good business, argued African American founders and venture capitalists at the PreMoney conference.

Charles Hudson, a partner at SoftTech VC and one of the most visible African American venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, said he feels like he has to make himself accessible to African American entrepreneurs.

“I also feel a certain pressure to try to help African entrepreneurs who I think are talented not work on terrible ideas,” Hudson said. “It’s not that they’re terrible ideas in general, it’s just that they’re not appropriate for venture. To me, that’s not unique to African Americans.”

He also admitted to feeling “an enormous amount of pressure backing an African American entrepreneur.”

“Pursuing an African American business, for whatever reason if that investment that doesn’t work, the buck stops with me.

Read more: Business Insider