"Pattern Matching" Under Fire in CNN Documentary

NewMe cofounder Angela Benton on pattern matching: "I'm black. I'm a woman. I have kids. I might as well go home."

Image: CNN.com

The venture capital practice of "pattern matching" came under fire in Sunday night's broadcast of CNN's latest installment of "Black in America."

Hosted by Soledad O'Brien, the documentary followed the minority startup incubator NewMe and its founders Wayne Sutton and Angela Benton for several weeks, highlighting that 1 percent of tech entrepreneurs who raised money in 2010 were black.

One venture capitalist who appeared on the show said this could be attributed to "pattern matching," where firms look at different predictors of success to gauge whether or not a company should be given funding. Benton told CNN that it was offensive to her. "I'm black. I'm a woman. I have kids. I might as well go home."

But Cindy Padnos, the founder of the venture capital firm Illuminate Ventures said any bias was unintentional.

Undoubtedly, the unintentional bias comes into play when they look at the 15 (startups) they did (invest in) and the five that succeeded big-time, when the ones that succeeded were led by white males. That somehow seeps into the equation.

The documentary had previously gained media attention after TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington's comment that he didn't know a single black entrepreneur was made public. But discussion about the documentary has been relatively muted following its public screening.

The Root says the documentary ignores the stories of successful black entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. Over at Venture Beat, AisleFinder.com founder Curtiss Pope says a key question is being forgotten in the debate over Arrington’s comments.

With all the hoopla going around, I think we are forgetting to ask ourselves the hardest question: Are the things we are creating truly fund-worthy? Innovation must be a focus.

A few things stood out about the reactions in the minority tech community: There was not enough of a focus on startups, innovative technologies or services that solve a real problem. Instead, our eyes are purposely fixed on the money.

Comments on the CNN website itself have been mixed, with many praising the documentary and others calling for an investigation into the lives of African immigrants.

The documentary reprises on November 19. Check out a teaser below:

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