Some Black startup founders feel betrayed by Ben Horowitz’s support for Trump

Some of the richest, most influential investors in Silicon Valley are publicly supporting Donald Trump’s campaign. They run powerful firms that every founder wants as backers. But because of their financial support for Trump, some Black founders are rethinking if they should have them on their cap table, according to seven Black founders and investors who spoke to TechCrunch. 

Some of the VCs who show support for Trump are not shocking, as they have historically leaned politically right, like Sequoia’s Doug Leone and Shaun Maguire, Keith Rabois from Khosla Ventures and David Sacks of Craft Ventures. But earlier this week Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, founders of Andreessen Horowitz, publicly threw their support behind Trump, stunning some in the Valley. 

“They are supporting candidates that don’t want people like me to have a fair shot or level playing field. How can one be optimistic with that in the back of their mind, as well as knowing you have a less than 2% shot of raising as it stands today?” one Nigerian American founder, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of career repercussions, told TechCrunch.

Of course, there are Black founders and investors who are unconcerned about an investors’ political views and will sign a term sheet with someone who supports Trump. But others feel betrayed, particularly by a16z’s Horowitz, who was known as an ally to the Black community. 

“His reputation will definitely take a hit among well-thinking Black people because it shows that he doesn’t actually understand our lived experiences,” David Mullings, founder of Blue Mahoe Holdings, told TechCrunch.

These founders feel this way because Trump is an advocate for a number of policies that could be harmful to people of color. Trump has spoken about, for instance, using force to deport 15 million to 20 million people — a fierce anti-immigrant policy for the tech sector, which relies on a lot of immigrant talent. During Trump’s last presidency, he banned DEI at the federal level. He’s threatened to remove federal funding from schools that offer curricula on topics of race and racism. The Republican platform under Trump also has no interest in addressing climate change (which disproportionately impacts Black and brown communities). 

Then there’s Project 2025, which was drafted by former Trump administration officials and calls for policies such as dismantling the Department of Education, banning abortion pills and increasing the power of the president. Trump has sought to distance himself from the proposal, but that hasn’t stopped far-right supporters from mixing that message in with what they believe Trump will give them.

Horowitz’s support of Trump is particularly painful because he’s always been seen as an advocate for the Black community. He and his wife, Felicia Wiley Horowitz, who is Black, have spoken before about how much they have done for the Black community and have held events and spaces for Black techies to gather and network. He wrote a book with a foreword from famed African American historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. and has spoken of his love for hip-hop and what he learned from the Haitian revolution. He has also touted his relationship with activist and former prison gang leader Shaka Senghor. 

Horowitz once gave an interview to The New York Times about how he was different from his father, an outspoken Trump supporter who told the outlet that Ben was “practically Black.” 

To hear this week that Horowitz will donate to Trump’s campaign because he likes Trump’s policies on crypto regulation and taxes stung many.

“It appears personal interest and profit supersedes people,” the Nigerian American founder said. “The ‘hard things about hard things’ sometimes mean standing against oppression.” 

Andreessen Horowitz declined to comment and Horowitz did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.

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A not-so-shocking admission 

In terms of funding and opportunities, 2020 and 2021 were historic years for the Black tech community and many began to be hopeful that more long-term opportunities would open. Even a16z launched an accelerator program, managed by a charity, to help support marginalized founders. 

But now the community is reexamining what they thought they knew.

“Ben and Marc have consistently been quiet on social justice issues and moving further to the far right. Ben embracing celebrities and quoting rap lyrics does not mean Ben is committed to equal rights,” one Black investor, who asked to remain anonymous and who has attended events Horowitz has hosted, told TechCrunch. 

“The proximity to Black figures has never equaled allyship,” Khadijah Robinson, who founded the e-commerce cite The Nile List, told TechCrunch. “Those same investors are starting to show their true colors in public.” 

Even Arlan Hamilton, founder of Backstage Capital, which counted Marc Andreessen as an early investor, is taken aback that the firm’s founders want to broadcast their support for Trump. “I’m more surprised that they said it out loud instead of just funding anonymously,” she told TechCrunch. 

Andreessen’s support for Trump has perhaps come as less of a surprise since his viewpoints have long been seen as being in the right-leaning libertarian bucket. His Techno-Optimist Manifesto published last year, for instance, called “regulatory capture” and socialism “the enemy.” (It also called “authoritarianism” the enemy.) He painted a world where tech and tech startups solve all the world’s ills.

Black founders see a more harrowing possibility: increased divisive rhetoric and a society where tech billionaires barter democracy for capital gains. 

“I’m not shocked to see people putting their self-interest first,” another Black founder said. “Deep down I think this is how most of them felt the entire time but were scared of the blowback.” 

Tobi Ajala, founder of the SaaS startup TechTee, said she also isn’t surprised to see big investors supporting Trump. “It has caused more Black founders to consider what the options are other than obvious choices,” she said.

Now Black founders say they must balance being even more conscious of who they network with, while also not alienating influential and potential inventors. Many of them are also trying to not take the wave of Trump support too personally. “Politics, like investing, is unemotional,” one Black fintech founder said about the VCs backing Trump. “The market will move in the direction of who it thinks will do the best for them.”