. >> reporter: michael arrington is the founder of the silicon valley website tech crunch.today a venture capitalist he is outspoken in his belief that success in the valley is more merit based. >> why do you think there are so few african american tech entrepreneurs here? >> i think it should be fixed. a lot of the successful people here are engineers. if they aren't engineers they have to find engineers. >> so the pipeline issue. >> i think that's a big problem. >> who would you say is the number one black technology entrepreneur? >> that's a weird question. who would you say is the number one black? >> reporter: i don't cover technology. >> i'm trying to think of black ceos. >> reporter: the entrepreneurs. >> i don't know a single black entrepreneur. >> reporter: and you cover the industry. what does that say? >> there just aren't any. generally speaking it doesn't matter what your education is or who your parents are here. you can become very successful based purely on your brain size and how you use it. >> i have not been in the room recently when somebody said that's

so i would go toe to toe with michael arrington and wind up saying the part that is meritocratic is greatand there's a big part of it that isn't. >> arrington says the rarity of black entrepreneurs might give them an edge. >> this is a white and asian world here. it just is. it's not a good thing. we have a conference three times a year where companies actually launch on stage. we're looking for women and minorities all the time. there's a guy -- actually he was my first client when i was a lawyer. his last company just launched at our event. and he's african-american. it's a cool start-up. his start-up is really cool. but he could have launched a clown show on stage and i would have put him up there. absolutely. i think it's the first time we've had an african-american be the sole founder. >> me and becky sometimes watch that show "down home cooking with the neelys." >> the burgers look almost done. >> among the 25 speakers and mentors who meet with the newme entrepreneurs, it's vivek wadhwa's visit that leaves them speechless. >> you know, i think what you're doing is fantastic. >> he's