Evelyn Chen & Daniel Park

Evelyn was deep into her second startup, a hardware company out of Dogpatch, when she joined Vantio Clove on a friend’s dare. Daniel had been an early investor in two unicorns and a careful skeptic of matchmaking apps for years. Neither of them expected a slow, thoughtful exchange that started with a photograph she had taken at Lands End.

Their first date was a walk through the Presidio at the hour when the fog drops over the Golden Gate. He had grown up in Richmond District; she had moved out from Taipei at twenty-three. They skipped the usual founder talk and compared notes on childhood neighborhoods and first American winters.

Today they live together in Noe Valley. Daniel jokes that she pitches harder in their kitchen than any founder he has ever met. Their engagement happened on a quiet morning hike at Mount Tamalpais, with coffee from Four Barrel in a thermos and no witnesses except a pair of curious deer.