Love at first byte: Tech co-founders meet through dating sites

Gina Lujan did not meet her Hacker Lab co-founders the usual way. They were not childhood friends. They did not launch their business from their Harvard dorm room, or at incubators like Y Combinator or TechStars.

Lujan first met Charles Blas and Eric Ullrich after they responded to her personal ad on Craigslist that read: “seeking all hackers and enthusiasts – where are you?”

“I got a few weird responses,” admitted Lujan, but she also hooked up with Blas, a hacker who works for a local security company. “It was like founder at first site. The minute we met each other we said let’s do this.” Last year the trio launched Sacramento-based Hacker Lab, a tech co-working space that doubles as a start-up incubator.