She was mortified about the reporter's story and she was apparently shaken up during the interview with the reporter, who quotes her as saying:
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m just still really shaken up.
That’s never happened to me before.”
Not having been there (and tending to give people the benefit of the doubt) it sounds like the VC guy thought she might have been there for an unrelated Match.com event (in which case asking her about that doesn't appear inappropriate) and, when he found out she is an investor, he switched gears to VC mode and asked if there were any opportunities there.
Imagine you were at a bar and you saw an attractive person and started to inquire as to whether they are single, etc. You find out they are happily involved in a relationship already, but that they're a developer and they're waiting for some coworkers. If you work for a company that is hiring developers, you might ask them if they're open to exploring new opportunities. Absent any "creepy" signals, it seems unreasonable for them to conclude that you are offering an interview or a job in exchange for a date.
Without knowing more information regarding body language, tone of voice, and so on it's entirely possible that she simply misread his intentions. Especially since the article concludes with:
“What if he wasn’t hitting on me? What if I totally misunderstood?” she said.
Conversations flow. I sometimes get confused when female friends abruptly change the conversation and I'm left asking them what in the world topic B has to do with topic A, only to hear the response that they mentally switched gears to the new topic and the two are totally unrelated. I find men tend not to do that without some signal that the topic just switched.
Imagine you were at a bar and you saw an attractive person and started to inquire as to whether they are single, etc. You find out they are happily involved in a relationship already, but that they're a developer and they're waiting for some coworkers. If you work for a company that is hiring developers, you might ask them if they're open to exploring new opportunities. Absent any "creepy" signals, it seems unreasonable for them to conclude that you are offering an interview or a job in exchange for a date.
Without knowing more information regarding body language, tone of voice, and so on it's entirely possible that she simply misread his intentions. Especially since the article concludes with:
Conversations flow. I sometimes get confused when female friends abruptly change the conversation and I'm left asking them what in the world topic B has to do with topic A, only to hear the response that they mentally switched gears to the new topic and the two are totally unrelated. I find men tend not to do that without some signal that the topic just switched.