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Taipei · San Francisco · 37.8199° N
A community of Taiwanese founders in San Francisco
Why a pearl
A tiny grain of sand finds its way into an oyster, weathering relentless friction. Yet, gently wrapped layer by layer over time, it transforms into a luminous pearl.
Sand in, pearl out. Isn’t this the very journey of Taiwanese founders daring to take on Silicon Valley?
Entrepreneurship is inherently lonely, but the path is never dark when you have companions by your side.
The Pearl Corridor isn’t just about unlocking doors in Silicon Valley. It’s about keeping that distinctly Taiwanese warmth alive — a safe harbor that gently embraces you the moment you step out into the world.
Whether you’re pushing through the growing pains of being polished by the grit, or ready to shine your brightest, know this: you are never alone. There is always a thread tying us together, and a comforting cup of boba waiting for you.
Where Taiwanese grit meets genuine community, every single pearl deserves to be seen by the world.
Every Wednesday at midnight
Strung at random with the others being tempered in the same valley.
Every Wednesday at midnight the box opens and the draw hands you one other pearl — your pearl partner for the week. You do not pick, and neither do we; the effort you would have spent choosing goes into getting to know somebody you would never have run into. Different stages, different cities — and often that is the good part, because the thing you are looking for turns out to be the thing somebody else has spare.
The box waits for you to lift the lid yourself — only then do the names appear, along with a thread only the two of you can read. Say hello there, and that pearl lands in your Pearl Box. There is no other way in: nobody browses a list here, and nobody sees everyone. Coffee, a call, or just a hello this time — all of it counts. The box opens again next Wednesday anyway. Usually it ends up being boba.
The Pearl Box
There is no directory to scroll. Every pearl you collect is someone the draw strung you with and you actually talked to — their stage, sector, what they need in the Valley, what they can hand back. And you decide how much of yours is on show.
Every Wednesday at midnight every member is drawn into a small strand — no sign-up. Four or five founders, decided by the draw rather than by who you already know. You open the box yourself, and the strand comes with a thread of its own.
Someone in your box worth a longer conversation? Send a connect request with one line of context. Once they accept, contact details open and so does a private thread. No cold opens.
Hiring, raising, asks, milestones. Short posts, so the community is still alive between events.
What the organisers hand you directly — starting with the Google benefits, which you claim by filling in the form inside the letter.
The boba run, the picnic, that table at Founder House. Photos are the most honest record a community keeps.
Pearls
Only the members who asked to be named here. Everybody else you meet the other way: when a draw strings you together and you say hello — that is their call to make, not ours.
Sponsored by
Their team keeps a plain map of the 2026 startup programmes — which tier a company falls into, what the credits actually cover, and the application form at the end of it. Once you are in, it is worth an evening.
Open the 2026 blueprint(opens in a new tab)Owned by