January 30 was an eventful day for Masha Bucher. That evening she held a blowout 8th birthday party for her venture capital firm, Day One Ventures, at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. The dress code: elegant.

On the invites, Bucher promised the festivities would include a new performance art piece that would weave together "choreography, costume and symbolic gesture." To give attendees a sense of the vibe, she had affixed an image to the invites: two masked figures in giant white hats, touching their serpentine tongues together.

The party unfolded just as Bucher had planned it. But something else occurred that same day that has upended her world and raised questions about her future as a venture capitalist.