Longtime VC Neil Sequeira: funding founders without in-person meetings is ‘quite difficult’
Neil Sequeira was a managing director with General Catalyst for more than 13 years before co-founding early-stage firm Defy several years ago with another veteran of the industry, Trae Vassallo, who’d spent the dozen years prior with Kleiner Perkins.
We caught up with Sequeira yesterday afternoon and discussed whether he’s seeing valuations come down and whether he can imagine funding founders who may have an exciting pitch but is unable to meet in-person due to the pandemic.
Our chat has been edited for length.
TechCrunch: How are you, all things considered?
Neil Sequeira: We’ve been pretty busy at home. Obviously, my kids are home, homeschooling and my amazing wife is with them.
At work, we’ve been really busy. We have multiple term sheets out that we’ve done since the stay-at-home order [in the Bay Area] and I actually live within walking distance of my office, where I’m alone but it ends up being like a home office because it’s so close. And it’s great because my kids have been going bonkers.
How are your companies faring?
Neil Sequeira was a managing director with General Catalyst for more than 13 years before co-founding early-stage firm Defy several years ago with another veteran of the industry, Trae Vassallo, who’d spent the dozen years prior with Kleiner Perkins. We caught up with Sequeira yesterday afternoon and discussed whether he’s…
