Independent rating of Rustic Canyon Partners VC fund
Overall rating:
15 reviews
About Rustic Canyon Partners VC fund
Website:
Founded:
1999
Number of funds:
1
Number of investments:
105
Number of exits:
31
Headquarters:
Organization type:
Venture Capital
How Rustic Canyon Partners VC fund invests
Rounds:
Average ticket size:
4.33M USD
Smallest investment:
1.63M USD
Biggest investment:
10M USD
Would lead round:
Yes
Would coinvest:
Yes
Countries where invested:
Sectors of interest:
Founders' reviews of Rustic Canyon Partners VC fund
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Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
Responded to Pitch Immediately
Pitched Nate Redmond - really liked him. He was on time, personable, seemed down to earth. He asked intelligent questions, understood our larger market fairly well, and drilled down on the right things. I think that's why I liked him most - he asked the right questions.
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Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
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Great People
We met with Tom Unterman and Ed Fu. Felt immediate rapport with them, they were both attentive and interested in our space. Would've liked to have worked with them, but a private equity investor literally swooped down on us and, after a week of email and phone discussions, worked over the weekend to give us a term sheet we couldn't refuse. Luckily they were very understanding of the situation, and there seems to be regret on both sides of the table at not having the chance to explore working together. Perhaps in the future tho.
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Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
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Good Listeners,
I pitched Nate Redmond and he immediately understood our business. He's very technical, but at the same time focuses on the business model and money issues. Strikes me as having a lot of honesty and integrity.
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Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
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Renee Lebran
Set meeting with Renee where she was a no show. We ended up conferencing her in with Danny Villanueva (he was in person) from Rustic's conference room. Although not optimum we pitched and received minimal feedback. They did some initial research and got back to us quickly with a pass due to the stage we were at.
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Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
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Good First Meeting
Great first meeting with John Babcock. Questions were very positive and intelligent. Sent financial model.
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Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
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Staenberg: Worst VC Ever
This was our worst experience with a VC in over 2 years. Jon Staenberg approached us for the meeting. He was 30 minutes late for the meeting and brought his laptop into the meeting and spent the entire meeting reading and responding to email. He was not in the least bit shamed when we tried to get him to focus on the presentation, arrogantly claiming with his schedule he had to multi-task. At the end of the presentation he asked only a few superficial questions before giving us his analysis of our business that showed he had hardly heard a thing we were saying.
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Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
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Song Needs to Leave the VC Business
Michael Song to be avoided at all costs. He wastes incredible amounts of time on drilling down into details that are irrelevant while missing the big picture altogether. I've dealt with well over 100 VCs in my career and this guy scores at the very bottom of the list in terms of how due diligence is conducted. Not a good listener and makes almost no eye contact during a meeting. Disrespectful of management team's time, like they exist purely for his exercises. Takes so many notes that he misses the big picture while capturing details that don't matter.
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Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
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Quick No, Good Experience
Pitched team at Rustic Canyon with a prior company. They identified the positives in our business but also recognized some serious flaws in our model, which ended up being correct. Provided a quick no with a detailed explanation.
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Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
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A Unique Firm and Not Bush
I have been on both sides of the table working with many venture funds. To be fair, I have rarely seen a "bush league" professional venture fund. Yes, you have to deal with some egos but then again, I haven't seen many good CEO's that don't carry a healthy ego when they need to. Sometimes, you need to realize that your business plan is not a match for certain funds and as such, you need to move on and find ones that are a better match.
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Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
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A Unique Firm, and Not Bush
These guys are unique but professional. Not alot of firms who have created a latin media fund, an alternative energy buyout fund and helped drive the recent restructure of the Tribune while still helping to create a number of very creative companies including some of the recent IPO's like Loopnet.
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Got a Fast No
Went thru pitch process and received a no quickly. Was treated with respect. Partner spent more time in our meeting than planned and asked very insightful questions, which was appreciated. No qualms or issues.
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Great Firm in Media
This firm is extremely different than most venture firms even though they play in the standard venture arena. The media connections are long standing an unusual, the have a "financial engineering bent", and they are sometimes involved with firms over a very long time.
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Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
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Be Careful.
Mediocre VCs that play hardball, put decent money, but do not provide much support. They are not very responsive during the pitching process and if they do decide to do a deal, they will beat you down pretty hard.
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Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
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Set in Their Ways
Former LA Times venture arm. They like to do business with people they know.
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Good but Not Great
Good people but no one blew me away. Slow and complex to deal with if you are not working directly with their Santa Monica HQ.