3.4
3.9 
4.1 
4.0 
3.6 West Coast Focused
Fund: Rustic Canyon Ventures
Posted by Anonymous on 2008-03-25
Renee Lebran
Fund: Rustic Canyon Ventures
Posted by Anonymous on 2008-01-30
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.
PRIVATE: Members OnlyGood First Meeting
Fund: Rustic Canyon Ventures
Posted by tomturnbull on 2008-01-09
Great first meeting with John Babcock. Questions were very positive and intelligent. Sent financial model.
PRIVATE: Members Only (120 Characters)Staenberg: Worst VC Ever
Fund: Rustic Canyon Ventures
Posted by Anonymous on 2007-12-12
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.
PRIVATE: Members OnlySong Needs to Leave the VC Business
Fund: Rustic Canyon Ventures
Posted by Anonymous on 2007-11-03
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.
PRIVATE: Members Only (465 Characters)Quick No, Good Experience
Fund: Rustic Canyon Ventures
Posted by Keys on 2007-08-15
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.
PRIVATE: Members Only (120 Characters)A Unique Firm and Not Bush
Fund: Rustic Canyon Ventures
Posted by Anonymous on 2007-06-24
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.
In the case of Rustic Canyon, yes they did invest in my company but I can honestly say that their due dilligence process was extremely thorough and very analytical. The data was shared and discussed. I didn't necessarily agree with all of their findings but in the end, I could understand the logic they were using. This is in no way a Bush League operation. Post close, they, along with my other lead investors, continue to add value and have specific epertise on hand that I can (and do) leverage.
PRIVATE: Members OnlyA Unique Firm, and Not Bush
Fund: Rustic Canyon Ventures
Posted by Anonymous on 2007-06-23
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.
PRIVATE: Members Only (802 Characters)Got a Fast No
Fund: Rustic Canyon Ventures
Posted by Anonymous on 2007-06-04
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.
PRIVATE: Members Only (578 Characters)Great Firm in Media
Fund: Rustic Canyon Ventures
Posted by Sonny on 2007-05-12
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.
PRIVATE: Members Only (112 Characters)Be Careful.
Fund: Rustic Canyon Ventures
Posted by Anonymous on 2007-05-10
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.
PRIVATE: Members Only (195 Characters)Mostly Good, But...
Fund: Rustic Canyon Ventures
Posted by startupcatch22 on 2007-05-09
Set in Their Ways
Fund: Rustic Canyon Ventures
Posted by Anonymous on 2007-05-02
Former LA Times venture arm. They like to do business with people they know.
PRIVATE: Members OnlyGood but Not Great
Fund: Rustic Canyon Ventures
Posted by Anonymous on 2007-04-04
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.
PRIVATE: Members Only (286 Characters)