Author Archives: Rusty Rueff

About Rusty Rueff

Rusty Rueff, author of purposed worKING. Rusty Rueff is the former Chairman Emeritus of The GRAMMY Foundation in Los Angeles. He most recently completed the successful 16 month leadership role as Coordinating National Co-Chair for Technology for Obama (T4O) for the reelection of President Obama and ten-years of Board service and President of the Board of Trustees of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Corporately, most recently Rueff was the Chief Executive Officer at SNOCAP, Inc. until the acquisition of the company by imeem, Inc. in April 2008. Before joining SNOCAP in 2005, he was Executive Vice President of Human Resources at Electronic Arts (EA) from 1998 until 2005. He was also with the PepsiCo companies for more than ten years, with the Pratt & Whitney division of United Technologies for two years, and in commercial radio as an on-air personality for six years. Rusty holds an M.S. in counseling and a B.A. in radio and television from Purdue University. In 2003 he was named a distinguished Purdue alumnus, and he and his wife, Patti, are the named benefactors of Purdue’s Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Visual and Performing Arts. He is a corporate director of Glassdoor.com and runcoach. He is the co-founder and Executive Committee Member of T4A.org, serves on the Founding Circle of The Centrist Project and a founding Board Member of The GRAMMY Music Education Coalition. He is also the co-author of the book Talent Force: A New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business. Rusty and his wife, Patti, reside in Hillsborough, CA and Charlestown, R.I.

day 839: Seed Stage

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“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in the field.”

When I tell people I invest in companies at the “seed stage” they either immediately understand, or I have to explain to them what I personally mean by “seed stage”. For me, a “seed stage” company is one where the business idea and the original team are encapsulated in a seed and planted just below the ground where it can’t be yet seen. For anyone who has ever gardened, you know that this the most mysterious stage of growing. How can these little pellets turn out to be a big plant or vegetable? And, once they are in the ground it is all about doing our part of giving them protection from the elements, enough food and nutrients in the dirt, water and sunlight and then watching and waiting. That’s what seed investing is like. It’s funny, I know many investors who lose patience too quickly with a start-up and then force them to try and grow faster or differently than what they were intended. What I have learned is that sometimes you have to wait and be patient and with the right “gardening’ and tending, they will come.

Jesus told us that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed. The mustard seed is the smallest of all and turns into a huge tree. But that mustard tree only grows at the pace that it is supposed to grow and if we someday want to sit within its’ shade, we must wait. We must wait on the Kingdom of Heaven. God gives us glimpses along the way but He expects our faith to be strong enough that waiting for something miraculous is just fine with us. What has ever come from instant gratification? Not much that I can conjure up. Today is about another step forward in our journey to God’s Kingdom. Let’s make the most of today and do all that we can to purposefully work to bring glory to Him in what we do.

Reference: Matthew 13:31 (New Living Testament)