Interesting topic! You want to understand how VCs discover and scout founders. Let me think through the key dimensions here.

Key Dimensions of VC Founder Scouting:

• Channels — where do VCs find founders (warm intros, Twitter/X, events, cold outreach, etc.)
• Signals — what early indicators catch their attention (traction, team, market, founder reputation)
• Timing — at what stage they prefer to engage (pre-idea, pre-product, post-traction)
• Evaluation criteria — how they assess founder quality vs. idea quality
• Relationship building — how they nurture pre-investment relationships

Now, there are a few directions we could take for a research question. Let me offer you some options:

Great choice! Understanding when VCs prefer to engage with founders is critical for both sides of the table.

Research Question: At what founder/company stage do VCs prefer to initiate scouting relationships, and how does timing influence their investment confidence?

Let me check what's available for building an engaging exercise.

I have what I need. Now let me suggest a few exercise concepts that would surface VCs' timing preferences in an engaging, non-survey way:

Building the Timeline Stage Placement exercise now. This will let VCs drag different scouting activities to different founder/company stages on a visual timeline — revealing when they prefer to engage and what actions they take at each stage.

Done! Here's your exercise: Timeline Stage Placement

How it works:

• VCs drag scouting activities (Cold Outreach, Intro Meeting, Deep Dive, Team Eval, Commit Interest) to the founder stage where they typically initiate them
• The visual timeline shows 5 stages: Pre-Idea → Ideation → Pre-Product → Early Traction → Growth
• Placed activities can be clicked to remove and reposition
• Progress dots show completion status

What you'll learn from this:

• Which stage each VC prefers to first engage with founders
• How they sequence their scouting activities across the founder journey
• Whether they're early-stage hunters (Pre-Idea/Ideation) or prefer to wait for validation (Early Traction/Growth)
• Combined with their verbal commentary, you'll hear why they place activities where they do

The exercise is designed to provoke reflection — as VCs drag items, they'll naturally explain their reasoning aloud, which you'll capture separately.