Scout Best Practices & Prompts

New to Scout? Learn the basics here

These are starting points. Scout builds on each prompt across turns, so you can keep refining as you go.

Build visualizations and market maps

"Find me AI infrastructure companies founded in the last 3 years that raised between $5M—$75M, build a market map by subvertical, and flag any with strong momentum signals like recent headcount spikes."

Portfolio analysis

"Look at my existing list and score every company based on traction signals in Harmonic and on the public web — tell me which I should be spending time with and why."

Do your diligence

"Create a DD report on @TargetCo. Include an executive summary, market potential, market size and growth, business model and defensibility, founder profiles, in- and out-of-network candidates for reference calls, and main risks."

What did we miss?

"I work at @[Fund]. Which deals did we miss out on in 2025 that #Top 50 VCs participated in, but are not in our #affinity list pipeline?"

Market map → stealth founder pipeline

Step 1: "Run a deep-dive on [sector]. Build a market map, segment by subvertical, show Series A/B rounds in the last 12 months, and identify top co-investors."

Step 2: "Now find all stealth founders or startups that have raised less than $5M where someone on the team worked at one of the companies from that market map."

Network sourcing

"I'm heading to NYC for a sourcing trip — find me startups in my team network in fashion, luxury goods, and collectibles I should meet with."

Analyze founder profiles

"Analyze founders of companies founded in the last five years who raised $50M+. Compare them to founders who raised less than $5M as a control group. Identify the strongest differentiators across prior company stage, functional background, prior founder experience, and hiring velocity."

Build on your decisions

"I'm an investor @YourFund focused on early stage. Based on my investments in the past 24 months, what AI themes should be on my radar? Include any relevant network connections for warm intros to the most exciting companies."

Find the right capital partners

"I'm raising a Series A for @YourCompany. Find 10 strong Series A investors that would be a fit for our stage and sector, and show who on my team is connected to them."

Talent discovery

"Find people who worked at companies acquired by Google, Apple, or Meta in the last 3 years, had 3+ years tenure, and are now based in SF or NYC — prioritize engineering and product leaders."

Custom scoring
Upload a pitch deck or scoring rubric with your specific criteria and ask Scout to evaluate companies against it

​Saved searches & lists
Reference any existing list or saved search using # and build on top of it

Team sharing
Open any Scout thread, click the share icon, and toggle visibility between private and public. Copy the link to share with your team.

1. Brief Scout like a smart analyst Write your query the way you'd brief a sharp analyst — explain who you are, what you're trying to do, and what "good" looks like. No boolean logic or filters needed.

2. Anchor your query with @ Reference specific companies or people directly using @ to get more relevant results.

3. Go deeper with follow-up questions Scout is most powerful across multiple turns. Start broad, then drill in — each follow-up builds on the previous context.

4. Ask for the output you need Specify the format upfront and Scout will structure results accordingly.

5. Reference a saved search or list Pull in your existing work by referencing a saved search or list directly. Scout will use it as context for your query.

Scout includes high usage safeguards to ensure reliable performance. There is a rate limit of:

This is an aggregate count of all tokens sent to Scout, received from Scout, and used internally within Scout in processing its final response.

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