Get rid of debt, build a budget, and save.

Would building a fourplex from scratch yield favorable returns when evaluated against existing property options?

Rather get in now, start building equity, start house-hacking, and wait for those opportunities to come your way. 

We have capital to build, but don't know whether to SFH's, small duplex's (for the college crowd) or small strip malls.  

VC firms typically do not do real estate, maybe a family office but that relationship takes a good amount of time to build and as you mentioned they will want to see experience.This is a hard question, but I ask them - what are you bringing to the table?

He presented a lease purchase agreement because I would not be able to comfortably afford it with current interest rates.It's a new build (2 years old) SFH with a detached ADU above the garage.

I ask because I’d like to hire a professional to help aid and assist me in building my first one for my property?  

At the time, I had no kids and had just sold a couple of my first self-done flips in the southwest, and was really ambitious about building a homestead somewhere green.

I'm going to house hack it and try to build an ADU in the property and hopefully rent it out and I also have another duplex in Redlands

My wife is opposite and loves to build relationships with owners and guests.