A Deal Flow Scoring Framework: Rank Inbound Startups Without a Full Partner Meeting

Scoring exists to make the yes and no decisions explicit and comparable before you spend a partner meeting. This post lays out a four-factor scorecard with weights, adds engineering velocity as a fifth dimension from public GitHub data, and explains how to calibrate the numbers so the score means something.

Key stats

4+1: Scorecard factors: team, market, product, traction, plus velocity (velocity read from public GitHub activity)

0-10: Scale per factor (keep the range small so scoring stays fast)

3.4x: Lift of the velocity signal on Series A prediction (SSRN preprint, n=219)

References

[1] Engineering Acceleration as a VC Deal Flow Signal: SSRN

[2] VC Deal Flow Signal Methodology: GitDealFlow

[3] Y Combinator Startup Library: Y Combinator