7 Startup Engineering Metrics Every Investor Should Track

Seven engineering metrics from public GitHub data help investors evaluate startup momentum: (1) commit velocity - 14-day rolling baseline, (2) commit velocity change - the primary signal, measuring acceleration, (3) contributor count - team size proxy, (4) contributor growth rate - the most reliable fundraise predictor at 50%+, (5) new repository count - signals infrastructure buildout, (6) weekend commit ratio - indicates deadline pressure, and (7) language/framework distribution - reveals technical maturity. A startup that passes all five quick-screen checks (positive velocity change, contributor growth, new repos, product-related activity, matching tech stack) is worth a deeper look.

Key stats

7: Engineering metrics (Trackable from public GitHub data)

+15%: Average velocity change (Across tracked startups)

3+: New repos in 30 days (Infrastructure buildout threshold)

References

[1] GitHub REST API - Repository Statistics: GitHub Docs

[2] GitHub REST API - Search Repositories: GitHub Docs

[3] DORA Metrics - Accelerate State of DevOps: Google DORA