How to Find Acquisition Targets on GitHub

A practical guide for corp dev teams to use GitHub signals to identify technical acquisition targets.

Define the thesis

Start with a tech-stack or capability thesis. What specific engineering capability are you trying to acquire?

Build the watchlist

Identify companies with relevant repos, filter by activity, layer in contributor count, and add geographic and stage filters.

Score and prioritize

Apply a momentum score (0-100), rank against sector peers, and flag ones approaching fundraise milestones.

Outreach

Use warm introductions via contributors, engage via open-source collaboration first, and track engagement over 3-6 months before approaching.

How GitDealFlow Signals helps

Live startup momentum dataset. The platform operationalizes the concepts above into a working startup momentum API workflow.