The 20 Best Startup Communities for Founders in 2024
Engaging with a community of founders is ideal for learning and growing startup ideas. However, there are a lot of platform to help manage your startup journey. Which one deserves your attention?
Leading a startup can be a lonely journey. If you aren’t in an area with a vibrant startup community, such as Silicon Valley, you can feel like Tom Hanks in the Castaway movie most of the time.
So, it isn’t surprising founder communities are becoming popular among startup founders and aspiring entrepreneurs. These communities and networks are great places to connect and build relationships with like-minded individuals, discuss topics and issues, and get feedback on your ideas.
We’ve got you covered if you are a startup founder or an aspiring entrepreneur looking to join and engage with a community of founders.
Let’s dive in!
Best Founder Communities for Startup Founders
Founder networking is a vital part of every entrepreneur’s playbook.
Founder communities are some of the best places to find inspiration and opportunities to network, turn virtual connections into long-term relationships, and establish partnerships with other startups.
Here are some of the best online communities for startup founders.
GrowthMentor
GrowthMentor is a community/marketplace that makes it easy for founders to connect with other experienced founders for mentorship. GrowthMentors are all highly vetted. Not only do they demonstrate hands-on experience in starting and growing a startup, but they also have the soft skills and ethos necessary to be successful as a mentor.
Beyond offering the ability to book calls with 500+ vetted mentors (+65% of which are offering their time for free), GrowthMentor membership also includes access to a highly engaged Slack community where members can network, gather feedback, and get answers to their questions.
The Slack community has over 2,000 highly active users.
What you need to know:
- Audience: Startup founders, growth marketers, product managers, growth designers, and heads of growth
- Activity level: Extremely high
- Perks: Apart from all the knowledge you gain through your interaction with the experts, you get great deals and access to discounts from GrowthMentor partners
- Events: GrowthMentor has hosted a lot of events through the years, including Startup Speed Mentoring, Growth Talk, and Startup Networking Events. Members can join also local meetups as part of the City Squads
- Cost to join: $120 per month with a 50% discount for an annual term
- Register: Sign up and get started with GrowthMentor here
Lindsay Neeson, Growth Marketing Manager at MixpaneAlthough I had what seemed like endless questions and problems to solve, GrowthMentor was able to provide clear and concise feedback, advice, and best practices.
Startup Grind
With more than 5M members from more than 125 countries, Startup Grind is the largest and one of the most popular communities to join.
It provides opportunities to connect with other startup entrepreneurs and grow your business.
What you need to know:
Indiehackers
Indie Hackers is a founder community where successful founders of businesses and side projects, or individual “Indiehackers” share their stories and insights. Aspiring founders can also visit the community for advice and inspiration.
At its core, Indie Hackers is a community that encourages sharing transparent and honest conversations about starting and growing an online business while remaining independent.
The community has over 45,000 active users.
What you need to know:
- Audience: Startup founders, online business owners, creatives, aspiring entrepreneurs, developers, and freelancers on copywriting, email marketing, and various other services online businesses need
- Activity level: Extremely high
- Events: There are local meetups organized by the members for them to meet in person
- Cost to join: It’s 100% free. All you need is an email and password. You can also use third-party sign-on (OAuth) to join the community
- Register: Become a member by signing up here
Founders Network
Founders Network is a peer mentorship community focused on tech startup founders. Peer mentorship is lifelong, and members can tackle tactical issues through an online mentorship platform. Strategic issues can be solved using the community’s private Peer Advisory Board.
Kevin Holmes founded the startup community in 2011, and benefits include warm introductions to angel investors, venture capitalists, potential collaborators, and speaking opportunities.
The community has over 600 active tech startup founders.
What you need to know:
- Audience: Tech startup founders
- Activity level: N/A
- Perks: Members get access to over $500,000 in startup discounts from Founder Network’s partners
- Events: A broad list of their upcoming and previous events is posted here
- Cost to join: The Founder’s Network costs between $58.25/per month to $208/per month, depending on your startup’s experience level. Or you can pay the one-time lifetime fee of $10k. You have to be invited by an existing member
- Register: You can apply for membership by requesting an invitation here
Galen Buckwalter, Serial Entrepreneur, Chief Scientist at eHarmonyYou’ll learn more in The Founders Network Forum daily than most courses you ever waded through.
No Code Founders
The No-Code Founders community is focused on founders and entrepreneurs building businesses and products without code.
The community has over 15,000 active users. Within this global community, you may actively identify new business & growth opportunities, find startups to partner with, and more.
Members get perks such as exclusive discounts for no-code platforms, tools, and events. They can also learn how to build a profitable no-code business at the monthly AMAs with the founders and top community members.
What you need to know:
- Audience: Founders, developers, entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, and no-code enthusiasts
- Activity level: Low
- Perks: You can find the list of exclusive deals No Code Founders has to offer here
- Events: Their recorded events are available here
- Cost to join: It’s 100% free
- Register: Join NCF with your email address here
Vlad Larin, CEO at ZeroqodeOne of the few founder communities that actually work!
FoundersBeta
FoundersBeta is a startup community where members gain access to the talent and resources needed to build profitable businesses. Members can be matched with a co-founder or find jobs at some of the fastest-growing startups.
Community members can attend monthly online job fairs, remote networking, and online co-founder events. They also get access to courses on running startups and support with their product launch.
FoundersBeta has over 10,000 members.
What you need to know:
- Audience: Founders, developers, designers, marketers, product managers, and anyone interested in working at startups
- Activity level: N/A
- Perks: There are great deals for FoundersBeta members
- Events: Here you can find a list of their upcoming events
- Cost to join: An annual membership fee of $180-$1,200 depending on your plan
- Register: Become a member here
Latka SaaS Hackers
Founded by investor Nathan Latka, Latka SaaS Hackers is a network of founders, CEOs, and SaaS companies’ investors. Members get exclusive access to data, insights, and learnings from top SaaS industry leaders and companies.
Community members can also take advantage of over $60K in software and service discounts from community partners such as Drift, SkillShare, AWS, and more.
What you need to know:
Gregg Phillips, CEO @ CoverMeThe value I have always found in Nathan Latka’s productions, posts, and insight is also clear and present in SaaS Hackers on slack. You can waste thousands on travel and conference entrance fees or spend a few minutes in this channel. Few no-brainers in SaaS, this is one.
Future Founders
Founded in 2005, Future Founders is an organization focused on youth entrepreneurs. They aim to foster inclusion, support, and coach more diverse founders, focusing on middle-school students, high-school students, and 18 to 30-year-olds across the United States.
Aspiring youth founders are paired with successful local entrepreneurs who help them expand their knowledge and build the necessary skills needed to run successful businesses. Members also meet like-minded equals who can provide a supportive network.
So far, the organization has coached over 44k aspiring youth entrepreneurs, who have gone on to generate $325M in revenue and raised $34.9M in the capital.
What you need to know:
- Audience: Youth entrepreneurs and startup founders
- Activity level: N/A
- Events: There are different opportunities depending on the age
- Cost to join: It’s 100% free
- Register: Get involved with Future Founders by filling out the application here
Cherish Davis, Summer Camp AlumFuture Founders is one of the best things I ever did in my life. I met so many people just like me, which boosted my self-esteem and helped me realize that I have what it takes to become an entrepreneur!
Product Hunt
Product Hunt is a global startup community where product-loving aficionados and fanatics share and geek over the latest websites, mobile apps, and tech products. It’s popularly termed the place to discover “the next big thing” in tech.
Product Hunt has over 400,000 users.
What you need to know:
- Audience: Product enthusiasts, makers, founders, investors, and journalists
- Activity level: Extremely high
- Perks: Discover their great deals here
- Cost to join: It’s 100% free
- Register: You can sign up with Google, Facebook or Twitter
Startup Sauce
StartupSauce is a private mastermind community for SaaS founders based outside Silicon Valley. Both funded and bootstrapped founders are welcome, and there’s also a subgroup for founders making over $1m ARR. Most of the discussion revolves around the operational aspects of growing a SaaS software business – sales, marketing, hiring, processes – rather than raising money.
StartupSauce also runs bi-weekly mastermind calls, expert workshops, and topic-based calls where members discuss the specific growth tactics, tools & processes they’re using.
What you need to know:
- Audience: SaaS founders, both funded and bootstrapped. No direct competitors are allowed to join
- Activity level: Extremely high
- Cost to join: $468 annual membership fee. You’ll also need at least $5K in monthly revenue to qualify for membership
- Register: Apply for a membership here
Surround yourself with 1900+ people who have been in your shoes.
Nomad List
The Nomad List is a global network of remote workers living all over the world. The online community crowdsources exclusive information for its members on the best locations to live and work remotely for digital nomads.
Data points include but are not limited to the cost of living, quality of life, internet speed, safety, freedom of speech, foreign friendliness, and noise pollution.
Nomad List has over 15,000 members.
What you need to know:
- Audience: Remote workers, expatriates, and online entrepreneurs
- Activity level: Medium
- Events: More than 500 meetups are organized per year for the members to get to know each other and socialize
- Cost to join: Nomad list has two membership categories – full membership which costs $99/annum or a one-time payment of $74.99 and lite membership that’ll cost you $19.99/annum or a one-time fee of $14.99
- Register: You can sign up by typing your email into their website form
/r/startups
/r/startups is a subreddit where startup founders can come and discuss problems and share information and big ideas. They also have a discord server for members to join.
As with most subreddits, the quality of discussions is high, and you have very few spammers or promotions.
What you need to know:
- Audience: Startup founders, CEOs, entrepreneurs, and aspiring founders
- Activity level: Extremely high
- Cost to join: It’s 100% free
- Register: Join the subreddit community with Google or email
WIP by BetaList
BetaList runs an online community called WIP. It is made up of first-time entrepreneurs, solo founders, makers, and early adopters committed to bootstrapping and shipping excellent products together. Members get advice and mentorship from experienced bootstrappers.
Members also commit to staying accountable to the community by openly sharing progress. The BetaList community has over 1,500 active makers.
What you need to know:
- Audience: Makers, early adopters, first-time founders, entrepreneurs, and CEOs
- Activity level: Medium
- Perks: Become a member to unlock great deals
- Events: Upcoming meetups are listed here
- Cost to join: It costs $150 per annum
- Register: Become a member through the invitation of an existing member or by filling out the application
Makerpad
Makerpad is a community launched by Ben Tossell. The community offers members the tools, resources, and support needed to grow and build their businesses.
The community has over 1,000 members.
What you need to know:
- Audience: Online entrepreneurs, makers, and founders
- Activity level: Moderate
- Cost to join: The basic plan is free; however, the Pro plan costs $249/annum or a one-time payment of $600
- Register: Sign in with Google or Facebook here
SaaStr
With more than 600,000 members joining SaaStr sure is one of the best startup communities to join and gain insights from other entrepreneurs in business software.
Their goal is to “help everyone get from $0 to $100M APP with less stress and more success” and it’s a great way to achieve business growth and connect with like-minded people.
What you need to know:
- Audience: SaaS founders
- Activity level: Extremely high
- Perks: Access to podcasts, ebooks, and events
- Events: There are multiple events organized by SaaStr, with the most known to be SaaStr Annual 2023, SaaStr Europa 2023, and SaaStr APAC 2023
- Cost to join: Free
- Register: Sign up for the community here
Aaron Levie, CEO & Co-Founder | BoxSaaStr is the largest community of people who like enterprise software on the planet. It’s a great community of people trying to build companies and learn from one another. It’s pretty amazing to see.
Product-Led Alliance
Product-Led Alliance is a rapidly growing community created for product-led growth marketers and people involved in the growth area of business.
Their aim is to assist them in achieving their growth KPIs through the strategies shared in the community.
What you need to know:
- Audience: Anyone involved in Product-Led Growth
- Activity level: High
- Events: There are a lot of upcoming events that you can attend either in person or digitally
- Cost to join: $29/month or $299/year
- Register: Become a member here
StartupNation
StartupNation provides entrepreneurs with an excellent ground to develop and share their ideas.
You can discuss business basics, gig economy, marketing, sales, public relations, personal growth, and more.
That combined with their ‘Startup Nation Radio’ show is everything a new entrepreneur needs to get a head start.
What you need to know:
- Audience: Entrepreneurs that are new in business or need a community
- Activity level: Medium
- Cost to join: Free
- Register: Join the community here
Surround yourself with 1900+ people who have been in your shoes.
Astronomic Network
Astronomic network was created by Austin entrepreneurs to help their members connect and build successful careers.
Apart from their Slack community, in which you can engage in meaningful conversation, they offer two exclusive programs. Their ‘Moonshots’ program matches founders in groups of six according to their industry, business type, and growth goals, whereas their ‘Constellations’ program invites other founders in similar industries to dinner.
What you need to know:
- Audience: Founders, freelancers, and business owners
- Activity level: N/A
- Cost to join: Their Slack community is free
- Register: Sign up for a membership here
Kidus Solomon, CEO at Angel Fire MediaIt’s one thing to meet people and network with people and find potential clients or knowledge, but what’s more valuable to me is to network with people who I can learn from who are further along on their entrepreneurship journey.
The Fastlane Forum
The Fastlane forum is an excellent resource for entrepreneurs to build their financial freedom. It has more than 70K members, eager to help you form your Fastlane business.
There are a lot of topics to join since every member can create one to discuss what’s on their mind.
What you need to know:
- Audience: Entrepreneurs willing to build a business
- Activity level: Extremely high
- Events: Local meetups are created in threads for members to participate
- Cost to join: It’s completely free
- Register: Join their community here
Headstart
Being the biggest organization in India and present in over 30 cities, Headstart sure helps ‘enable the enablers of the startup ecosystem’.
The organization is completely run by volunteers, and they invite anyone who loves startups to apply and contribute to their efforts to help Indian entrepreneurs succeed.
What you need to know:
- Audience: Entrepreneurs, investors, incubators, corporations, and accelerators
- Activity level: High
- Events: Their upcoming events are posted here
- Cost to join: It’s completely free
- Register: You can create an account on their official website using your email
Conclusion
Are you a maker, CEO, or startup founder looking for a vibrant founder community? Do you want to have the option to jump on one-to-one calls with experienced growth mentors or network with fellow founders in a private Slack community? In that case, you should check out GrowthMentor.
Check out what our members say about their experiences with GrowthMentor to learn more!
Startup communities unite founders, entrepreneurs, investors, and startup employees as an organized group, usually online or through startup incubators. Having a startup community is very critical to a company’s growth.
With over 5M members from more than 125 countries, Startup Grind is the largest startup community in the world. They aim to promote inclusion and bring together like-minded individuals.
If you want to meet other startup founders, one idea would be applying and joining a startup incubator or accelerator. You could also find a coworking space in your city. Many coworking spaces organize events where startup founders can meet and network. If you want to hang out with startup founders outside your city and from the comfort of your office, joining a vibrant startup community online is the best option.
Startup communities are most common in Silicon Valley/San Francisco Bay Area. Other startup cities include New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, and Austin. In Europe, the best startup culture can be found in Berlin, Barcelona, Lisbon, and Amsterdam.
Startup communities are excellent places to expand your network, learn from other startups, and connect with potential partners. They provide founders with resources, opportunities, and connections that can help them succeed.
