Founder communities are forums, subreddits and networks where founders share what they are building, ask questions and trade feedback. You join for honest feedback and early users, and you earn the right to mention your product by helping first.
Places listed
22
Verified dofollow
3
Nofollow or ugc
12
4 had no link and 3 are not checked yet.
Free, one email
Get the Launch Kit
Every row on this page in one tracker, plus a 30-day calendar that says what to do each day.
Tracker: The Launch Tracker spreadsheet
Calendar: The 30-day launch calendar
Templates: The Submission Kit templates
40 checks: The 40-point pre-launch checklist
300+ websites shipped, clients in 4 countries
Who this is for
Indie hackers
Startup founders
SaaS builders
Product creators
What to expect
Honest product feedback
Early adopters
Other founders to trade notes with
Replies that show you what to fix
The short answer
Which founder communities are worth joining?
Indie Hackers for build-in-public posts, r/SideProject and r/SaaS for feedback within their rules, and Startup School (Y Combinator) for a free course and co-founder matching. Below are all 22, with each one's rules on promotion and whether its links are followed.
01Before you submit
Read the rules before you post
When to use it: While you build, well before launch. Join, read the rules and answer questions for a few weeks before you post anything about your product.
r/SideProject is built for sharing projects and getting feedback. Title the post with the project name and a short description, in the format the sidebar sets. Source: reddit.com (opens in a new tab)
Every community on this page is open to UK founders, and none of them is UK-only. From the wider list we checked, Startups List runs a London directory with its own submit page, Startups.co.uk takes applications for its Startups 100 list, and Startups of London takes guest articles rather than listings. Searches for UK-specific startup directories showed no measurable volume in our keyword check, so this list is not split by country.
The Launch Kit
Track all 22 on this page in the Kit
Status, submitted date, listing URL and the link type you got, for every row above.
The Launch Tracker spreadsheet
The 30-day launch calendar
The Submission Kit templates
The 40-point pre-launch checklist
03Field notes
How to work this list
Do first
01Indie Hackers: post your build story with a free account, then add the product to the products database.
02Reddit r/SideProject: share the project for feedback, titled in the format the sidebar sets.
03Reddit r/SaaS: answer questions for weeks before you mention your product. The rules allow one mention or three links every 60 days.
04Startup School (Y Combinator): take the free course and use co-founder matching while you build.
05Reddit r/startups: use the Monthly Share Your Startup thread, never a standalone post.
Skip or defer
Reddit r/ProductManagement for a launch: it is a discussion sub for product managers, and promotional posts are usually removed.
Reddit r/InternetIsBeautiful unless your tool is free and needs no signup.
Reddit r/Entrepreneur for standalone promotion: promotions belong in its designated weekly threads.
Posting the same launch text to several subreddits in one hour.
How to write the listing here
Write a post that is useful even if nobody clicks your link: what you built, the numbers so far, what went wrong and one specific question. Put the link at the end, or in a comment where the rules ask for that, and say you are the founder. Reply to every comment for the first few hours.
When in the sequence
Join at T-30 to T-22 and post nothing promotional yet. Post a build story on Indie Hackers at T-21 to T-15 and a feedback post in r/startups, within its rules, at T-14 to T-8. On T0, post the launch note in one community you already belong to.
Places where founders talk to each other: forums like Indie Hackers, subreddits like r/SaaS and r/startups, and networks you apply to, like Founders Network and Startup Grind. Each one sets its own rules on promotion.
Online, the free options we rate high or very high on traffic include Hacker News, Indie Hackers, r/startups and r/SaaS. For a smaller room, Startup Grind's membership is by application, Founders Network is a paid network with events, and Startup School (Y Combinator) runs co-founder matching.
Idea and building: Startup School (Y Combinator), Indie Hackers, r/SideProject and r/SaaS. Pre-launch: the r/startups monthly share thread and an Indie Hackers pre-launch post. Launch week: Show HN on Hacker News, r/SideProject and your launch post on Indie Hackers. After launch, stay in the ones that gave you useful replies.
From each subreddit's rules page: r/SideProject is built for sharing projects and getting feedback. r/startups allows it only in the Monthly Share Your Startup thread. r/SaaS allows one mention or three links every 60 days, with your affiliation disclosed. r/webdev limits project posts to Showoff Saturday and allows no commercial promotion.
Read the rules page first and follow it to the letter. Answer other people's questions for a few weeks before you promote anything. Say that you built the product. Use the designated thread where one exists, post once, and never ask friends to upvote. Every Reddit link we checked was nofollow, so post for the replies. Of the 22 communities on this page, 3 gave a followed link in our check, 12 were nofollow or ugc, 4 had no crawlable link and 3 are not checked yet.
