What are ideation communities?

Communities for entrepreneurs and creators in the early stages of developing business ideas, validating concepts, and finding their niche. You will find structured group support and courses alongside more informal peer discussion for people trying to identify what to build next.

Where do most ideation communities live?

Independent Platforms is the most common platform in this report (54% of 13 listings).

Are most of these communities free?

77% are free to join. The rest require payment, an application, or both.

How big is a typical ideation community?

Among listings with public size data, the average is 152K members and the median is 2K. The median is usually the better signal for a typical group because a few large ones inflate the average.

What do these communities usually include?

Forum is the most common (100%). Others that show up often include online/offline events, courses, and job board.

How does Hive Index collect this data?

Listings are submitted by community builders and researchers, reviewed for relevance, and updated with platform, feature, member, review, and traffic data where available.

Where can I see the full list?

The full directory is on Hive Index's Ideation topic page, where you can filter by platform, size, features, and more.

Ideation Communities Report: Stats, Platforms, Trends &...

Executive Summary

We analyzed 13 ideation communities listed on Hive Index to understand where people gather, what these groups offer, and which communities attract the most interest.

The big picture: In this smaller sample, ideation listings cluster on Independent Platforms, while a few large groups pull member averages up.

Source: Hive Index community database · Updated 2026-05-05

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Communities: 13
Platforms: 5
Avg members: 152K
Median members: 2K

Where Ideation Communities Are Hosted

Independent Platforms
7(54%)
LinkedIn
2(15%)
Reddit
2(15%)
Skool
1(8%)
Discord
1(8%)

Format mix

Forum / feed-based
9(69%)
Other platforms
2(15%)
Private membership
1(8%)
Chat communities
1(8%)

Most listings are forum / feed-based (69%).

Independent Platforms leads (54% of listings).

Audience Size & Access

Community size

Tiny
<20 members
0(0%)
Small
20-100 members
0(0%)
Medium
100-1,000 members
2(15%)
Large
1,000-10,000 members
4(31%)
Huge
10,000-100,000 members
0(0%)
Massive
100,000-1M members
2(15%)
Gigantic
1M+ members
0(0%)

5 communities have unknown member counts.

Free vs paid

The average is much higher than the median (152K vs 2K), which usually means a few large groups are pulling the average up.

How Ideation Differs From Other Categories

Ideation is less free-to-join, smaller, and more paid or gated, compared with typical Hive Index topics.

Metric	Ideation	Hive Index average
Free to join	77%	85%
Median members	2K	25K
Average members	152K	669K
Paid or apply-to-join	23%	15%
Live chat	15%	38%
Discord share	8%	16%

Feature Mix

Common features appear in at least 15% of listings.

Common Features

Forum
100%
Online/Offline Events
54%
Courses
31%
Job Board
23%
Member Perks
23%
Newsletter
23%
Pairing
23%
Live Chat
15%

Niche Features

Requires Application
8%
Tools
8%

Forum appears on 100% of listings.

What Visitors Click

Outbound clicks / mo: 33

Platform supply vs. clicks

Platform	Communities	Share of communities	Outbound clicks	Share of clicks
Independent Platforms	7	54%	20	61%
LinkedIn	2	15%	2	6%
Reddit	2	15%	4	12%
Skool	1	8%	2	6%
Discord	1	8%	5	15%

Share is calculated within this topic.

Independent Platforms hosts 54% of listings and 61% of clicks, so supply and interest line up.

Most-clicked formats

Forum / feed-based
24(73%)
Chat communities
5(15%)
Other platforms
2(6%)
Private membership
2(6%)

Most-clicked features

Forum
33(100%)
Online/Offline Events
25(76%)
Courses
21(64%)
Newsletter
20(61%)
Live Chat
18(55%)
Job Board
14(42%)

Most-clicked size ranges

Medium
15(45%)
Large
9(27%)
Massive
4(12%)

Top-clicked listings

FoundersList
13(39%)
Internet Pipes
5(15%)
Startup School
4(12%)

Most clicks go to forum / feed-based and chat communities communities.

Trends

Founded year

2007

2009

2010

2012

2015

2016

2017

2020

2023

3 communities have no founding year on file.

Most listed groups were founded around 2020.

Community Quality & Ratings

Only 1 community has ratings so far, so read this as a small sample.

5.0 average rating across 1 community.

Rated examples

Internet Pipes
Discord · 5.0 stars · 1K members

Methodology & FAQ

Methodology

This report uses communities in the Hive Index database tagged as Ideation. We exclude removed or suppressed listings. Member counts, traffic, features, reviews, and ratings may vary by source and are updated periodically.

•We only have a handful of listings so far, so treat these numbers as directional.
•Last updated 2026-05-05

FAQ

: Communities for entrepreneurs and creators in the early stages of developing business ideas, validating concepts, and finding their niche. You will find structured group support and courses alongside more informal peer discussion for people trying to identify what to build next.
: Independent Platforms is the most common platform in this report (54% of 13 listings).
: 77% are free to join. The rest require payment, an application, or both.
: Among listings with public size data, the average is 152K members and the median is 2K. The median is usually the better signal for a typical group because a few large ones inflate the average.
: Forum is the most common (100%). Others that show up often include online/offline events, courses, and job board.
: Listings are submitted by community builders and researchers, reviewed for relevance, and updated with platform, feature, member, review, and traffic data where available.
: The full directory is on Hive Index's Ideation topic page, where you can filter by platform, size, features, and more.

Keep exploring

Browse

All Ideation communities

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