What are micro startups communities?

Communities for founders building small, profitable SaaS products and info businesses without chasing venture scale. You will find discussion focused on idea validation, customer acquisition, and building sustainable revenue as a solo operator or small team.

Where do most micro startups communities live?

Independent Platforms is the most common platform in this report (55% of 40 listings).

Are most of these communities free?

85% are free to join. The rest require payment, an application, or both.

How big is a typical micro startups community?

Among listings with public size data, the average is 108K 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 (78%). Others that show up often include live chat, online/offline events, and paid community.

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 Micro Startups topic page, where you can filter by platform, size, features, and more.

Micro Startups Communities Report: Stats, Platforms,...

Executive Summary

We analyzed 40 micro startups communities listed on Hive Index to understand where people gather, what these groups offer, and which communities attract the most interest.

The big picture: micro startups listings cluster on Independent Platforms, while a few large groups pull member averages up.

Source: Hive Index community database · Updated periodically

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Communities: 40
Platforms: 9
Avg members: 108K
Median members: 2K

Where Micro Startups Communities Are Hosted

Independent Platforms
22(55%)
Reddit
5(13%)
Discord
3(8%)
Slack
3(8%)
Telegram
3(8%)
Circle
1(3%)
Campfire
1(3%)
Facebook
1(3%)

Format mix

Forum / feed-based
28(70%)
Chat communities
9(23%)
Other platforms
2(5%)
Private membership
1(3%)

Forum / feed-based is most common (70%), but chat communities is also well represented (23%).

Independent Platforms leads with 55%, but Reddit also has a meaningful share (13%).

Audience Size & Access

Community size

Tiny
<20 members
1(3%)
Small
20-100 members
2(5%)
Medium
100-1,000 members
3(8%)
Large
1,000-10,000 members
3(8%)
Huge
10,000-100,000 members
2(5%)
Massive
100,000-1M members
3(8%)
Gigantic
1M+ members
0(0%)

26 communities have unknown member counts.

Free vs paid

The average is much higher than the median (108K vs 2K), which usually means a few large groups are pulling the average up.

How Micro Startups Differs From Other Categories

Micro Startups is smaller, and more platform-diverse, compared with typical Hive Index topics.

Metric	Micro Startups	Hive Index average
Free to join	85%	84%
Median members	2K	25K
Average members	108K	662K
Paid or apply-to-join	15%	16%
Live chat	30%	41%
Discord share	8%	18%

Feature Mix

Common features appear in at least 15% of listings.

Common Features

Forum
78%
Live Chat
30%
Online/Offline Events
23%
Paid Community
15%

Niche Features

Member Perks
13%
Newsletter
10%
Courses
8%
Pairing
5%
Tools
3%

Forum appears on 78% of listings.

What Visitors Click

Outbound clicks / mo: 93

Platform supply vs. clicks

Platform	Communities	Share of communities	Outbound clicks	Share of clicks
Independent Platforms	22	55%	9	10%
Reddit	5	13%	5	5%
Discord	3	8%	38	41%
Slack	3	8%	5	5%
Telegram	3	8%	3	3%
Circle	1	3%	11	12%
Campfire	1	3%	21	23%
Facebook	1	3%	1	1%

Share is calculated within this topic.

Discord gets 41% of clicks but only 8% of listings, so visitors click it more than you'd expect from supply alone.

Most-clicked formats

Chat communities
46(49%)
Other platforms
21(23%)
Forum / feed-based
15(16%)
Private membership
11(12%)

Most-clicked features

Live Chat
78(84%)
Online/Offline Events
58(62%)
Member Perks
55(59%)
Newsletter
55(59%)
Forum
47(51%)
Paid Community
35(38%)

Most-clicked size ranges

Large
47(51%)
Medium
14(15%)
Massive
3(3%)
Tiny
2(2%)
Huge
2(2%)

Top-clicked listings

Lunadio
21(23%)
Small Bets
21(23%)
The Studio
14(15%)

Most clicks go to chat communities and other platforms communities.

Trends

Founded year

2013

2017

2021

2022

2023

32 communities have no founding year on file.

Most listed groups were founded around 2021.

Community Quality & Ratings

Only 3 communities have ratings so far, so read this as a small sample.

5.0 average rating across 3 communities.

Rated examples

Methodology & FAQ

Methodology

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

Updated periodically

FAQ

: Communities for founders building small, profitable SaaS products and info businesses without chasing venture scale. You will find discussion focused on idea validation, customer acquisition, and building sustainable revenue as a solo operator or small team.
: Independent Platforms is the most common platform in this report (55% of 40 listings).
: 85% are free to join. The rest require payment, an application, or both.
: Among listings with public size data, the average is 108K 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 (78%). Others that show up often include live chat, online/offline events, and paid community.
: 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 Micro Startups topic page, where you can filter by platform, size, features, and more.

Keep exploring

Browse

All Micro Startups communities

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