Top 12 SaaS communities for networking and inspiration

The expansion of Software as a Service (SaaS) has been exponential. In just a few years, the industry has evolved into something of a behemoth, and marketers are continually catching up with the latest trends and developments in order to make an impact. In fact, the growth trajectory of SaaS is so huge that it’s projected to reach a staggering $623 billion by 2023 at a compound annual growth rate of 18%.

So, to cut through the noise, SaaS marketers must remain abreast of up-to-date marketing know-how and practices. Fortunately, there are infinite resources online for marketers to help enhance their knowledge of SaaS, growth marketing, and product-led growth (PLG). But herein lies the difficulty – typing a search query like ‘SaaS marketing tips, trends and advice’ into Google will present millions of hits. So, without a network of experts at your fingertips, finding the good stuff is near impossible. This is where online communities come into play, because they offer direct access to expertise.

In this blog, we round up 12 of the best online community platforms for all things Saas, growth marketing, and PLG.

What are SaaS communities?

Operating within a digital-first world enables seamless connection with people from all corners of the world. Therefore, it is pretty straightforward to build a community of people who share a passion and purpose and are willing to impart their wisdom to other like-minded individuals – without having to travel across the world to industry events. After all, marketers know that knowledge sharing is the name of the game, and insights from those at the coalface are the most valuable.

Why should I join SaaS communities?

Being a part of an online community can benefit professionals at all levels and companies of all sizes because it functions as a resource hub of helpful know-how that otherwise may be hard to find. If you’re struggling to grasp something or you’re not achieving desired results on a project, chances are other people have also faced similar issues and are willing to share their insights.

The benefits of joining SaaS community platforms are tenfold:

• The opportunity to connect with like-minded people who share common interests and experiences

• The opportunity to hear about other people’s SaaS successes and failures first-hand

• Access to helpful resources and honest product reviews

• Enhanced knowledge and understanding of Saas – and, in turn, better business outcomes

• Career networking opportunities (lots of communities encourage members to post and share job listings)

Community platforms are member-led, meaning they are mostly no-nonsense. Ultimately, if you want valuable insights, pick the brains of your peers.

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Top 12 SaaS communities

Below is a comprehensive list of the best online SaaS communities in 2022.

1. Demand Curve

Demand Curve is a community for growth and marketing professionals. With over 50,000 members, it is a goldmine of resources, information, and tips for marketers and startups wanting to fast-track business growth.

Demand Curve offers its members a wealth of free, valuable content such as Playbooks on Shopify and personalization, and how-to articles like ‘How to grow your email marketing list’. Join the newsletter to receive weekly growth hacks and expertise directly to your inbox.

2. SaaStr

If you’re looking to join an online community dedicated to business software, SaaStr is the place to go. It is the destination for SaaS founders, executives, and enthusiasts to get together to learn and grow their businesses through access to content like ebooks and podcasts, year-round events, and training. Have a burning question you need answering? Simply type your query into the search bar and get the information you need.

Each year SaaStr hosts Annual SaaStr: the largest B2B software conference in the world, offering networking sessions, guest speakers from leading SaaS companies, workshops and classes, and more.

3. Mind the Product

Mind the Product is the world’s largest product community. It is a central hub for product managers to exchange ideas and share experiences about product design, product development and management, user experience, and more.

Mind the Product welcomes organizations big and small to join their community, as well as early-stage technology adopters looking to kickstart their product knowledge. It also encourages community members to engage with and connect on their blog. And, if you fancy in-person connection, they also host industry events and conferences around the world and organize meetups and networking opportunities known as ProductTanks. Find your local ProductTank here.

4. IndieHackers

IndieHackers is an online forum for developers who are building online projects to discuss their strategies and share how they generate revenue. Members can jump into multiple discussion topics depending on their needs, including ‘Success Stories’, ‘Hard-Won Lessons’, and “Learn from the Masters’.

IndieHackers also has a podcast, hosts regular in-person and remote meetups, and offers opportunities to partner up with other members on projects. One of the more interesting features of the community is the ‘Self Care’ hub: “A place to talk about your mental health and challenges as a founder”. This is a unique and important facet of the community as founder wellbeing can be a neglected topic of discussion.

5. r/SaaS on Reddit

r/SaaS is a closely moderated Subreddit forum with over 30,000 users and high engagement. The community is popular because SaaS founders talk honestly and openly about their experiences with SaaS – the highs, the lows, and everything in-between – and help each other with technical troubleshooting.

To become a successful Redditor, be sure to engage with other people’s posts as much as possible and follow the community guidelines clearly stated on the site.

6. SaaS Growth Hacks

SaaS Growth Hacks is a community of SaaS founders, CEOs, and professionals. It is a private Facebook group with approximately 30,000 members, and was set up by SaaS pro Aaron Krall in 2016 with the aim of helping industry peers start, scale, and run their SaaS businesses. Whatever your burning questions, they have likely been answered in this group, making it a treasure trove of knowledge and tidbits.

7. Email Geeks

Email Geeks is a Slack group dedicated to email marketing. It was created so that marketers, designers, and developers can discuss best practices, solve problems, and ultimately “talk shop”.

The Slack community boasts approximately 15,000 email marketers from companies such as Google, Twitter, and Uber, and houses dozens of channels to discuss various topics, from code, to design, events, and more. Joining is easy – all you have to do is enter your details and write a brief explanation about your experience with email marketing.

8. Superpath

For content marketing aficionados, there is the Superpath Slack group. The community is the brainchild of Jimmy Daly, who manages, monitors, and engages with the 7,000+ members across its multiple channels. The channels cover SEO, B2B/B2C content strategy, career advice, job postings, etc.

In addition to Slack conversations and the member-exclusive newsletter, Superpath also holds Q&A sessions with featured guests, where members can “ask anything”.

Becoming a member is simple: sign up with your details and your job title, and specify whether you work in-house, in an agency, or freelance.

9. Growmance

Growmance is a Slack group by Audienti for marketing pros. Its community is over 8,000-strong, and discussion topics include affiliate marketing, analytics, content marketing, ecommerce, email marketing, events and conferences, influencer marketing, public relations, SEO, social media, and more.

Signing up is easy as pie – simply specify why you want to join and select the topics which interest you the most.

10. Product-Led Alliance

Calling all “product pros, growth gurus, founders, and thought leaders”! Product-Led Alliance is the ultimate online product community that brings together passionate professionals, from start-ups to tech giants like Amazon and Spotify.

The Product-Led Alliance Slack community has channels for everything, from recommended reading and Q&A to job listings and upcoming events. It’s the one-stop shop for product chat.

11. ProductLed

The ProductLed Growth Slack community is a hub for PLG specialists to connect with “world-class SaaS operators”. It includes channels that focus on sales, enabling product pros to enhance their understanding of product-led vs. sales-led growth and how, actually, a better alignment between sales/marketing and product functions creates better outcomes.

12. Startup Grind

If you’re an entrepreneur, check out Startup Grind. It’s a global startup company designed to educate, inspire and connect entrepreneurs. It was founded by Derek Andersen in 2010 with the aim of connecting like-minded people who were facing similar challenges when launching a company, and inviting them to share knowledge and insights. 

Before long, Startup Grind attracted experts and founders from all industries and set up communities (aka ‘chapters’) in major cities around the world. Today, Startup Grind’s biggest focus areas are events and conferences, startup and partner memberships, student and investor programs, and online content.

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