Starting out, I found that the best connections came from showing up consistently rather than trying to network with everyone at once.

Local meetups, hackathons, demo days, and online founder communities are useful, but only when you participate. Share what you are building, ask specific questions, offer help, and follow up with the people whose work genuinely interests you.

Y Combinator is probably the best founder community in the world. What I want to know is what are the top 2-5 after them? I am not referring to accelerators as much as high signal places for builders to congregate together, connect, and build. I am in SF now and am spending time at Founders Inc., HF0, and The Residency. How do those stack up? What else is out there? Would love your thoughts.

Supabase recently surveyed over 2,000 startup founders and builders to uncover what's powering modern startups: tech stacks, GTM, and approach to AI.

See full report here

Building a community these days is no longer just about setting up a social media profile or starting a private group on Slack or Discord.

Companies need to differentiate themselves, gain a competitive advantage, and build relationships with clients/users on a more personal level.

Building community used to be a Web3 thing. Crypto projects lived by their Discord. Token holders became evangelists, most of the times the community was the product, almost as much as the technology itself.

In 2026 AI companies are borrowing the same playbook and taking it offline. The trend I'm watching most closely right now is in-person events as a growth channel. Not conferences. Not sponsored booths. Genuine community gatherings built around the product.

There's never been a better time to build. AI tools, smaller teams, faster product cycles.

Last year, @Supabase surveyed over 2,000 startup founders and builders to uncover what's powering modern startups: tech stacks, GTM, and approach to AI.

Many things have changed since then, and they want to know what building at startups looks like in 2026.

This year again, Supabase surveyed 2,000+ startup founders to uncover what's powering modern startups: their stacks, their GTM motion, and how they approach AI.

Many things have changed between 2025 and 2026.

In a time when big corporations are overpaying for their job offers just to steal the best talent from another big company, and in an era where everyone can build their own startup, there will always be room for people who prefer to join a team and work on something (in the future) big.

How would you find these promising talents?

We ve worked in two other eco-systems (India & France), and each has clear strengths and trade-offs in terms of talent density, cost of building, access to capital, speed of decision-making, and openness to risk all vary a lot.

Curious to hear from founders and operators who ve built outside the US:

• Which ecosystem punches the most above its weight today?

• Where do you see the best balance between talent, capital, and customer access?

• Are there cities/countries that are especially strong for specific stages (0 1 vs scaling) or specific verticals (AI, fintech, climate, SaaS, deep tech)?

Lately there s been a growing wave of skepticism around VCs, Y Combinator, and accelerators in general. And to be fair: I get it.

We now live in an age where almost everything you need to learn can be found online. The gatekeepers are fewer, the knowledge is everywhere, and solo builders have never been more empowered.

YC published a list of themes they want to invest in:

1. Full-stack AI Companies

2. More Design Founders

3. Voice AI

4. AI for Scientific Advancement

5. AI Personal Assistant

6. Healthcare AI

7. AI Personal Tutor for Everyone

8. Software Tools To Make Robots

9. The Future of Education

10. AI Residential Security

11. Internal Agent Builder

12. AI Research Labs

13. AI Voice Assistants for Email

14. AI for Personal Finance

Of course there are many projects and startups that launched on Product Hunt in each of these categories.

Hey Product Hunt community!

I'm diving into the world of bootstrapping and want to build something amazing without spending a dime. I know many of you have been there starting from scratch, hustling with free tools, and leveraging creativity to grow.

Let s share our best tips, hacks, and stories! What free tools, platforms, or strategies have you used to launch or scale a project on a $0 budget? From no-cost marketing tactics to open-source software or scrappy growth hacks, spill the beans!

Product Hunt has always felt like a place where underdog founders can try their luck not with VCs, but with a real community of builders. It reminds me of what made the early internet so special: it was a place where fragmented groups could find each other and power up together. For my personal use, as a maker, historically it s been more about supporting my friends' companies when they had launches and now I use it to keep up with the continues rollout of new tools mostly aimed at makers looking to vibe and make faster.

Right now, I feel anxious for America (and the world) feel from political chaos and our economic prospects. Resilience in our community has been a source of strength. LGBT are also natural contrarians to the status quo to such an extent I would say it is even a builder superpower.