Funny you mention Hiten, Osman. Was just going to cc him on this thread.

Another "Hacker News or Reddit for X" :) It may just be me but there seem to be more vertical communities forming as of late. GrowthHackers.com, USV.com, and Designer News are a few other more recent examples in the startup space.

Thanks for writing, Osman! The money quote: "For startups looking to grow really large , especially those in big industries with large incumbents, building a vertical community can be one way to help achieve massive growth." Although some vertical communities will and cannot achieve massive growth and that's OK. I will also add that community provides defensibility against incumbents within that vertical.

w00t surprised that angellist didn't do this

thanks @OsmnShkh

I don't have much to say about the product, but the marketer in me thinks it's interesting to see startups creating communities around their industries. LayerVault with Designer News HubSpot & Moz with Inbond.org Qualaroo with GrowthHackers.com Best part is that these startups are actively focused on building great communities instead of just pushing their products. I think there's room for a startup or anyone interested in analytics to start a community around analytics (Hacker News for Analytics). Emailed @hnshah asking for his thoughts on the idea, looking forward to hearing them.

@rrhoover Now I'm really excited to see what he has to say :)

Wrote a blog post on startups building vertical communities today, http://www.osmansheikh.com/verti... I think they're a great way to build brand awareness in big industries.