Top 15 Best Small Business & Entrepreneur Forums for 2020

Small-Business-Forum.net is a classic, no-frills forum where users post questions and answers, with posts moderated by a team of administrators. There are a wide variety of sub-topic forums, from starting, financing and growing your business, to marketing, running a website, accounting, taxes, technology and more.

BizWarriors takes a more aggressive stance towards doing business. Even the tagline on their logo is “Create. Collaborate. Conquer.” But don’t let that turn you off, since Matthew and Adam Toren, two serial entrepreneurs, publish a wide variety of articles and run a business forum where users engage about diverse business topics. If that resonates with you, definitely check them out.

A no-nonsense yet comprehensive site, Small Business Brief is a treasure trove of information and collaboration for entrepreneurs. Articles on business ownership are separated by industry type, and their forum features discussions on a large number of topics. They also host a free database of forms and templates for common business situations.

Most of us know CNET as a consumer technology and computing review site, but they also host several dozen forums, including a small business forum, where people from the business community can post their questions, get answers, and start discussions.

Accounting, payroll and taxes are the least glamorous parts of doing business, but every entrepreneur needs to have a complete, up-to-date picture of their financial situation at all times. The Quickbooks Online Community is one of the best resources for discussing financial topics relevant to small business owners.

If you’re familiar with Reddit-style message boards, then the Warrior Forum should be a no-brainer. Forums are divided by topic, and posts are up-voted or down-voted by the community, so the most popular posts always appear near the top of the list. You can still sort and search within forums to find discussions that you’re interested in.

Big banks like Bank of America are crucial to helping small business owners finance and capitalize their entrepreneurial ventures, and BofA has gone the extra step to create an online forum where experts and entrepreneurs can help each other get the answers they need. They also host a regular small business podcast!

Another great classic-style forum, you can jump right into important subjects like growing and managing a business, social media & internet marketing, advertising, even a marketplace for hiring or buying & selling of websites and whole businesses. They also have a section dedicated to helping entrepreneurs get access to commercial capital outside of traditional banks.

StartupNation is dedicated to entrepreneurship and starting new businesses, and they offer a huge number of resources to help you do just that. From articles around starting, growing, and managing a business, to their entrepreneurship podcast, to their community forum where you can participate with like-minded members of the business community, StartupNation has it all.

Alignable is not strictly a small business forum, but a peer-to-peer network of business owners and entrepreneurs for exchanging referrals, finding expert advice, and building relationships with business partners and local leaders. You can sign up for free and get access to connections within your industry, join discussions, and connect with your local community.

LinkedIn is the premier social network for businesses, employers, employees, and job-seekers. Here you can connect and share resources with business people from around the world doing just about everything under the sun, as well as screen and hire employees, and even market your services to other businesses.

Within the vast array of “subreddits” (or topical forums) on Reddit.com there are several which stand out as invaluable to business owners and entrepreneurs. We recommend that you follow r/entrepreneur, r/small-business, and r/startup to begin with, but do a few targeted searches and see if there are other local or industry-specific subreddits that interest you.

If you’ve read the best-selling business books “The Millionaire Fastlane” or “Unscripted” by M.J. DeMarco, you’re already familiar with his trademark style and no-nonsense approach to starting and running a successful business. The Fastlane Forum provides additional resources for aficionados of DeMarco’s “C.E.N.T.S. Framework”, along with many other business topics.

Not to be confused with Smallbusinessforum.net, Small Business Forum is a magazine-style blog operated by Medium.com which publishes articles by entrepreneurs small and large. They also feature articles from contributors in the business community, though interaction by the public is limited to the comments section.

Last but not least, Startups.com is one of the most important hubs for information and resources relevant to entrepreneurs on the whole internet. It’s actually an entire network of platforms, including Clarity.fm for mentorship, Fundable to explore how to fund a business, along with other educational resources and professional services.