How to Find Founders and Builders to Engage With

The founder and builder community on X represents one of the highest-value audiences for engagement. These people are actively building, sharing their journeys, and looking for genuine connections.

Here's what makes them special: 78% of entrepreneurs consider networking a deciding factor in their startup's success. They're not just scrolling,they're looking to connect. And X has a massive edge for reaching them: speed to attention.

Why Founder Accounts Are Worth Your Time

Unlike chasing mass follower counts, engaging with founders gives you access to highly relevant, engaged communities.

Consider the math: a SaaS founder doesn't need 100,000 random followers. They need 1,000 engaged startup founders, product managers, or developers who might become customers, partners, or collaborators.

The same applies to you. The right 100 founder connections often deliver more value than 10,000 random followers.

The business impact is real:

• Startups have generated six-figure revenues almost entirely from X-based inbound leads
• Founders report that most of their founding teams came from X connections
• Many continue to acquire most of their customers through the platform

Finding Build in Public Accounts

Build in Public (BIP) founders are some of the most valuable accounts to engage with. They share wins, struggles, learnings, and business metrics transparently.

What to look for:

• Revenue numbers and metrics (MRR, ARR, growth rates)
• User and customer acquisition numbers
• Wins and failures shared openly
• Product development updates
• Behind-the-scenes content

Where to find them:

Hashtags: Search #BuildInPublic, #IndieHackers, #Bootstrapped, #SaaS, #NoCode

X Communities: The Build in Public community has over 180,000 members. Join directly through X's Communities feature.

Aggregator sites: buildinpublic.xyz scrapes X for #BuildInPublic content.

Bio scanning: Many founders identify as "building in public" right in their bio.

Key Hashtags for Discovery

Hashtag	What You'll Find
#BuildInPublic	Founders sharing their journey transparently
#IndieHackers	Bootstrapped founders and solopreneurs
#SaaS	Software-as-a-service founders
#NoCode	No-code tool builders
#Bootstrapped	Self-funded startup founders
#Startup	General startup discussions

Use these to search for active conversations, then look at who's posting and engaging. Once you find them, learn how to spot which tweets are worth replying to.

The Indie Hacker Community

Indie hackers are entrepreneurs building profitable online businesses independently,often bootstrapped without external funding. They prioritize profitability and sustainable growth over rapid scaling.

Why they're great to engage with:

• High engagement rates (they're actively building community)
• Willing to share knowledge freely
• Often in similar stages to you
• Value genuine connections over follower counts

Finding them:

• Indie Hackers (indiehackers.com) has forums and a podcast
• The @IndieHackers account shares community content
• Reddit's r/startups has hundreds of thousands of members
• Many have active Discord servers

Engaging Authentically

Once you find founders to engage with, the approach matters.

Give Value First

Don't ask for anything. Add value without expectation.

For SaaS founders, consider: "I noticed [specific thing] on your site. Here's a quick idea that might help..." For content creators, offer a useful perspective on something they shared.

Engage Before Messaging

People reply three to five times more if you've already showed up in their notifications with real engagement. Focus on genuine engagement before sending any DMs.

Be Positive and Inclusive

Research shows that positivity and inclusion get rewarded by the algorithm,and by people. Negativity and snark? Not so much.

Engage Everyone, Regardless of Size

The best founders follow two rules: engage everyone regardless of follower count, and engage to empower, not debate. Talk to every person with something interesting to say, whether they have 50 followers or 50,000.

Building Relationships Over Time

This is a long game.

The Warm-Up Process

1. Add target accounts to a private list
2. Engage with their content 2-3 times per week for 2-4 weeks
3. Build familiarity before any asks
4. Eventually reach out via DM with something specific and valuable

When You Do DM

Personalize your opening. The first 30-40 characters appear in preview. Use that space to mention something specific,their name, a recent thread, a recent accomplishment.

Be specific. "Saw your tweet about SaaS onboarding. I put together a quick tip that might help you with X."

Follow up appropriately. If no response within 48 hours, send one follow-up. Many people reply after the second message.

Common Interests That Connect

Founders share universal challenges that create natural connection points:

The journey: Finding product-market fit, getting first customers, scaling Growth obstacles: Hiring, maintaining culture, expanding Personal struggles: Work-life balance, founder loneliness Technical interests: Tools, frameworks, AI integration

When you engage on these topics, you're engaging on things they genuinely care about. That's where real connections form.

Your Founder Discovery Routine

Start now:

1. Search 3-5 hashtags and identify 20-30 founders to follow
2. Create a private list called "Founders to Engage"
3. Join the Build in Public X Community

Daily (15-20 minutes):

1. Check your founders list
2. Leave 3-5 thoughtful replies
3. Note who responds or engages back

Monthly:

1. Review which founders are engaging back
2. Consider DM outreach to warmest connections
3. Add new founders to replace inactive ones

The founder community on X is one of the most valuable audiences you can build relationships with. They're generous with their knowledge, active in engaging, and often become genuine friends and collaborators.

Find them. Engage authentically. Play the long game. This is how you build your first 1,000 followers.