Today, inbound.org co-founder Dharmesh Shah announced that the site would be retired. Since 2012, inbound.org has been one of the marketing world’s foremost networking communities.
Founded by Moz creator Rand Fishkin and Hubspot founder Dharmesh Shah, inbound.org was a platform where marketing professionals and enthusiasts could come together and explore the in’s and out’s of the industry, share insights, learn from each other, and collaborate.
Shah briefly explains why he decided to sunset inbound.org in a press release,
“The way people find and share content has changed a great deal since inbound.org’s inception. With the growth of messaging platforms and the sharpening of social recommendation engines, content curation via community submission and voting is useful -- but not indispensable.”
The essence of inbound.org will live on however, in the form of a new community platform called Growth Hub.
Per the press release, inbound.org members will be able to migrate their data, karma/points, and their membership start date so that they can get credit for being an early community member.
On the transition to Growth.org, Dharmesh Shah states,
“HubSpot’s mission is to help millions of organizations grow better. We think helping people connect, collaborate, and learn is an important part of that mission. We all grow better together. We are committed to investing in community and so we’re launching a new community and network initiative. We’re calling it the Growth Hub and it will live at growth.org. It’s a place for growth professionals (marketing, sales, and service) to connect, collaborate and learn.”
The story of inbound.org started with Rand Fishkin and Dharmesh Shah. The two entrepreneurs strived to create a platform where marketers could, first and foremost, discover great content. As the platform evolved, marketers could engage with organizations and agencies, find employment opportunities and connect with other professionals based on mutual interests.
In November 2013, Hubspot Labs picked up the funding of the company and in turn, helped one million marketers learn, connect, and find jobs. Despite retiring inbound.org, the company continues to value their members and contributors just as much as their in-house team. As of today, Inbound.org has over 260,000 members.
For inbound.org users, the migration to Growth Hub will be opt-in. Shah made it clear that although the new community shares the same values and vision as inbound.org, they will be taking a different approach with it.
Emma Brudner, director of inbound.org, stated in an email sent to Inbound.org members, “This was not an easy decision to make, but we think it’s the right one.” She also mentioned that Inbound.org users will still be able to keep in touch with their fellow Inbounders through a thread that will live on Hubspot community.
Access to the thread was emailed to the site’s members. inbound.org’s content will also be available as a permanent resource on Growth Hub.
inbound.org’s retirement and subsequent rebirth as Growth Hub is bittersweet. The site may not be exactly the same but new connections, ideas, and will undoubtedly flourish under the new platform.
Shah ended the press release with this statement,
“Rand and I may have started this community, but it’s each of you who made it what it is. I also want to personally thank the extended inbound.org team that has built and supported the community over the years. You built something special.”
