Head to head
Hampton vs Helm: Which Room Suits a Scaling Founder?
Both are curated, both meet ten times a year, both stop people selling to each other. The differences that decide it are sector, geography and who you want sitting round the table.
7 minute read · Written by the Helm Club team
Hampton if you run a digital-first business in London and want American peers. Helm if you are anywhere in the UK, in any sector, and want a room that knows the UK market. The two are less in competition than they look, because the founder each is built for is different.
Three questions that settle it
Skip the feature comparison for a moment. In practice the decision comes down to three things, and if you answer them honestly you will already know.
1. Is your business tech, internet or digital-first?
Hampton is explicit that its members are all tech-first or tech-enabled founders. Around a quarter are SaaS businesses, with the rest in agency, direct-to-consumer, marketplace, services, media and fintech.
If that is you, Hampton's room will be full of people whose problems rhyme with yours. If you run a manufacturer, an engineering firm, a professional services business or a consumer brand that is not digital-first, you will spend meetings translating.
2. Are you in London?
Hampton places members into in-person Core groups in thirteen chapter cities. London is the only one in the UK. If you are in Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Birmingham or Edinburgh, you cannot join an in-person group.
Helm runs across the UK, with more than 400 members and a national events programme.
3. Do you want American peers or UK ones?
This is the one people skip and then regret. Twelve of Hampton's thirteen chapter cities are in North America, and the wider community of a thousand-plus members is weighted accordingly.
If you are raising in the US, selling there or hiring there, an American room is worth more than a British one. If your problems are UK hiring, UK employment law, UK buyers and the UK funding market, you want people who have solved those specific problems, not adjacent ones.
London, digital-first, transatlantic ambitions. Hampton's curation is serious, its member veto on applications is a smart piece of design, and it offers a 45-day money-back guarantee that almost nobody in this category matches. Helm does not give you an American network and we are not going to claim otherwise.
The full comparison
| Feature | Hampton | Helm |
|---|---|---|
| Fit | ||
| Sector | Tech, internet, digital-first only | Any sector |
| UK locations | London only | Across the UK |
| Entry bar | $3m+ revenue, or $3m+ raised, or an exit above $10m | £3m turnover, £3m raised, or a previous exit. Members average £21m |
| Who qualifies | Founders, CEOs and owners, not inherited businesses | Founders and CEOs of UK scale-ups |
| The core group | ||
| Size | Around eight founders | Six to eight |
| Frequency | Ten a year, roughly three hours | Ten a year |
| Format | In person in your city, never virtual | In person |
| Who chairs | A paid, trained facilitator | A founder who has already exited |
| How groups are built | Mirror, mentor and mentee model | Stage, sector adjacency and decisions faced |
| Time to placement | Around 90 days | Matched at onboarding |
| Around the group | ||
| Wider network | 1,000+ members, weighted to North America | 400+ members, all UK |
| Between meetings | Slack community | Member messaging, answers the same day |
| Events | Chapter events, plus retreats charged separately | 160+ a year, all included |
| Introductions | City lead acts as concierge for intros | Curated introductions, weekly |
| Commercials and protection | ||
| Published price | Not published | £495 to join, then £495 a month |
| Billing | Annual | Monthly |
| Money-back guarantee | 45 days, conditions apply | None formal. Tell us and we will end it |
| Vetting | Interview plus a member veto on applications | Application, selection call, committee decision in 48 hours |
| Selling to members | Strict no-solicitation, three strikes then removal | Curated so nobody is sold to |
Hampton details from joinhampton.com/faq and its chapter announcement of 2 September 2025, both checked 24 August 2026. Neither organisation publishes competitor pricing here that we could not source directly.
What they genuinely share
Worth saying, because comparison pages usually pretend two things are opposites when they are not.
Both are curated by application and both turn people down. Both run small groups of roughly eight that meet ten times a year, which is a similar rhythm and a similar depth. Both enforce a no-selling rule and both treat it as the thing that protects the trust in the room. Both are pitched at founders running real businesses rather than at early-stage startups.
If you are choosing between them, you are choosing between two serious options. That is a better position than most people looking at this category are in.
What neither will do
Neither is a lead source. Both explicitly stop members selling to each other, so if the reason you are looking is pipeline, both will disappoint you and both will eventually remove you.
Neither is one-to-one coaching. Hampton uses a professional facilitator and Helm uses an exited founder as chair, but in both cases the value comes from the other people in the room rather than from a single adviser working on you.
Neither is a light commitment. Ten meetings a year is ten dates you have to protect, and the members who get least from either are the ones who treat attendance as optional.
If you are a London SaaS founder with US ambitions, apply to Hampton. If you are outside London, or your business is not digital-first, or your problems are British problems, that room will not fit however good it is, and Helm is built for exactly that gap.
Can you do both?
Some founders do. They are different networks solving different problems, and neither has an exclusivity rule that we are aware of.
The constraint is time rather than money. Twenty forum dates a year across two memberships, plus two events programmes, is more than most founders running a scaling business can protect. If you try both, be honest about which one gets the diary priority, because the one that does not will quietly become a subscription you are not using.
Common questions
Is Hampton or Helm better for a UK founder?
It depends on two things. If you are in London and run a tech, internet or digital-first business, Hampton is a strong fit and gives you American peers Helm does not. If you are anywhere else in the UK, or your business is not digital-first, Helm is built for you and Hampton is not.
Does Hampton have groups outside London in the UK?
No. Hampton places members into in-person Core groups in thirteen chapter cities and London is the only UK one. The other twelve are in North America. Helm runs across the UK.
How do the group sizes and meeting frequency compare?
They are very similar. Hampton Core groups are around eight founders meeting ten times a year for roughly three hours. Helm Forums are six to eight founders meeting ten times a year. The difference is who runs the room: Hampton uses a paid trained facilitator, Helm always uses a founder who has already exited.
Which is cheaper, Hampton or Helm?
We cannot tell you, because Hampton does not publish its dues. Helm publishes its price openly at £495 to join then £495 a month, billed monthly rather than annually, with 160+ events a year included rather than charged separately.
How long does it take to get into a group?
Hampton places members into a Core group around 90 days after joining, though you get the digital community and chapter events immediately. Helm matches you to a Forum during onboarding, with a decision on your application inside 48 hours.
Can I be a member of both?
There is no exclusivity rule we are aware of, and some founders do belong to more than one network. The real constraint is time. Twenty forum dates a year across two memberships plus two events programmes is more than most scaling founders can protect.
Key Takeaways
- Three questions decide it: is your business digital-first, are you in London, and do you want American or UK peers.
- Hampton is explicitly tech, internet and digital-first. Around a quarter of members run SaaS businesses.
- London is Hampton's only UK chapter city. The other twelve are in North America.
- Both run small groups of roughly eight meeting ten times a year, so the rhythm and depth are genuinely similar.
- Hampton uses a paid trained facilitator. Helm Forums are always chaired by a founder who has already exited.
- Hampton charges retreats and some events separately. Helm includes 160+ events a year in the membership.
- Hampton does not publish its dues and bills annually. Helm publishes £495 to join then £495 a month, billed monthly.
- Neither is a lead source and neither is one-to-one coaching. Both enforce a no-selling rule to protect the room.
If the answer is a UK room, this is the one.
400+ founders and CEOs across the UK, Forums of six to eight chaired by someone who has already exited, and 160+ events a year included in one published price.
Apply NowSources and last checked
Hampton requirements, Core group format, network size and industry mix: joinhampton.com/faq, last checked 24 August 2026.
Hampton chapter cities including London: joinhampton.com blog, Hampton is Launching IRL Core Groups in 13 Cities, published 2 September 2025.
Hampton does not publish membership dues. No Hampton fee figure appears in this article.
Helm figures: helmclub.co membership pages, last checked 24 August 2026.
