Head to head
Vistage vs Helm: Which Suits a UK Founder?
Both are confidential peer groups with someone in the chair. The differences are the size of the room, who the chair is, how much of your year it takes and who else is in it. Those decide it.
8 minute read · Written by the Helm Club team
Vistage if you want a professionally coached programme with 12 full-day group meetings and 12 one-to-one coaching sessions a year, in a group of 12 to 18 leaders from any kind of business. Helm if you want a smaller room of six to eight founders, meeting ten times a year, chaired by someone who has built and exited a business, at a published price of £495 a month. Vistage is a coaching product with a peer group inside it. Helm is a founders' club with a Forum at its centre.
What Vistage actually is
Vistage has been running peer advisory groups since 1957 and describes a community of more than 45,000 members in 35 countries. In the UK the flagship is the Chief Executive Programme, and its page on vistage.co.uk sets out the format precisely.
- A peer advisory group of 12 to 18 local business leaders from non-competing industries.
- 12 full-day group meetings a year. One a month, and a full day each time.
- 12 one-to-one sessions with a private executive coach, who is your group's Chair.
- Speakers and subject-matter experts at group meetings, regional events and summits.
The Chair is the centre of the Vistage model. Chairs are paid professionals, experienced executives trained by Vistage, and they both facilitate the group and coach you individually. You are buying a coach and a group in one programme.
What Helm actually is
Helm started in 2003 as The Supper Club and is a private club for founders and CEOs of UK scale-ups, with more than 400 members whose businesses average £21m turnover. At its centre is the Forum.
- Six to eight founders, matched on stage, sector adjacency and the decisions you are facing.
- Ten meetings a year, with the same group each time.
- Always chaired by a founder who has already exited a business. Not a career facilitator.
- Around the Forum, 160+ events a year, roundtable and special guest dinners, quarterly socials, member messaging and curated introductions.
The Chair here is a peer who is further along, and there is no formal one-to-one coaching component. The value is designed to come from the other seven people in the room and from the wider membership.
Size of the room, and what it does to airtime
This is arithmetic rather than opinion. In a three-hour session, a group of eight gives each person around 22 minutes if the time is split evenly. A group of sixteen gives about 11. Vistage runs full days, which changes the total but not the ratio: a room twice the size gives each person half the attention, whatever the length.
Neither is wrong. A larger group brings more perspectives into the room and more people who have faced your problem. A smaller one means your issue gets properly worked rather than briefly aired. Decide which you want before you decide which to join.
Who is in the room
Vistage's Chief Executive Programme is for chief executives and business leaders, and Vistage also runs programmes for key executives, emerging leaders and business owners. The group mixes non-competing industries and does not require that you founded the business. A salaried managing director of a family firm sits alongside an owner-manager.
Helm's bar is £3m turnover, £3m raised or a previous exit, and you must be the founder or CEO. Clearing the bar makes you eligible rather than accepted. What is then assessed is whether you are past product-market fit, building a team, and willing to say the real numbers out loud to seven other founders. The result is a room where everyone owns the downside personally, which changes what people are prepared to say.
You want one-to-one coaching from an experienced executive as a formal part of the programme. You want a bigger, broader room including leaders who did not found their businesses. Or you are outside the founder profile altogether, running a division or a family company. Vistage is built for all of those and Helm is not.
Time
Vistage's Chief Executive Programme asks for 12 full days a year in the group plus 12 coaching sessions. Helm asks for ten Forum meetings a year plus whatever events you choose to attend from the 160+ on offer. Attendance at Forum is treated as compulsory and repeated absence can cost you your place, because a group of six to eight does not work with two empty chairs.
Be honest about which commitment you will keep. A full day a month is a real cost for a founder who is still the busiest person in the business. It is also, for some, exactly the forced break from operating that they need.
Price
Vistage does not publish UK pricing on vistage.co.uk. You learn the cost through a conversation. Helm publishes £495 to join and £495 a month on every page, which is £6,435 plus VAT in year one and £5,940 a year after that, billed monthly with one month's notice.
We are not going to guess at Vistage's figure or repeat one from a third-party site. If you are comparing, ask Vistage for the annual cost of the Chief Executive Programme in writing, including what the one-to-one sessions and events add.
Side by side
| Criteria | Vistage UK | Helm |
|---|---|---|
| The group | ||
| Size | 12 to 18 | Six to eight |
| Meetings | 12 full days a year | Ten a year |
| Who chairs | A paid professional Chair, trained by Vistage | A founder who has already exited |
| One-to-one coaching | 12 sessions a year with your Chair | Not part of the model |
| How groups are formed | Local leaders, non-competing industries | Stage, sector adjacency and decisions faced |
| Who is in it | ||
| Who qualifies | Chief executives and business leaders. Founding not required | Founders and CEOs of UK scale-ups |
| The bar | No hard published turnover threshold | £3m turnover, £3m raised, or a previous exit. Members average £21m |
| Network | 45,000+ members, 35 countries | 400+ members, all UK |
| Commercials | ||
| Published price | Not published on vistage.co.uk | £495 to join, then £495 a month |
| Events | Regional events and summits | 160+ a year, included |
| Founded | 1957 | 2003, as The Supper Club |
Vistage details from vistage.co.uk, Chief Executive Programme and About pages, checked 7 September 2026. Vistage does not publish UK pricing, so the price row reflects that rather than a figure we have assumed.
What they share
Both are confidential. Both put someone in the chair rather than leaving the group to run itself. Both mix industries so that nobody in the room is a competitor. Both have been doing this for a long time and both have members who would not leave. If you are choosing between them you are choosing between two serious options.
Where Helm is wrong for you
If you want formal one-to-one coaching, Helm does not provide it and Vistage does. If you did not found the business and are not its CEO, Helm is not open to you. And if you have not raised £3m, are not turning over £3m and have not exited, you are not eligible yet.
The honest version
Vistage is a coaching programme with a large peer group built in. Helm is a club of founders with a small Forum at its heart. If the thing you are missing is a coach, choose Vistage. If the thing you are missing is seven people who have sat where you sit and will tell you the truth, choose Helm. Both will make you better at the job. They do it differently.
Common questions
What is the difference between Vistage and Helm?
Vistage runs groups of 12 to 18 business leaders with a paid professional Chair, meeting for 12 full days a year, plus 12 one-to-one coaching sessions. Helm runs Forums of six to eight founders, meeting ten times a year, always chaired by a founder who has already exited, with 160+ events a year around them. Vistage is a coaching programme with a peer group. Helm is a founders' club with a Forum.
How big is a Vistage group?
Vistage's own page for the Chief Executive Programme says the peer advisory group is made up of 12 to 18 other local business leaders from non-competing industries. Helm Forums are six to eight. In a session split evenly, a group of eight gives each person roughly twice the airtime of a group of sixteen.
Does Vistage publish its UK prices?
No. vistage.co.uk does not state a price for the Chief Executive Programme, and we will not repeat a third-party figure we cannot trace to Vistage. Ask for the annual cost in writing, including one-to-one sessions and events. Helm publishes £495 to join then £495 a month on every page.
Do I have to be a founder to join Vistage or Helm?
Vistage takes chief executives and business leaders whether or not they founded the business, and runs separate programmes for key executives and emerging leaders. Helm is for founders and CEOs of UK scale-ups only, with a bar of £3m turnover, £3m raised or a previous exit.
Does Helm include one-to-one coaching?
No. Helm's model is the Forum of six to eight, chaired by an exited founder, plus the wider membership, events and introductions. If formal one-to-one executive coaching is the thing you are looking for, Vistage builds 12 sessions a year into its Chief Executive Programme and is the better fit for that.
How much time does each take?
Vistage's Chief Executive Programme is 12 full-day meetings plus 12 coaching sessions a year. Helm is ten Forum meetings a year, with attendance treated as compulsory, plus whichever of the 160+ events you choose. Decide which commitment you will genuinely keep before you decide which room to join.
Key Takeaways
- Vistage's Chief Executive Programme is a group of 12 to 18 with a paid Chair, 12 full days a year, plus 12 one-to-one coaching sessions.
- Helm Forums are six to eight founders, ten times a year, always chaired by a founder who has already exited.
- A group of eight gives each person roughly twice the airtime of a group of sixteen. That is arithmetic, not opinion.
- Vistage takes business leaders who did not found the company. Helm is founders and CEOs only, past £3m.
- Vistage includes formal one-to-one coaching. Helm does not, and says so.
- Vistage asks for a full day a month. Helm asks for ten meetings a year and treats attendance as compulsory.
- Vistage does not publish UK pricing. Helm publishes £495 to join then £495 a month, billed monthly.
- If you are missing a coach, choose Vistage. If you are missing peers who will tell you the truth, choose Helm.
Six to eight founders. A chair who has done it.
Helm is a private club for founders and CEOs of UK scale-ups past £3m. Forums of six to eight, ten times a year, chaired by someone who has already exited.
Apply NowSources and last checked
Vistage group size, meeting format and coaching sessions: vistage.co.uk, Chief Executive Programme page, last checked 7 September 2026.
Vistage history and network figures: vistage.co.uk, About Vistage page, last checked 7 September 2026.
Vistage does not publish UK pricing. No Vistage fee figure appears in this article.
Helm figures: helmclub.co membership pages, last checked 7 September 2026.
