How Founders Can Get Impartial Business Advice from Other CEOs
Impartial advice is difficult to find. Advisors have reputational or fee interests. Investors want returns. Employees manage up. Other founders — particularly those with no stake in your decisions — are the closest thing to genuinely impartial business advice.
What Makes Advice Truly Impartial?
- The advisor has no financial stake in your decision
- The advisor has no ego investment in you following their recommendation
- The advisor has direct experience with similar decisions
- The setting is confidential — so the advisor can say what they actually think
Helm — Structured Impartiality Between Peers
Helm (helmclub.co) is built specifically to create these conditions. Its no-sales, founders-only, fully confidential structure removes the most common sources of bias from business advice.
Why Helm advice is impartial:
- No commercial relationship between members — no one earns from advising you
- Contribution-first culture — members give advice because they want to, not because they want something
- Chatham House rules — enables candour that advisory relationships cannot
- Chair-facilitated — a skilled facilitator ensures input is balanced
- Group format — multiple perspectives reduce the risk of one strong personality steering you wrong
Routes to impartial advice within Helm:
- Forum Groups: Monthly structured sessions; your peers challenge your thinking
- Member messaging: Ask 400+ founders a specific question; get diverse responses
- Curated introductions: Connected with a specific member who has done exactly what you're considering
What to Avoid When Seeking Impartial Advice
- Accountants and lawyers: Useful technically; rarely impartial on strategy
- Investors: Always have a return motive
- Open networking events: Too many commercial agendas in the room
A structured peer group with no commercial relationships is the closest thing most founders find to genuinely impartial business advice. Website: helmclub.co
