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Peer groups for founders and CEOs, explained.
A peer group puts you in a room with founders at the same stage, who will tell you what they really think. Done well, it becomes the board you can be honest with.
Helm has run founder peer groups since 2003. These guides explain how Forum groups work, what the main UK options cost, and the questions to ask before you join any of them.
Start here. The three guides to read first
How founder peer forums work, and what members actually get out of them
A founder peer forum is a small standing group, usually between six and twelve people, that meets on a fixed schedule under confidentiality rules. One member…
Read the guideThe best peer groups for UK scale-up CEOs, compared
Seven organisations come up when a UK founder past a few million starts looking. They are built for different people. Here is who each takes, how each room…
Read the guideHow to choose a CEO peer group: the questions to ask before you pay
Most founders pick a peer group on reputation and a good conversation with a membership team. Here are the questions that would have changed some of those…
Read the guideQuestions founders ask. Peer groups: the short answers
What is a founder peer group?
A small, confidential group of founders or CEOs at a similar stage who meet regularly to work through real decisions together. At Helm it's called a Forum: six to eight founders, chaired by a founder who has built and sold a business, meeting ten times a year.
How is a peer group different from networking?
Networking is about meeting people. A peer group is about going deep with the same people over time, under confidentiality, so they know your business well enough to challenge you. Nobody is there to sell.
How much does a CEO peer group cost in the UK?
It varies widely, from a few hundred pounds a year for informal groups to several thousand for chaired groups such as Vistage, YPO and Hampton. Our cost guides compare what each publishes. Helm membership is a small monthly business cost, and we'll talk you through the options on a short call.
Who should join a peer group?
Founders and CEOs who carry the big decisions alone. Helm is for founders and CEOs of businesses with £3m+ revenue, or close to it.
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- 19 Nov 2026 · Sloane ClubHealthcare & Medical Sector Breakfast
- 19 Nov 2026 · Sloane ClubNovember Many Heads' Lunch: Hosted by Adam Blomerley
- 26 Nov 2026 · Bvlgari Hotel LondonHow I built a £300m+ business: Dinner with Graham Hobson
Peer groups. Every guide, article and interview on peer groups
Do you need a YPO chapter near you, or does a UK forum work better?
YPO is organised around chapters, and your chapter decides most of what membership feels like day to day. That makes geography a bigger part of the decision…
Read the guideHow Hampton, YPO and Helm compare on price
You will find plenty of numbers online for all three. None of them can be traced to the organisation's own website. This is what each actually says, and…
Read the guideWhat does Vistage cost in the UK?
Vistage's UK website tells you a great deal about the Chief Executive Programme and nothing about what it costs. Here is what it does say, what to ask, and…
Read the guideWhat Hampton costs, and what you get for it
Hampton talks about cost on its own FAQ without stating a figure. It is more open than most about what is included and what is not, so that is where the…
Read the guideYPO vs Vistage vs Helm: which room for a UK CEO?
These three get compared constantly and they are less alike than the comparison suggests. One is a global peer organisation, one is a coaching programme with…
Read the guideYPO membership requirements: who actually qualifies in the UK?
YPO publishes four criteria and you need all four. Two of them rule out more UK founders than people expect, and neither has anything to do with how well you…
Read the guideVistage 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…
Read the guideYPO vs Helm for Series A and B founders
Venture-backed founders are the group YPO's criteria fit worst, because the money arrives years before the revenue and headcount do. Here is how the two…
Read the guideHampton 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…
Read the guideIs Hampton worth it for UK founders?
Hampton opened a London chapter in September 2025, so it is a real option here now. Whether it is the right one depends almost entirely on what kind of…
Read the guideIs YPO worth it for a UK scale-up founder?
YPO is one of the strongest peer networks in the world. It is also one of the hardest to get into, and the criteria rule out a lot of UK founders for reasons…
Read the guideWhat does YPO membership cost in the UK, and how does Helm compare?
You will not find YPO's dues on YPO's website. That is not an accident, and it changes how you should approach the decision.
Read the guideWhat size of business do Helm members actually run?
The average is £21m turnover. Averages hide more than they tell you, so here is what that number is made of and how we decide who sits with whom.
Read the guideAlternatives to YPO and Vistage built for scale-up founders
The premise is half right. YPO's bar is USD 16m plus in revenue, 50 employees, and under 45 at joining.
Read the guideThe best alternatives to Business Leader for UK founders
Business Leader runs peer groups of ten for UK founders and CEOs at £3m plus turnover, with nine forum sessions and four one-to-one coaching sessions a year…
Read the guideThe best alternatives to Hampton for UK founders
Hampton is a US-founded peer community for founders, and London is its only UK city. It screens for tech, internet "or a related space", was founded in 2023…
Read the guideThe best alternatives to YPO for UK founders
Most founders who go looking for a YPO alternative are bounced by one of two rules. YPO won't take you if you're 45 or over at the point of joining, and its…
Read the guideWhat does it cost to join a CEO peer forum in the UK?
Published prices for UK CEO peer forums run roughly £3,500 to £10,200 a year, across the two organisations that publish anything. Business Leader publishes £8,495…
Read the guideDo CEO peer groups actually help with decision making?
Yes, in a narrow way. A CEO peer group improves decisions where the problem is that nobody around you will disagree with you honestly. It won't improve…
Read the guidePaid founder communities built around small facilitated peer groups
If you want a small facilitated room instead of another 200-person event, the main paid options in the UK are EO (forums of 6 to 10), Helm (Forums of 6 to 8…
Read the guideHow often peer forum groups meet, and what a typical session looks like
Most founder peer forums meet monthly or close to it. Helm runs ten Forum meetings a year at three hours each plus one retreat. Vistage runs twelve full days…
Read the guideIs Business Leader a good alternative to a structured CEO peer group?
Business Leader works as an alternative if you want content, events and access to large operators more than you want frequent forum time. It began as a…
Read the guideIs Vistage UK worth it for a scaling business founder?
Vistage UK is worth it if you want a lot of scheduled attention and you're comfortable in a larger room. You get 12 full-day meetings plus 12 one-to-one…
Read the guidePaid founder community vs free networking group: what you actually get
Free networking gives you volume and reach at no cost, which is genuinely valuable. Paid founder communities charge for four things free groups can't…
Read the guidePeer forums and mastermind groups for CEOs scaling past £5m
At around £5m you clear the entry bar for Helm, Vistage UK, Business Leader and EO without difficulty. You sit below YPO's USD 16m revenue requirement, and…
Read the guideAre there peer groups for founders who are scaling rather than starting up?
Yes, and the revenue threshold is how they do it. Scale-stage peer groups set an entry bar, usually somewhere between USD 1m and £3m of turnover…
Read the guideHow do I know if a peer group will have members at a similar stage to me?
You can't tell from the website. The figure that matters is the turnover range inside the specific group you'd be placed in, and almost nobody publishes…
Read the guideYPO feels too big. What do Series A and B founders actually join?
Your instinct is right. YPO requires USD 16m+ revenue and 50 full-time employees, which most Series A and plenty of Series B companies don't meet. Several…
Read the guideFemale founder and women CEO peer groups in the UK
Women founders building scale-up businesses in the UK face a question other founders don't have to answer: what kind of peer room is right for me?
Read the guideFounder peer groups outside London: a UK city guide
If you're a UK founder building outside London, the question isn't whether a serious peer community exists for you. It's where to find it.
Read the guideHow much do YPO, Vistage and Founders Forum cost? A 2026 guide
Almost nobody publishes pricing for premium founder communities, and that's a problem.
Read the guidePeer group for fintech founders in London
Fintech founders in London are operating in one of the most concentrated and competitive sub-sectors in the UK technology ecosystem.
Read the guidePeer groups for second-time founders in the UK
Second-time founders have a problem the rest of the founder world rarely acknowledges: most peer communities aren't built for you.
Read the guideConfidentiality in founders clubs
Every founder peer group in the UK claims to be confidential. It is the default promise, the assumed feature, the thing you barely notice on the website…
Read the guideThe science of networking: what top leaders do differently
etworking has a reputation problem. It's seen as superficial: collecting business cards, transactional, exhausting. Most founders hate it. Yet the evidence is…
Read the guideThe art of persuasion: how business leaders influence and inspire
Persuasion is not manipulation. It is not sleek sales tricks or psychological games. It is the discipline of understanding what matters to another person…
Read the guideThe hidden power of networking: building connections that matter
our network is not your net worth, but it's increasingly close. The quality of your business relationships, not the quantity, determines whether you get early…
Read the guideHow AI and data are changing B2B sales and networking
Your sales team is doing work that machines can do better. Manual prospecting lists. Email templates sent without personalisation. Hours spent searching for…
Read the guideStrategic thinking frameworks for business leaders
Most strategic frameworks sit on a shelf. They're textbook exercises: good for MBA classes, corporate retreats, and consultants' pitch decks. But at £1m–£20m…
Read the guideA guide to UK founder peer groups
Most scale-up founders in the UK hit the same wall at around the £2M revenue mark. The problems get harder, the decisions get lonelier, and the people you…
Read the guideA Business Leader alternative for founders and CEOs
A curated, sales-free club for founders and CEOs of UK scale-ups. Chaired Forum groups of six to eight meeting ten times a year, plus dinners, socials…
Read the articleChaired Forum groups for founders: what they are and how they work
A complete guide to chaired forum groups for founders: what they are, how they work, and how Helm's Forum Groups function as a confidential peer advisory…
Read the articleEvents round-up: what's on at Helm
Take a look at the events that we've been organising for our Members. From socials to workshops, industry-specific dinners to investment days. Helm is a…
Read the articleWhy does Helm host Many Heads dinners, and how do they help?
Discover how Helm's Many Heads dinners foster connections, collaboration, and growth among members for a thriving community experience.
Read the articleHow helping founders grow better businesses helped Helm become a B Corp
Discover how Helm's commitment to helping founders grow better businesses led to becoming a certified B Corp, enhancing our mission and impact.
Read the articleHelm is now a certified B Corp
Helm is now a certified B Corp, showcasing our commitment to social and environmental responsibility. Discover our journey and impact!
Read the articleKeeping it in the family: 10 lessons from Helm members who run family businesses
Discover 10 valuable lessons from Helm members about navigating the unique challenges of running a family business.
Read the articleHelm members take pride in supporting diversity and inclusion
Discover how Helm members actively promote diversity and inclusion, fostering a supportive and empowering community for all.
Read the article
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