Steve Phillips on building ZappiHelm Forum
Your second board, chaired by someone who has sold.
Six to eight founders at your stage. A Chair who has built and sold a business. Ten meetings a year, three hours each, and nothing leaves the room. The board you could never hire: no shares, no fees, no agenda but yours.
What a Forum gives you. Eight minds are better than one.
Get out of the echo chamber. Bring the challenge you can't talk about at work, and hear from people who have already faced it.
A peer board, on your side
Founders at your stage, facing the same calls, with a Chair who has built and sold a business. No shares, no fees and no agenda but yours.
Accountable to yourself
Say what you will get done. Next month, the room asks whether you did. The simplest way to hold yourself to your own plans.
Honest challenge, in confidence
Nobody in the room works for you, invests in you or sells to you, so they tell you what your team can't.
How we build a Forum. Matched with care, not by postcode.
Every Forum is put together by hand. These are the six things we weigh.
- 01Business stage
Founders running businesses of a similar size, so the problems on the table are ones you recognise.
- 02Experience
A mix of first-time and repeat founders, broadly at the same point in the journey.
- 03Personality and EQ
Groups that will trust each other quickly, without clashing characters.
- 04No conflicts
No competitors in the same room, so you can speak freely.
- 05Chair expertise
A Chair whose own exit and experience fit what the group is facing.
- 06Your goals
What you want from the next two years, from scaling to stepping back.
Joining a Forum. From first call to first meeting
Most members are in their Forum within three months. Events and the community are open from day one.
- 01A call with the team
We learn about you, your business and the decisions ahead, so we can find a Forum that fits.
- 02Matching
The membership team looks at the Forums with space and weighs stage, experience, personality and goals.
- 03Meet your Chair
An informal chat with the Chair, so you both know the group is right before you commit.
- 04Your first meeting
We introduce you to the group and set up your first Forum. Usually within three months of joining.
Helm Forum Chairs. Every Forum is led by a founder who has done it.
A few of our Chairs. All have built and sold businesses. They run the room, keep it honest and bring what they learned the hard way. How Forum works
Swipe to meet the Chairs
Founded The Instant Group, sold to private equity. Now an angel investor in Grubby, Frameworks and Revvies.
More about Rob
A serial founder who has built and sold businesses, and now chairs a Helm Forum.
More about David
Founded Pocket-lint, sold in 2022, and then Squirrel. Now a strategic adviser and board member.
More about Stuart
Founded Solar Communications, sold to private equity. Now an angel investor and adviser to scaling businesses.
More about Mark
Founded muubaa, sold to management. Now an angel investor and founder of Funding Nav.
More about Stephen“It's really rewarding to see many of the things I've learnt running my own businesses helping others.”
Stuart MilesForum Chair, founder of Pocket-lintForum members on Forum. What it's like in the room
“After each monthly meeting I have a takeaway to apply directly to my own business, and I always leave with a topic to reflect on. It is very supportive to have the Forum leader cheering you on, and likewise one's fellow founders.”
Clare HarrisFounder, Talking Tables“Becoming a Helm Forum Chair has been a great experience. It's really rewarding to see many of the things I've learnt running my own businesses helping others.”
Stuart MilesForum Chair, founder of Pocket-lintConfidentiality at Helm. Nothing is off the table. In Forum, nothing leaves the room.
Forum is fully confidential. At other Helm events the Chatham House Rule applies: use what you hear, never who said it. And our no-sales rule has held since 2003. Nobody is here to pitch you.
How confidentiality works at HelmThe kind of thing founders bring to Forum
Forum FAQs. Questions about Forum
Something else on your mind? Talk to our team
What is a Helm Forum?
A confidential group of six to eight founders at a similar stage, chaired by a founder who has built and sold a business. It meets ten times a year for about three hours and works like a non-executive board you could never hire.
Who will be in my Forum?
Founders and CEOs running businesses of a similar size, from different sectors so nobody competes. We aim for a mix of experience, and we never put competitors in the same room.
Who chairs a Forum?
A Helm member further along the founder journey: usually someone who has exited, sometimes more than once, and has non-executive experience. Chairs keep the room honest and bring what they learned the hard way.
What do Forums talk about?
Whatever is on the table that month: strategy, finances, hiring and firing, raising, selling, co-founder tension, or how you are coping. Members bring real challenges and opportunities, and leave with a decision and a next step.
Is Forum confidential?
Completely. Nothing said in Forum leaves the room. That is the condition of membership, and it is why members can be honest.
How quickly will I join a Forum?
Usually within three months of joining Helm. You can book events and use the members' community from day one.
YouThere's a seat at the table.
It's yours.
Join 400+ founders and CEOs who know exactly what this job feels like.