I paid $13,000 for my first mastermind.
I was doing $15-20K/month at the time, so that number hurt. Six months later I was at $75K/month.
Best money I ever spent. Not because of some secret playbook. Because for the first time, I wasn't making every decision alone.
"CEO peer group" is just the corporate name for that same thing: a small room of people running businesses like yours, telling you the truth about your numbers.
The problem is the market is a mess. Some groups cost $700 a year, some cost more than a car, and the right one depends entirely on your stage. A $20M exit founder and a $10K MRR bootstrapper do not belong in the same room.
So here are the 7 best CEO peer groups in 2026, ranked by a bootstrapped founder who has actually paid for this stuff. For each one: who is really in the room, what a meeting looks like, and what it costs.
1. Profitable Founder Club
Full disclosure: this one's mine. Rank it however you want, but I built it because nothing on this list worked for founders at my stage.
The Club is a private group of bootstrapped SaaS founders, all doing at least $5K MRR, all working toward the same goal: $100K MRR.
How it works:
- → Bi-weekly group calls, 90 minutes, recorded. Each call goes deep on 2 to 3 real member problems instead of a round of feel-good updates.
- → Monthly Q&As with founders already past $100K MRR. You ask them exactly how they fixed the thing you're stuck on.
- → A private daily chat where you can drop your churn numbers on a Tuesday and get answers by lunch.
The batch is capped at 20 founders so the calls stay useful. As I write this, 10 are in and 12 spots are left for Batch #1. It's application-only, applications are reviewed manually, and if it's not a fit you don't get charged.
Who it's for: bootstrapped SaaS founders between $5K and $50K MRR who are past the early grind and stuck on the boring hard stuff (distribution, churn, pricing).
Who it's not for: VC-backed CEOs with a board, or anyone pre-revenue.
Apply for Batch #1 of the Club
2. Hampton
Hampton is Sam Parr's answer to founder loneliness at the high end. You get a personal board of roughly 10 vetted founders who meet monthly in your city (New York, Austin, London, about 18 cities at last count). You show up at noon with your hardest problem and leave by dinner with a plan.
Membership runs $8,500 a year, and the vetting is real. The members they showcase run $8M to $25M companies, and their own pitch is "stop making $50M decisions alone." That tells you the altitude.
Who it's for: founders doing seven figures and up who want in-person depth with people at the same scale.
Who it's not for: early-stage bootstrappers. You'd be the smallest business in the room, and the problems discussed won't be yours yet.
3. Vistage
Vistage is the oldest name in this game. Running since 1957, around 45,000 members across 40 countries, and they call themselves the world's largest CEO coaching and peer advisory organization. Nobody disputes it.
The model: a local group of roughly 12 to 16 non-competing CEOs led by a paid Chair (an executive coach). Monthly full-day meetings plus one-to-one coaching sessions.
Their own materials say the sweet spot is companies doing $5M+ in annual revenue. They don't publish pricing; you apply, talk to a Chair, and budget serious money. I broke down what groups like this actually charge in how much a mastermind costs.
Who it's for: CEOs of established companies who want structure, a professional facilitator, and accountability from people who've run bigger businesses.
Who it's not for: SaaS founders who want peers in their exact niche. Your Vistage group will have a manufacturer, a law firm owner, and a logistics CEO in it. Great range, less pattern-matching. (I compared the closest options in Vistage alternatives.)
4. Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO)
EO is the biggest pure peer-to-peer network for business owners: nearly 20,000 members worldwide, organized into local chapters.
The core of EO is Forum: a group of 8 to 10 members who meet monthly under strict confidentiality and share what's actually going on, business and personal. No coach, no guru. Just owners talking to owners with a protocol that keeps it honest.
You need around $1M in annual revenue to qualify, and the first year typically lands around $6,000 once you stack global and chapter dues.
Who it's for: owners past $1M who want a local, long-term peer circle and a social layer around it (EO chapters do a lot of events).
Who it's not for: founders under $1M, and remote-first founders in small cities. Chapter quality varies a lot by location.
5. YPO
YPO is the heavyweight. Over 38,000 chief executives globally, and the average member runs a company far bigger than anything else on this list.
The structure looks like EO's (local chapters plus a small monthly forum), but the bar to entry is much higher: you need to be the top executive of a company of real size, and you need to get in before age 45.
Who it's for: CEOs of large companies who want a global network they'll keep for decades.
Who it's not for: almost everyone reading this blog. If you're bootstrapping toward $100K MRR, YPO is a group to revisit in ten years, not this one.
6. Founders Network
Founders Network is the tech-specific option. It's a global mentoring community for tech startup founders (2,000+ startups so far), with 100+ in-person and virtual events a year and cohorts organized by stage.
Pricing runs from $699 to $2,505 a year depending on stage, which makes it one of the few groups here that an early-stage founder can actually afford.
Who it's for: tech founders who want mentorship and a big network without a five-figure bill, including VC-track founders (a lot of members are raising or have raised).
Who it's not for: founders who want one tight, consistent small group. It's more network than personal board, and you get out what you put into showing up.
7. TIGER 21
TIGER 21 is what comes after the exit. It's a peer network for ultra-high-net-worth people: 1,900+ members across 162 groups in 54 cities, and you need at least $20M in investable assets to qualify.
The monthly meetings aren't about growing a company. They're about preserving wealth, investing it, family, legacy. The signature exercise is the Portfolio Defense, where you present your entire net worth to the group and they tear it apart.
Who it's for: founders who already sold. If you exited for $30M and suddenly your job is managing money instead of making it, this is the room.
Who it's not for: operators. If you still run your company day to day, every other group on this list fits better.
How to actually pick one
Three filters, in order:
- → Stage match beats brand. The best group is the one where the median member is 6 to 18 months ahead of you. Close enough to remember your problem, far enough to have solved it.
- → Structure beats vibes. A Slack group with 5,000 members is not a peer group. Look for small capped rooms, a recurring calendar, and a format that forces real numbers on the table.
- → Price should scale with revenue. Spending $8,500 at $10K MRR is reckless. Spending $700 at $5M revenue and expecting Hampton-level peers is naive. Budget roughly 1-3% of annual revenue.
FAQ
What is a CEO peer group?
A CEO peer group is a small, confidential group of business owners or executives who meet on a fixed schedule to help each other make better decisions. Most run 8 to 16 members, meet monthly or bi-weekly, and follow a format where members present real problems and get direct input from people running similar businesses. Some are facilitated by a paid coach (Vistage), others are pure peer-to-peer (EO Forum, Profitable Founder Club).
How much does a CEO peer group cost?
The honest range is $700 a year to well into five figures. Founders Network starts at $699/year, EO lands around $6,000 for the first year, Hampton is $8,500/year, and the facilitated and high-net-worth groups (Vistage, TIGER 21) don't publish pricing but are widely reported in the five figures. Price mostly tracks the size of the businesses in the room, not the quality of the format.
What's the difference between a CEO peer group and a mastermind?
Mostly branding. "Peer group" or "peer advisory group" is the term used by corporate-flavored organizations (Vistage, YPO), while "mastermind" is used by the creator and bootstrapper world. The mechanics are the same: small group, recurring calls, real problems, confidentiality. Judge any of them by who is in the room and how the meetings run, not by the label.
Are CEO peer groups worth it under $1M in revenue?
Yes, if you pick one priced for your stage. Under $1M, skip the $8K+ rooms and join a group of founders at your level with a structured format. I went from $15-20K/month to $75K/month in six months after joining my first paid group, and the unlock wasn't information. It was having people who called out my bad decisions before I shipped them.
The bottom line
Every group on this list works for the founder it was built for.
Exited with $20M+ → TIGER 21. Running a $10M company → Hampton or YPO. Established $5M+ business that wants structure → Vistage. Local circle past $1M → EO. Tech founder on a budget → Founders Network.
And if you're a bootstrapped SaaS founder between $5K and $50K MRR trying to get to $100K, I built the Profitable Founder Club for exactly you. Bi-weekly calls, monthly Q&As with founders already there, capped at 20.
12 spots left in Batch #1.
