Hampton vs EO: Which Founder Network Is Worth It in 2026?

I paid $13,000 for a mastermind when I was making $15K to $20K a month.

Six months later I was at $75K a month. So no, I'm not going to tell you founder networks are a scam.

But if you're weighing Hampton vs EO, you're comparing two very different machines. One is a tight, facilitated peer group for tech founders past $3M. The other is a 20,000-member global institution that's been running since 1987.

I've researched both for this blog (and interviewed founders who sat in both rooms). Here's the honest breakdown: price, entry bar, what the meetings actually feel like, and which one fits your stage.

Hampton vs EO at a Glance

The 30-second version before we go deep:

→ Short version: Hampton is a scalpel, EO is a Swiss army knife.

What Hampton Actually Is

Hampton is the newer player, started in 2022 by Sam Parr (The Hustle, My First Million) and Joe Speiser (PetFlow).

The product is the core group. Around 8 founders plus a professional executive facilitator, meeting in person for about 3 hours a month (they skip August and December). No virtual option for core. If there's no group in your city, you wait: placement typically takes up to 90 days, and Hampton runs in-person groups in 18 cities.

Everyone in the room runs a tech, internet, or digital-first company. The average member company does $23M in revenue. Groups are built on a "Mirror, Mentor, Mentee" mix, so you sit with someone at your level, someone ahead of you, and someone behind you.

Vetting is serious. Existing members can veto applicants they've had bad dealings with, which keeps the room high-trust.

There's also a 45-day money-back guarantee: show up to your commitment call, and if it's not for you, full refund.

I broke down the whole landscape around it in my Hampton alternatives piece if you want the wider map.

What EO Actually Is

EO (Entrepreneurs' Organization) is the institution. Founded in 1987, roughly 20,000 members, 220+ chapters across the world.

The core product is the Forum: 8 to 12 entrepreneurs from non-competing industries, meeting monthly. It's peer-led with a trained moderator, and it runs on experience sharing. You don't give advice ("you should raise prices"), you share experience ("when I raised prices in 2023, here's what happened").

Around the Forum sits everything else: chapter events, global conferences, executive education partnerships with schools like Wharton and MIT, and a passport that works in almost any major city on earth. Land in Singapore or São Paulo, and there's a chapter.

The entry bar is $1M+ in trailing revenue as an owner, founder, or majority stakeholder. Venture-backed founders can qualify with $2M+ privately raised and 10+ employees. Below $1M, there's EO Accelerator, their program for businesses between $250K and $1M.

If you're comparing EO against the older guard instead, I've covered that in Vistage vs EO.

Price: What You'll Really Pay

Neither is cheap. But they're priced differently, and the sticker isn't the full story.

EO stacks three numbers:

• Global dues: $2,470/yr (straight from their membership page)
• Chapter dues: vary by city, typically $1,800 to $4,400/yr
• One-time initiation: $3,500

So year one lands somewhere between $7,800 and $10,400, then roughly $4,300 to $6,900 a year after that. Forum retreats and global events cost extra.

Hampton doesn't publish pricing anymore. The last public number was $8,500 a year, and current reports put it between $8,500 and $15,000 depending on tier. No initiation fee, billed annually, with that 45-day out.

→ EO is cheaper per year after the first. Hampton is simpler: one number, one product.

For context on what any serious group costs (and when the math works), I wrote a full breakdown in how much does a mastermind cost.

Who They Let In (and Who They Keep Out)

This is where the choice usually makes itself.

Hampton wants you at $3M+ revenue, $3M+ raised, or a $10M+ exit, and your business has to be tech, internet, or digital-first. Sam Parr raised the revenue minimum from $1M to $3M in 2024 because early-stage and later-stage founders were talking past each other in the same room.

EO wants $1M+ revenue, any industry. Your forum might seat a SaaS founder next to someone who owns twelve restaurants.

Both filters are the point. Hampton's tightness means everyone in your core group has fought your exact fights, like churn and hiring engineers. EO's breadth means you hear how completely different businesses solve problems yours hasn't hit yet.

Neither is wrong. But know which kind of room helps you more right now.

The Meeting Itself: Facilitated vs Peer-Led

Here's the difference nobody puts on the pricing page.

Hampton pays a professional facilitator to run every core session. Someone whose actual job is pulling the real issue out of the founder who's been dodging it for 40 minutes. Sessions go deep because someone is steering.

EO forums are moderated by a member who took EO's training. Quality varies by chapter and by moderator. A great EO forum is life-changing. A mediocre one is a monthly dinner with NDA vibes.

The experience-sharing protocol (Gestalt, if you want the official name) keeps EO forums from becoming advice-shouting matches. It works. But the ceiling of your forum is the commitment of its members, because nobody's paid to hold the bar.

→ If you want a guaranteed floor of quality, that's Hampton's pitch. If you'll invest in making your forum great, EO's ceiling is just as high at half the price.

Which One Fits Your Stage

Run the numbers on your own business first:

• Past $3M and building in tech? Hampton, if there's a group in your city. The peer quality per seat is hard to beat.
• Past $1M, any industry, want global infrastructure? EO. It's the best value of the big networks, and the chapter system means it travels with you.
• Between $250K and $1M? EO Accelerator is a legit on-ramp.

And if you're a SaaS founder at $5K to $50K MRR? Neither will take you yet. That's the gap I fell into years ago, and it's exactly why I built Profitable Founder Club.

Full disclosure: this one's mine.

It's a mastermind for bootstrapped SaaS founders at $5K to $50K MRR pushing to $100K. Bi-weekly calls where we solve 3 member problems live, monthly Q&As with founders past $100K MRR, and batches capped at 20 so it stays a room, not an audience.

Apply to Profitable Founder Club →

The Bottom Line

Hampton vs EO isn't really a head-to-head. The entry bars barely overlap.

If you're a tech founder past $3M who wants a professionally run room of true peers, Hampton earns its price. If you're past $1M and want breadth, education, and a global network for roughly half the annual cost, EO is the smarter buy.

Below both bars, don't wait around. Find a room at your level, because the $13K I spent on a mastermind at $15K a month was the best stupid decision I ever made.

FAQ

Is Hampton worth $8,500+ a year?

If you clear the $3M bar and a core group exists in your city, most members say yes: 8 vetted tech founders (average company revenue $23M) plus a professional facilitator, monthly, in person. The 45-day money-back guarantee also means you can test it with your dues protected. If your city has no group, wait or look at other options first.

Can I join EO with less than $1M in revenue?

Not as a full member. But EO Accelerator takes businesses doing $250K to $1M and is designed to graduate you into full EO membership. Venture-backed founders can also qualify for full EO with $2M+ privately raised (or $5M+ publicly) and at least 10 employees, even before $1M in trailing revenue.

Which is better for SaaS founders, Hampton or EO?

Past $3M ARR, Hampton, and it's not close: every member runs a tech or digital business, so the pattern-matching in your core group is exact. In EO, you'll likely be the only software founder in your forum. That outside perspective has value, but for SaaS-specific problems like churn and pricing, Hampton's room speaks your language.

Do Hampton and EO overlap at all?

A little. A $5M bootstrapped SaaS founder qualifies for both. In that overlap it comes down to format: pay more for Hampton's facilitated, tech-only depth, or pay less for EO's peer-led forum plus a 220-chapter global network. Some founders past $3M actually run both for a year, then keep the one whose meetings they stop wanting to skip.