YPO was founded in 1950. Hampton launched in 2022, started by Sam Parr, the guy behind My First Million.
That 72-year gap tells you most of what you need to know about the Hampton vs YPO decision. One is a 38,000-member global institution that will still exist when your grandkids start companies. The other is a 1,000-member club built specifically for internet founders who find the old institutions a bit slow.
Both put you in a small, confidential group of peers that meets monthly. Both are expensive. Both will reject most people reading this.
I've spent years inside founder communities, paid $13,000 for a mastermind that took me from $15K to $75K a month, and I now run one myself (more on that bias later). Here's the honest breakdown.
Hampton vs YPO at a Glance
| Hampton | YPO | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2022 | 1950 |
| Members | 1,000+ | 38,000+ in 150 countries |
| Entry bar | $3M+ revenue, or $3M+ raised, or a $10M+ exit | $16M+ revenue (sales/service), $13M+ (agency), plus headcount minimums |
| Age limit | None | Must join before 45 |
| Industry | Tech, internet, digital-first only | Any industry |
| Core format | ~8 founders + paid facilitator, ~3 hrs/month, in person | Forum of 8-10 peers, monthly, plus chapter events |
| Cost (2026) | Unpublished; reported $8,500-$15,000/yr | $4,790 initiation + $4,790 global dues + chapter dues |
The table is the easy part. The real differences show up in who sits across from you at the meetings. Let's go criterion by criterion.
Who Gets In: Two Very Different Doors
You don't really choose between Hampton and YPO. Their entry requirements choose for you.
Hampton's bar is one of three things: your business does $3M+ in revenue, you've raised $3M+ in venture capital, or you've had a $10M+ exit. You also have to be the actively operating founder, CEO, or owner. And the business has to be tech, internet, or digital-first. A plumbing empire doesn't get in, no matter how profitable.
YPO's bar is higher and weirder. You need to be the top operational leader with full P&L authority, running a company doing $16M+ in revenue ($13M+ for agencies, and financial firms need $330M+ in assets under management or $27M+ enterprise value). On top of that: 50+ full-time employees, or 15+ with at least $2.75M in annual payroll.
Then the kicker: you must join YPO before your 45th birthday. Turn 45 without joining and that door closes forever. Members who join in time stay for life, but there are no late arrivals.
Two more filters worth knowing:
- Hampton requires you built it. Inherited the family business? Not eligible. YPO is fine with inherited companies as long as you run them.
- Hampton requires a chapter city. There are 18 of them, and your core group meets in person, so you have to actually live near one.
Practical translation: a 38-year-old SaaS founder doing $5M ARR with 12 employees qualifies for Hampton and gets nowhere near YPO (headcount and revenue both too low). A 42-year-old who owns a $20M logistics company with 80 employees qualifies for YPO and can't touch Hampton (wrong industry).
What the Meetings Actually Feel Like
Strip away the branding and both networks sell the same core product: a confidential room of peers who tell you the truth.
Hampton's version is a core group of about 8 founders plus a professional facilitator, meeting in person for roughly 3 hours a month (they skip August and December). The facilitator is paid staff, not a volunteer member, which keeps sessions structured instead of drifting into networking chit-chat. Placement into your group takes around 90 days because they match you on company stage and personality fit, not just whoever signed up that month.
The Hampton membership skews young, digital, and growth-obsessed. Average member revenue is $23M, but these are internet businesses: SaaS, e-commerce, agencies, media. Between meetings there's a heavy async layer, member surveys on comp and margins, and a very active digital community.
YPO's version is the forum: 8-10 members meeting monthly under confidentiality rules YPO has been refining since 1950. Forums are moderated by trained members rather than paid staff. Around the forum sits the chapter (dinners, speaker nights) and above that the global network: events in 150 countries and YPO Edge, their annual summit.
The YPO room is deliberately mixed. Your forum might include a manufacturer, a hospital-chain CEO, and someone running inherited real estate. That diversity is the point: you get perspectives from outside your bubble. The tradeoff is that nobody in the room may understand churn, CAC, or why your MRR graph keeps you up at night.
→ Hampton optimizes for "peers who get my exact business." YPO optimizes for "peers who get the weight of running something big."
What Each One Costs in 2026
Neither is cheap, but they're priced differently.
YPO is transparent: $4,790 one-time initiation, $4,790 in annual global dues, plus chapter dues that vary by city. Realistically you're in the $10,000-$14,000 range for year one, then chapter-plus-global dues each year after. Add travel if you use the global events, which is half the reason to join.
Hampton doesn't publish pricing. The last public number was $8,500 a year, and current reports put it between $8,500 and $15,000 depending on tier. They do offer a 45-day money-back guarantee, full refund of annual dues, which is rare in this world and tells you they're confident in the matching process.
At these prices the fee is not the real cost. The real cost is a wrong fit: a year of 3-hour meetings with people whose problems don't rhyme with yours. I've written a full breakdown of what these groups charge and when they're worth it in how much a mastermind costs.
Which One Fits Your Stage
The decision usually collapses to three questions.
- Are you under 45 with a $16M+ company in any industry? YPO is the deeper long-term asset. You join once and carry the network for life, through exits and whatever you build next. If you're 43 and qualify, the clock matters: apply now or lose the option forever.
- Are you a tech founder between $3M and $50M? Hampton was built for exactly you. The room speaks your language, the benchmarks are your benchmarks, and you won't be the only person who grew up on the internet.
- Do you qualify for both? Pick based on what you're missing. Missing tactical, same-industry pattern-matching? Hampton. Missing gravitas, global reach, and friendships that outlast your current company? YPO. Some founders at that level just do both.
And if you're a SaaS founder at $5K to $50K MRR? Neither will take your application. I hit that same wall on my way up, and it's 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 toward $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 everyone actually knows everyone.
Apply to Profitable Founder Club →
The Bottom Line
Most founders never get to weigh Hampton vs YPO side by side. Age, industry, and company size sort you into one lane before preference gets a vote.
YPO is the institution: 38,000 leaders, 150 countries, a lifetime seat if you get in before 45, and a forum that has been battle-tested since 1950. It's the right call for under-45 CEOs of large companies in any industry, especially outside tech.
Hampton is the specialist: 1,000+ internet founders, professionally facilitated groups of 8, no age limit, and an entry bar ($3M+) that a strong bootstrapped SaaS can clear. It's the right call for digital founders who want a room that already understands their business model.
If Hampton's bar is still above you, don't force it. Compare the earlier-stage options in my YPO alternatives roundup, or see how Hampton stacks up against EO in Hampton vs EO. The right room at the wrong stage is still the wrong room.
FAQ
Can I join YPO after turning 45?
No. YPO requires you to join before your 45th birthday. Once you're in, membership continues for life, but there is no path in after 45. If you're close to the cutoff and meet the revenue and headcount criteria, that deadline should drive your timing more than anything else in this comparison.
How much does Hampton cost per year?
Hampton doesn't publish pricing. The last publicly known figure was $8,500 per year, and current reports range from $8,500 to $15,000 depending on membership tier. Every membership comes with a 45-day money-back guarantee: if it's not a fit in the first 45 days, you get your annual dues back in full.
Is Hampton only for tech founders?
Yes. Hampton restricts membership to founders, CEOs, and owners actively running businesses in tech, internet, or digital-first spaces. You also need to have built the business yourself (inherited companies don't qualify) and live in or near one of their 18 chapter cities, since core groups meet in person and are never virtual.
What if I don't qualify for Hampton or YPO yet?
Join a room matched to your current stage instead of waiting years for the big-league bars. For bootstrapped SaaS founders between $5K and $50K MRR, that's exactly what Profitable Founder Club is for: structured peer calls with founders one or two steps ahead of you, real numbers included. See the Which One Fits Your Stage section above.
