Is Hampton Worth It? A Bootstrapped Founder's Honest Take (2026)

Hampton will not tell you what it costs until you apply.

The last public number was $8,500 a year. Members now report paying anywhere from $8,500 to $15,000 depending on tier. And before they take a cent, your business needs $3M+ in revenue, $3M+ raised, or a $10M+ exit.

So is Hampton worth it? I paid $13,000 for a mastermind once, back when I was making $15K to $20K a month. Six months later I was at $75K a month. So I'm the last person who'll tell you a five-figure peer group is a scam.

But I've also watched founders buy access to rooms they weren't ready for.

Here's my honest read on Hampton in 2026: what you actually get, what members complain about, and the one question that decides whether you should apply or skip it.

What Hampton Actually Is

Hampton is a private network for high-growth founders, started by Sam Parr. Yes, that Sam Parr: built The Hustle, sold it to HubSpot, co-hosts My First Million.

The pitch is simple. Around 1,000 vetted members, average company revenue of $23M, spread across 18 chapter cities. It's built for tech and digital businesses: the member mix is roughly 25% SaaS, 13% agencies, 12% DTC, 9% marketplaces, and the rest fintech, media, and services.

The core product is not the Slack. It's the core group: you and about 7 other founders plus a professional facilitator, meeting in person in your city, once a month, for around 3 hours. No meetings in August and December. Never virtual.

Everything else (the digital community, dinners, retreats, member deals) hangs off that monthly room.

What You Get for the Money

Three things, in order of value.

1. The core group. Eight founders at your level, professionally moderated, meeting monthly to work through the stuff you can't post publicly, like a co-founder fight or an acquisition offer you're not allowed to mention. Placement takes about 90 days after you join, because they match by stage and industry instead of dumping you in the next open seat. Hampton calls the matching model Mirror, Mentor, Mentee: some peers at your level, some ahead of you, some behind. You learn from the founder two steps ahead and cement what you know by helping the one two steps back.

And they enforce it. Miss more than 2 meetings and you're removed. Show up 15 minutes late and it counts as an absence. That sounds brutal, and it's also exactly why the rooms work. (I've run peer calls for three years. The group is only as good as its worst attendance streak.)

2. The network. 1,000+ members who all cleared the same revenue bar. One member, Sardor Akhmedov, wrote that a single book recommendation from his core group ("Profit First") ended up saving his company around $500,000. That's the shape of the ROI here: one conversation that pays for a decade of dues.

3. Events and perks. Chapter dinners, retreats, vendor deals, and access to Sam and the team. The big adventures (surfing in Costa Rica, rally car racing) cost extra on top of membership.

There's also a 45-day money-back guarantee, as long as you show up to the initial commitment call. That's a real de-risker most peer groups don't offer.

What Hampton Costs in 2026

Hampton stopped publishing pricing. The FAQ just calls it "an annual investment."

From member reports:

• Last public price: $8,500 a year (2023)
• Current reported range: $8,500 to $15,000 a year depending on tier
• Big retreats and adventures: extra

For a founder doing $3M+, that's roughly 0.3% to 0.5% of revenue. Cheaper than Vistage, which runs $13K to $22K a year once you count chapter fees, and Hampton's rooms skew younger and more internet-native. It's pricier than EO, which lands around $7,800 to $10,400 in year one including initiation, but EO lets you in at $1M revenue and fills its forums with every industry from plumbing franchises to SaaS. Hampton filters harder and stays digital-first.

The real cost is time: one in-person afternoon a month, in your chapter city, with strict attendance. If your calendar can't hold that, the membership is worthless at any price.

Where Hampton Falls Short

I went looking for the complaints, because the testimonial wall only tells you half the story. Three came up repeatedly.

The vetting is softer than the marketing. One member described the "interview" as basically a sales call, with revenue verified through self-submitted screenshots on PandaDoc. Nobody audits your Stripe. The $3M bar is real on paper, but the door is thinner than the brochure implies.

You're paying for curation they don't fully do. Follows from the first point: if verification is light, the "everyone here is vetted" promise leans on self-reporting. Most members are legit. Not all.

Occasional filler programming. The same member flagged an early event (a hypnotherapy session) that felt like a sales pitch. To Hampton's credit, the founders apologized and it didn't happen again. But at $10K+ a year, one bad event stings.

None of these are dealbreakers. They're just the gap between a $23M-average-member network and the airbrushed version on the landing page.

Who Should Join (And Who Should Skip It)

Join Hampton if all three are true:

• You clear the bar honestly: $3M+ revenue, $3M+ raised, or a $10M+ exit
• You live in (or near) one of the 18 chapter cities and will actually show up monthly
• You want peers rather than coaching. Hampton hands you a room and a facilitator, and the agenda is whatever the 8 of you bring that month

Skip it if you're an operator at a company you didn't found (it's founder-only), if you'd be dialing in (you can't), or if you're outside tech and digital.

And skip it, for now, if you're where most readers of this blog are: somewhere between $5K and $50K MRR. You don't have a Hampton problem yet. You have a "get to $100K MRR" problem, and sitting in a room of $23M founders won't fix it. Their problems (M&A, exec team hiring) are not your problems yet.

Full disclosure: this one's mine. I run Profitable Founder Club for exactly that stage: SaaS founders between $5K and $50K MRR pushing to $100K. Bi-weekly calls where we solve 3 member problems live, monthly Q&As with founders already past $100K, and each batch is capped at 20 so nobody hides in the back. It's the room I wish I'd had before I was ready for the $10K clubs.

The Bottom Line

Is Hampton worth it? If you qualify honestly and you'll show up in person every month: yes. A moderated room of 8 founders at your level, with enforced attendance and a 45-day refund window, is one of the few things in business that reliably compounds. The $8,500 to $15,000 is a rounding error against one saved hire or one good pricing decision.

If you're stretching to qualify, or you'd join for the Slack and skip the meetings, save your money.

My rule after paying $13K for my own room: buy the mastermind that matches your current stage, not the one that flatters your ambition. The compounding comes from being understood, not impressed.

Still comparing options? I broke down 7 Hampton alternatives and what masterminds actually cost in separate posts.

FAQ

How much does Hampton cost?

Hampton no longer publishes pricing. The last public figure was $8,500 a year in 2023, and members now report paying $8,500 to $15,000 depending on tier. Big retreats and adventure trips cost extra. There's a 45-day money-back guarantee if you attend the initial commitment call.

What are the requirements to join Hampton?

You must be a founder (not a hired exec) of a tech or digital business with $3M+ in annual revenue, or have raised $3M+ in venture capital, or have exited a company for $10M+. You also need to live within one of the 18 chapter cities, since core groups meet in person.

Is Hampton only in person?

The core groups are. They meet monthly (except August and December) for about 3 hours, always face to face, and attendance is enforced: more than 2 missed meetings and you're removed. The wider community, deals, and digital events are online.

What is Hampton's acceptance rate?

Hampton doesn't publish one. Outside estimates put it between 5% and 10% of applicants, which would make it more selective than most accelerators. Take that with some salt though: at least one member has described the admission interview as closer to a sales call than an audition, with revenue verified through self-submitted screenshots.

Who owns Hampton?

Hampton was founded by Sam Parr, who built The Hustle (sold to HubSpot) and co-hosts the My First Million podcast, together with co-founder Joe Speiser. It's a private company, not part of a larger network like Vistage or EO.