Hampton for Women Founders: What It Is and What to Do If You Don't Qualify | Blog

If you've spent any time in founder circles, you've heard of Hampton. It's the community every "best founder communities" list mentions early on, and it's the one that generates some of the most "do I qualify?" searches of any name in the space. Here's what it actually is, what it actually costs, and what your options look like if the numbers aren't quite there yet, because for most founders, women especially, they aren't yet, and that's a genuinely normal place to be.

What Hampton Actually Is

Hampton is a vetted membership community for founders and CEOs, built by Sam Parr (of The Hustle and My First Million) and Joe Speiser. It launched in 2023 and has grown to over 1,000 members. The core of membership is a monthly "Core group": eight founders plus a paid, trained facilitator, meeting in person once a month. On top of that, members get a local city chapter, a private digital community, and a calendar of retreats and events, some of which cost extra.

It's worth knowing going in that Hampton isn't a women-specific community. It's a general network for founders and CEOs, open to anyone who meets the criteria, and by Hampton's own account, they weigh trajectory, energy, and lived experience alongside the numbers, not just revenue on its own. Core groups meet in person, in the cities where Hampton has an active chapter, so if you're not in one of those cities yet, that's simply a timing question rather than anything about your business.

What It Takes to Qualify

This is the part worth reading closely, since it's what determines whether Hampton is reachable right now. Per Hampton's FAQ, you're eligible if any of the following is true:

Your business is currently generating more than $3 million in annual revenue, or
You've raised more than $3 million in venture capital, or
You've had a prior exit above $10 million

You'll also need to live in one of Hampton's active chapter cities. It's worth knowing the bar has moved over time. At launch, the revenue requirement was reported at $1 million rather than $3 million, so it's climbed as the community has grown and matured.

Here's some context that's genuinely useful if you're sitting with that number. A 2024 Forbes piece reports that only about 1.9% of women-owned businesses ever reach $1 million in annual revenue. A separate breakdown of Census and SBA data from Resilient Profit Partners lands in a similar range, at 1.7%. Hampton's own threshold sits higher still, at $3 million, or $3 million raised, or a $10 million exit. If you're building a service-based business and you're not there yet, you're in the company of the vast majority of founders, not behind them.

Hampton is also selective from there. Their own site cites an acceptance rate of around 2%, while a 2023 TechCrunch profile reported 8% at the time. Either figure points to a genuinely thorough process: an application, an interview, and a review stage where existing members weigh in.

What It Costs

Hampton doesn't publish a price on its own site. Their FAQ addresses the question of cost without naming a figure, describing dues instead as "an annual investment that many of our members deduct as a business expense."

That's fairly typical in this category. What we can share is what's been reported by outlets that have covered Hampton's pricing over time: at launch in 2023, membership was widely reported at $8,500 a year, all-inclusive with no separate initiation fee, per a 2025 newsletter piece covering the launch and Long Angle's community comparison. Neither figure comes from Hampton directly, so treat it as the most consistently reported estimate rather than a confirmed number, and check current pricing directly with Hampton before factoring it into a decision. Some events and retreats cost extra on top of dues, per Hampton's own FAQ.

A Quick Note on Who's in the Room

Since Hampton isn't built specifically for women, it's worth setting expectations. A 2023 TechCrunch profile reported that around 15% of Hampton's members identified as women at the time, higher than some comparable programs but still a smaller share of the room. Hampton hasn't published an updated breakdown since, so treat that as an early snapshot rather than a current count.

None of that makes Hampton a lesser community. Members who qualify and join speak highly of the Core group model, and it's a genuinely well-built experience for the founders it's designed around. It's simply useful to know, going in, that you'd be joining a general-founder space rather than a women-specific one.

If the Numbers Aren't There Yet

If you're earlier than $3 million in revenue, haven't raised at that scale, and haven't had an exit yet, Hampton just isn't the right fit for right now, and that's completely fine. It says nothing about how far along you should be. A few honest ways to think about what comes next:

Treat it as a future milestone, not a closed door. If you're on a growth path toward that threshold, Hampton can be something to revisit later rather than something to rule out today.

Look at communities built for this stage. Most communities with real substance, structured peer groups, curated intros, honest accountability, don't require eight figures of revenue to access them. Athena Collective was built specifically for founders earlier in that journey: women building, scaling, and preparing to exit service-based businesses, without a revenue threshold deciding who gets support and who waits.
See what Athena Collective's membership includes →

Get clear on what you actually need before shopping by name recognition. A monthly peer group, curated intros, and an honest room to talk through what's hard are the things Hampton members describe valuing most, and those things exist in communities that don't ask for a $3 million revenue line first.

Hampton is a real community with a real structure, well worth understanding on its own terms, especially if you're already past that revenue line. If you're not there yet, that says far more about how few businesses, particularly women-owned ones, have crossed that threshold than it says about you or your business. The right kind of support doesn't have to wait until you do.

Looking for a founder community built for exactly where you are right now?
Explore Athena Collective →

Pricing and membership details reflect publicly available information as of the publication date and may have changed. Confirm current figures directly with each community before making a decision.