Hampton vs WasMeant

Pricing

Hampton is priced at $$$$ (Annual membership (pricing disclosed during application process)), while WasMeant comes in at $$ (~$19 per dinner ticket + cost of your meal).

Format & matching

Hampton uses groups of 8 per core group, compared to WasMeant’s 4 per table, and Hampton relies on manual / self-select matching while WasMeant uses algorithm-based matching.

How they work

Hampton: Head to joinhampton.com and submit an application. Hampton is invitation-only with an ~8% acceptance rate — you'll need to be an active founder or CEO of a tech-enabled business with at least $3M in annual revenue, $3M in capital raised, or a $10M+ previous exit. If accepted after a paper screening, structured interview, and community veto process, you pay an annual membership fee and get placed into a Core group of eight curated founders in your city. Your Core group meets in person ten times a year, facilitated by a trained moderator. Beyond that, you get access to local chapter events (dinners, workshops, signature experiences) and a private Slack network of 1,000+ members for rapid Q&A on business and personal topics.

WasMeant: Head to wasmeant.com and create an account. You'll fill out a personality questionnaire covering your interests, values, and social energy — takes about 10 minutes. Once your profile is complete, purchase a one-time dinner ticket ($18.99). Then pick which Friday dates work for you and start the group search. WasMeant's algorithm builds a balanced group of four people with compatible personalities. You'll get the restaurant name and details by email once your group is confirmed — usually 24 hours before. Show up Friday at 7 PM, sit down, and spend the evening with three strangers at a curated spot in Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Williamsburg.

What to love

Hampton: Extremely curated membership — ~8% acceptance rate ensures high-caliber peers. Core groups of 8 create real accountability and trust over time. In-person only meetings in your city — no Zoom calls pretending to be community. No-solicitation policy means nobody is trying to sell you anything. Bootstrapped company with long-term vision — not optimizing for a VC exit.

WasMeant: Algorithmic matching based on a real personality questionnaire — not random groupings. Small groups of four keep conversations intimate and comfortable. No app download required — sign up and manage everything on the website. Pay-per-dinner model with no subscription or auto-renewal. Restaurant selection is curated for atmosphere, not hype.

Reality check

Hampton: Pricing is not transparent — you have to apply just to learn the cost. Strict eligibility requirements exclude early-stage founders. Currently in 16 cities — if you're not in one, you're out of luck. No app — everything runs through a website and Slack.

WasMeant: NYC only — if you're not in New York, you're out of luck. Friday-only schedule at 7 PM is rigid if your weekends are unpredictable. Ticket price covers coordination only — you still pay for your own meal and drinks. Relatively new platform, so the matching pool may be smaller than established competitors.

Søren's take

On Hampton: Hampton isn't for most people, and that's the point. If you're a tech founder doing $3M+ in revenue and you're tired of generic networking events full of people pitching you, this is the real deal. The Core group model — eight people, same group, ten meetings a year — creates the kind of trust and candor you can't get from a conference or a Slack community alone. The price tag and exclusivity will turn off a lot of people, but for the founders who get in, the ROI is reportedly massive. Just know that this is a long-term commitment, not a casual membership you dip into.

On WasMeant: WasMeant feels like the scrappy, NYC-native answer to Timeleft. The premise is nearly identical — personality-matched dinners with strangers — but the execution is more intimate: groups of four instead of six, and a deliberate focus on one city done well rather than scaling everywhere at once. The Friday-at-7-PM ritual is a nice counterpoint to Timeleft's Wednesday format. The biggest limitation is obvious: it's NYC only. But if you live in New York and want a low-pressure way to meet genuinely interesting people over dinner, this is worth a ticket.