A peer advisory board is a small, confidential group of business owners or executives who meet regularly to help each other solve real problems, acting as one another’s advisors. Groups usually run 6 to 16 members and meet monthly. This guide covers the formats, the costs, and how a founder in recovery should choose the right board.

It is one of the oldest and most reliable tools in business: a room of peers who break the isolation at the top and pressure-test the decisions you cannot test alone.

How does a peer advisory board work?

The core ritual is simple. One member brings a real problem, the actual numbers and the decision they have been avoiding, and the room works it. Members share experience rather than hand down advice. Most boards run under strict confidentiality, meet monthly, and hold members accountable between sessions. The vetting matters as much as the format: a board is only as useful as the people in it.

The two formats: Chair-led vs pure peer

There are two main models, and they explain most of the price difference.

Feature Chair-led boardPure peer board
Who leads A paid professional facilitatorThe members themselves
Typical cost $15,000 to $30,000/yrOften a flat monthly fee
Where value comes from Facilitation, coaching, structurePeers at your altitude
Examples Vistage, TAB, Tiger 21EO forums, Phoenix Forum

A Chair-led board puts a paid professional at the center to facilitate and coach. A pure peer board trusts the members to be the expertise. Neither is wrong. The question is whether you need a facilitator or a room of peers who have sat in your seat.

A board chosen by who pays the facilitator gives you structure. A board chosen by who is in the room gives you peers. Know which one you are buying.

How much does a peer advisory board cost?

Chair-led boards like Vistage and TAB run higher, from several hundred dollars a month to $15,000 to $30,000 a year, because the price includes a professional facilitator. Pure peer boards cost less. Phoenix Forum, a peer board for founders in recovery, is $349 a month, about $4,200 a year, with a 6 month money-back guarantee.

The peer advisory board built for founders in recovery

Phoenix Forum is a peer advisory board built for founders in recovery. Ten vetted members, monthly hot seats, $349 a month. The room is alcohol-free by design and closed under a mutual NDA, so your recovery is the shared baseline rather than something you manage at the door. The advisors are the other founders, not a paid Chair.

If you want a peer advisory board where the whole picture of how you run your company, recovery included, is finally on the table, that is the room.

What is a peer advisory board?

A peer advisory board is a small, confidential group of business owners or executives from non-competing situations who meet regularly to help each other solve real problems. Members act as one another’s advisors, drawing on lived experience. Groups usually run 6 to 16 people, meet monthly, and operate under confidentiality.

How much does a peer advisory board cost?

It depends on the format. Chair-led boards such as Vistage or TAB cost more, often $15,000 to $30,000 a year or several hundred dollars a month, because you pay for a professional facilitator. Pure peer boards cost less. Phoenix Forum, a peer board for founders in recovery, is $349 per month.

What is the difference between a peer advisory board and a mastermind?

The terms overlap heavily. “Mastermind” is the older, looser word; “peer advisory board” usually implies a more structured, vetted, confidential group with a repeatable format like a monthly hot seat. In practice the best masterminds and the best peer advisory boards work the same way.

Is there a peer advisory board for founders in recovery?

Yes. Phoenix Forum is a peer advisory board built for founders in recovery: ten vetted members, monthly hot seats, alcohol-free and confidential, at $349 per month with a 6 month money-back guarantee.

Written by

Andrew Lassise

Founder of Phoenix Forum. Entrepreneur, tech investor, and recovered alcoholic. He started Phoenix Forum because no other peer advisory board held recovery and business in the same room at the same time.