Frequently asked questions
Straight answers about what Helm actually does — and what it doesn't.
What Helm is
What exactly is Helm?
Helm gives you five AI advisors — a CFO, COO, CMO, HR Director, and General Counsel — that know your specific business. They're briefed through documents you upload to the Vault, your full conversation history, and — if connected — your live QuickBooks data, so you get advice grounded in your actual numbers and situation instead of generic answers.
Is this just ChatGPT with a system prompt?
No. A generic AI chat interface answers from what you type plus general training knowledge. Helm's advisors actively research before they answer — pulling from your uploaded documents, live QuickBooks data, and other business records (agentic tool use) — and a second AI pass checks the draft answer against that source material before you ever see it (verification), flagging or correcting anything that isn't actually traceable to your real data. They also carry conclusions across conversations and across advisors, so you're not re-explaining your business every time you open a new chat.
Data & security
Is my QuickBooks data safe?
Yes — Helm only ever reads your QuickBooks data, pulling your P&L, Balance Sheet, and AR aging, and never creates, edits, or deletes anything in your books. Everything is encrypted in transit and at rest, and stored in storage isolated to your account.
Read the full security overview →Do you sell or share my data?
No — Helm never sells your data, and never shares your business information, Vault files, or conversations with anyone outside the infrastructure providers that run Helm. It also never uses your data to train AI models — that's a contractual guarantee under Anthropic's commercial API terms, not an opt-out setting.
See what we never do →Can I disconnect QuickBooks anytime?
Yes — you can disconnect from Settings at any time, and it takes effect immediately: Helm's stored copies of your QuickBooks tokens and cached financials are cleared right away.
How it works
How does Helm know my business?
Helm learns your business from three sources: what you tell it during onboarding and in conversations, documents you upload to the Vault, and — if connected — your live QuickBooks data. All of it is compiled into the business context every advisor is briefed on before responding.
What happens when I upload a document?
Helm extracts the text — from PDFs, Word documents, spreadsheets, and more — and stores it in your private Vault. Advisors read relevant Vault documents before answering questions that call for it, so nothing needs to be re-uploaded or re-explained.
Does Helm remember past conversations?
Yes, in two ways: the full history of a single advisor's chat is available on every message, and durable facts, decisions, and preferences are also extracted and shared across every advisor and every future conversation — so something you tell your CFO can inform an answer from your COO later. That cross-conversation extraction runs on a scheduled batch (currently once daily) rather than instantly after every message, so something mentioned minutes ago may not surface in another advisor's answer until the next batch has run.
What's the Boardroom?
The Boardroom asks all five advisors the same question at once and gives you five independent perspectives side by side — useful for decisions that touch finance, operations, marketing, people, and legal all at the same time.
Pricing & trial
What happens after my 14-day trial?
You'll be prompted to subscribe to keep using Helm. Nothing is deleted while you decide — your business context, documents, and conversation history are waiting whenever you subscribe.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes — you can manage or cancel your subscription anytime from Settings, through Stripe's self-serve portal, with no emails or phone calls required.
What's the difference between monthly and annual?
Same product either way — all five advisors, unlimited conversations — but monthly is $49/month while annual is $399/year ($33/month equivalent), a 32% saving — $189/year — in exchange for paying once a year.
See current pricing →Comparisons
How is this different from ChatGPT or Claude directly?
Those are general-purpose assistants — capable, but they don't know your business unless you re-explain it every session, and consumer plans may use your conversations to train future models. Helm runs on Anthropic's commercial API (zero training on your data), stays briefed on your business permanently, and adds business-specific tooling — QuickBooks access, document research, and a five-advisor structure — none of which a general chat interface has out of the box.
Do I still need my accountant or bookkeeper?
Yes — Helm is a decision-support advisor, not a replacement for a licensed accountant or bookkeeper. It's built to help you think through decisions, understand your numbers, and prepare better questions — not to file taxes, produce certified financials, or take on compliance work that requires a licensed professional.
Still have a question?
Email us directly at chris@helmteam.app and you'll get a real response from a real person.
Last updated: July 31, 2026
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