7 Powers
The Foundations of Business Strategy — Hamilton Helmer
A strategist's field guide to the only thing that matters long-term: durable competitive advantage. Helmer argues there are exactly seven conditions that produce it — no more, no fewer — and that every great business rests on one or more. The book is short, precise, and changes how you see companies.
Meeting Schedule
Schedule coming soon — check back here once we’ve picked our dates.
About the Book
Helmer defines a Power as a condition that creates persistently differential returns — a moat that resists competition. His whole framework: a business either has one of the seven, or it doesn’t, and strategy is the work of establishing and defending one.
The seven powers
- Scale Economies. Unit costs fall as volume grows. Larger competitor can price below what smaller ones can match.
- Network Economies. Value to each user rises with total users. Later entrants can’t catch up because everyone’s already on the leader.
- Counter-Positioning. A newcomer adopts a business model the incumbent can’t copy without damaging its existing business.
- Switching Costs. Customers face real pain (financial, procedural, relational) to leave.
- Branding. A durable attribution of higher value to objectively identical offerings.
- Cornered Resource. Preferential access to something valuable (a person, patent, deposit, permit) on attractive terms.
- Process Power. Company-embodied activities and routines that rivals can’t replicate without years of investment.
Why we’re reading it
Seven Powers is one of the most-cited strategy books among operators — it gives you a sharp lens for evaluating any business, including your own. Expect discussions that hop between case studies (Netflix’s counter-positioning, TSMC’s process power) and our own work.