7 Powers
by Hamilton Helmer · first published 2016
50% recommend50% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Presents a framework for judging which durable advantages let a company keep high profit margins over time. It is a concise, practical strategy book for founders and business-minded engineers.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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I highly recommend the book 7 Powers by Hamilton Helmer. Helmer defines "Power" as the ability to retain meaningful profit margins for a meaningful period of time. Each of the 7 Powers is a method he has seem companies use to retain this…
on “Hard is not defensible (2017)” ↗…product away for free so that the competition has no chance. Microsoft also is great at this for example with giving away GitHub for free. If you want to read more about “powers” like this I can recommend 7 Powers by Hamilton Helmer.
on “When the Dotcom Bubble Burst” ↗…Outsider - Stephen King. Well written, engrossing but a typical Stephen King novel Shoe Dog - Phil Knight. Story of Nike. Phenomenal. Bad blood - John Carreyrou. Story of Theranos. Absolutely crazy read. 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy - Hamilton Helmer. Good insights on strategy
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?” ↗Really enjoyed: - 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy - Hamilton Helmer - American Wolf - Nate Blakeslee - Atomic Habits - James Clear - But What If We're Wrong - Chuck Klosterman - Conspiracy - Ryan Holiday - The…
on “Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?” ↗I devoured Hamilton Helmer's 7 Powers this year. I rarely read a book in a single sitting.
on “Ask HN: Best books read in 2022” ↗…a founder of Square talking about how he survived Amazon entering the market with a copycat product. He also uses examples from other companies that survived competition using similar techniques. 2. 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy by Hamilton Helmer This book is a collection of 7 different types of “moats” that can exist. The authors claim (if I understood them correctly) that this list is…
on “Ask HN: How to Protect Ideas and Implementation?” ↗…Mukherjee > Shoe Dog Phil Knight > Attitude: Develop a Winning Mindset on and off the Court Jay Wright > The Euro and the Battle of Ideas Markus K. Brunnermeier, Harold James, Jean-Pierre Landau > 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy Hamilton Helmer > Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change Ellen Pao > Bellevue David Oshinsky > The Woman Who Smashed Codes Jason Fagone > Stealing…
on “Annual survey of book recommendations” ↗Non-fiction: 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy - Hamilton Helmer American Wolf - Nate Blakeslee Atomic Habits - James Clear Conspiracy - Ryan Holiday Courage To Be Disliked - Ichiro Kishimi How To Change…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?” ↗The theory is already out there, it’s called Counter-Positioning. Hamilton Helmer in 7 Powers. It’s a bit more nuanced as Kodak isn’t such a case due to digital photo being commodity.
on “Nokia's internal presentation after iPhone was launched (2007) [pdf]” ↗A quick early data point: the most-mentioned books across the initial 19 podcasts over the last year were: 1. Made In America - Sam Walton (18 episodes across 3 podcasts) 2. 7 Powers - Hamilton Helmer (15 episodes across 3 podcasts) 3. Zero to One - Peter Thiel (10 episodes across 4 podcasts) 4. Against the Odds - James Dyson (9 episodes across 2 podcasts) 5. Harry Potter - J.K.…
on “Show HN: I built a system that detects book mentions across 2k podcast episodes” ↗…Random Walk has been edited many times and the beginning of the book has become bloated, so I'd recommend skimming it a bit since it's just history on epic financial crashes). I'm planning to read: 7 Powers — Hamilton Helmer Good Strategy/Bad Strategy — Richard Rumelt The Outsiders — William N. Thorndike Jr. The Intelligent Investor — Benjamin Graham The Psychology of Money — Morgan Housel
on “SpaceX confidentially files to go public at $1.75T, reports say” ↗…Random Walk has been edited many times and the beginning of the book has become bloated, so I'd recommend skimming it a bit since it's just history on epic financial crashes). I'm planning to read: 7 Powers — Hamilton Helmer Good Strategy/Bad Strategy — Richard Rumelt The Outsiders — William N. Thorndike Jr. The Intelligent Investor — Benjamin Graham The Psychology of Money — Morgan Housel
on “SpaceX confidentially files to go public at $1.75T, reports say” ↗