Topic
21 facts from 4 episodes, in date order. These are what speakers said on the shows, each linked to the moment it was said. They aren't independently verified.
1984
Hamilton Helmer visited the PC maker Chromemco around 1984 or 1985, when it was growing quickly and its founder believed there would never be an industry shakeout.
“And I was visiting a company called Chromemco. And they were on this incredible trajectory as a PC company.”
1990s
As a Dell investor in the 1990s, Hamilton Helmer bet that Compaq could not respond quickly to Dell's direct sales model.
“my investment hypothesis was that Compaq couldn't respond quickly to them because Dell was going direct.”
1994
Hamilton Helmer moved from Boston to California in 1994, drawn by the region's economic vitality and a family decision.
“In 94, I came out here and I was attracted by the economic vitality, but it's also a family decision.”
2007
Hamilton Helmer said his study of S&P 100 companies found about half of their profits came from businesses other than their original one.
“I don't know if you consider the answer boring, but it turned out to be about 50%.”
2020
Acquired interviewed Hamilton Helmer about his Seven Powers framework in March 2020.
“And in March of 2020, we actually interviewed Hamilton Helmer to talk about the framework.”
2020
The Helmer interview was the last Acquired recording made before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.
“It's a little like getting in a time machine, since that was the last recording we did before the pandemic hit.”
Undated
Hamilton Helmer said late fees made up half of Blockbuster's income, which Netflix declined to charge.
“So late fees accounted for half of Blockbuster's income. Netflix said we're not doing it.”
Undated
Hamilton Helmer manages Strategy Capital, a fund whose office is in Los Altos.
“at the Strategy Capital office, Hamilton's fund that he manages in Los Altos.”
Undated
Hamilton Helmer and his brother started a rug business, designed in New York and woven in Ecuador, while he was in graduate school.
“So my brother and I started a rug business while I was still in graduate school, designed in New York and woven in Ecuador.”
Undated
Hamilton Helmer says a standard valuation of a company growing about 10% puts about 85% of its value after year three.
“If you take a company that's growing about 10%, do a standard valuation model, what you find is 85% of the value is after year three.”
Undated
Hamilton Helmer says writing Seven Powers took him 20 years.
“I mean, I wrote the book. It took me 20 years of writing it.”
Undated
Hamilton Helmer says the seven powers were derived empirically from roughly 200 strategy cases he led plus about 200 more done by his students.
“I've probably led 200 strategy cases. I've probably had my students like Giselle and Chen Yi who are sitting here do another 200.”
Undated
Hamilton Helmer guesses that Uber's network effects probably do not give it power that translates into meaningful profitability.
“But does Uber have power from network effects in a way that will translate into meaningful profitability? I would say first order no would be my guess.”
Undated
Hamilton Helmer says counter-positioning is the only one of the seven powers that is only a partial source of power.
“It's the only one that's a partial source of power.”
Undated
Hamilton Helmer argues Pixar's brain trust was insufficient for great stories, pointing to the number of directors who had to be replaced mid-project.
“And the marker for that is how many directors had to be replaced that were into their projects.”
Undated
Hamilton Helmer says that more drivers and passengers let Uber build more efficient route structures, which reduces driver downtime between rides.
“by having more drivers and more passengers, it makes it possible for Uber to develop more efficient route structures. And what more efficient route structures do, essentially, is to minimize driver downtime.”
Undated
Chenyi Shi defines surplus leader margin, a concept from Hamilton Helmer's book 7 Powers, as the most a leader can charge above a competitor while keeping its competitive position.
“this concept that we call surplus leader margin, which is the maximum price you can charge more than a competitor while still maintaining your competitive position.”
Undated
Hamilton Helmer concluded after decades of study that there are only seven structures of durable competitive power.
“And so after looking at that for decades, my conclusion was that actually it is simple. There are only seven of them.”
Undated
Hamilton Helmer cited Intel's move from memory chips into CPUs as the lead example of transforming in his book Seven Powers.
“The lead-off example in my book of Intel getting into CPUs.”
Undated
Hamilton Helmer said roughly 90% of the value that S&P 100 companies created from new businesses came from coaction, meaning shared skills serving a different customer need.
“but I think it's 90% of the value in the S&P 100 of the new stuff came from coaction.”
Undated
Hamilton Helmer said financial studies of stock prices before and after deals show acquirers roughly break even while sellers do very well.
“what it basically says is, you know, the acquirers kind of break even or whatever and the seller does very well.”
Episodes