Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Hamilton Helmer – Power + Business - [Invest Like the Best, EP.174]


Listen Later

My guest today is Hamilton Helmer, the Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Strategy Capital and the author of one of the best business books in history called 7 Powers, which is the topic of much of our conversation. He has spent his career as a practicing business strategist: advising companies, investing based on strategic insights and teaching strategy.  In the last three decades, he has also utilized his strategy concepts as a public equity investor. In this conversation we cover all seven business powers, from counter-positioning to scale economies, and how companies earn and keep those powers. Any investor or businessperson should understand these concepts, and 7 Powers is the best work I’ve seen that explains them in depth. Please enjoy our conversation.

 

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.

Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.

Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

 

Show Notes

(1:31) – (First question)  - What power means to him

(5:05) – Benefits being more common than barriers in the power equation

(6:28) – How early-stage companies develop their barriers

(11:23) – The power of counter positioning and how he’s seen it applied

(14:47) – The product side of counter positioning

            (16:39) – Daniel Ek Podcast episode

(17:27) – Applying the idea of counter positioning to yourself

(20:40) – A cornered resource

(23:49) – A look at google as a cornered resource

(27:12) – Unique power of network economies

(31:18) – What subtleties disqualify network effects

(32:54) – Nuances of scale economies

(35:56) – Learning economies and who can scale it better

(37:07) – Building a switching cost and barrier into your business

(40:10) – Branding as power

(44:27) – Defining process power and how it differs from scale economies

(46:40) – The notion of the time lag and cash flow

(50:42) – Why is so much power concentrated in technology businesses

(52:07) – What does power mean for customers

(53:43) – Developing power as an art vs science, and the best power artists

(55:08) – The kindest thing anyone has done for him

 

Learn More

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast

Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub

Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'ShaughnessyBy Colossus | Investing & Business Podcasts

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

2,212 ratings


More shows like Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

View all
Masters in Business by Bloomberg

Masters in Business

2,174 Listeners

a16z Podcast by Andreessen Horowitz

a16z Podcast

1,036 Listeners

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch by Harry Stebbings

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

519 Listeners

Odd Lots by Bloomberg

Odd Lots

1,789 Listeners

The Meb Faber Show - Better Investing by The Idea Farm

The Meb Faber Show - Better Investing

938 Listeners

Founders by David Senra

Founders

1,906 Listeners

Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry by Ted Seides – Allocator and Asset Management Expert

Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry

804 Listeners

Value Investing with Legends by Columbia Business School

Value Investing with Legends

196 Listeners

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg by All-In Podcast, LLC

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg

9,207 Listeners

The Memo by Howard Marks by Oaktree Capital Management

The Memo by Howard Marks

416 Listeners

Yet Another Value Podcast by Andrew Walker

Yet Another Value Podcast

107 Listeners

Business Breakdowns by Colossus | Investing & Business Podcasts

Business Breakdowns

353 Listeners

Making Markets by Colossus | Investing & Business Podcasts

Making Markets

64 Listeners

ACQ2 by Acquired by Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

ACQ2 by Acquired

212 Listeners

50X by Colossus

50X

86 Listeners

Return on India by Colossus | Investing & Business Podcasts

Return on India

16 Listeners

Making Media by Colossus | Investing & Business Podcasts

Making Media

21 Listeners

Joys of Compounding by Colossus | Investing & Business Podcasts

Joys of Compounding

98 Listeners

BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley by BG2Pod

BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley

461 Listeners