7 Powers

Hamilton Helmer's strategic framework for achieving sustainable competitive advantage through seven distinct power types. Use when analyzing business strateg...

Security Scan

This is an instruction-only business-strategy skill that contains guidance on Hamilton Helmer's '7 Powers' framework and makes no unexpected requests or installs.

Purpose & Capability

The skill's name, description, and included content all match: it provides a framework for analyzing competitive advantage. It does not request unrelated credentials, binaries, or access.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md and the detailed reference stay within the scope of business-strategy analysis. The runtime instructions describe how to apply the framework and reference a bundled local document; they do not instruct reading unrelated files, contacting external endpoints, or accessing credentials.

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No install spec and no code files — instruction-only — so nothing is downloaded or written to disk by the skill itself.

Credentials

The skill declares no required environment variables, credentials, or config paths. There are no environment accesses in the instructions.

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always is false and the skill is user-invocable (normal). disable-model-invocation is false (agent can call it autonomously), which is the platform default and acceptable here given the skill's low-risk scope.

Assessment

This skill is an instruction-only reference for applying the '7 Powers' strategy framework and does not ask for credentials or install anything. It's safe from a technical-privilege perspective, but remember: it's advisory business guidance — validate recommendations against your specific data and consult subject-matter experts (legal, financial, or market analysts) before making high-stakes decisions.

7 Powers Strategic Framework

Apply Hamilton Helmer's framework: Power = Benefit (improved cash flow) + Barrier (prevents competitive arbitrage). Without both, advantage is temporary.

The Seven Powers by Lifecycle Phase

Origination (pre-PMF):

• Counter-positioning — new model would cannibalize incumbents' existing business
• Cornered Resource — preferential access to scarce resource (IP, talent, regulatory)

Takeoff (rapid growth post-PMF):

• Scale Economics — per-unit cost decreases with volume faster than competitors can match
• Network Economics — product value increases as more users join
• Switching Costs — customers face significant cost (money, time, risk) to leave

Stability (mature):

• Branding — pricing power from emotional connection beyond rational attributes
• Process Power — embedded organizational capabilities competitors can't replicate

Process

1. Identify lifecycle phase — Origination → Takeoff → Stability
2. List benefits the business currently has
3. For each benefit, test the barrier: "What prevents competitors from copying this?"
4. Map to available Powers for the current phase
5. Prioritize building Powers that create both benefit AND barrier now
6. Flag anti-patterns — benefits without barriers, wrong-phase Power pursuit, easily-eroded barriers

Quick Diagnostic Questions

Power	Key Question
Scale Economics	Does cost-per-unit drop meaningfully as we grow?
Network Economics	Does each new user make the product better for existing users?
Counter-positioning	Would adopting our model hurt incumbents' current revenue?
Switching Costs	How painful (time, money, risk) is it for customers to leave?
Branding	Can we charge premium beyond rational product attributes?
Cornered Resource	Do we have access to something competitors literally cannot get?
Process Power	Can competitors observe but not replicate how we do things?

Detailed Reference

For full examples, anti-patterns, and related frameworks: read references/powers-detail.md