7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy
Helps identify durable competitive advantages. The 7 Powers framework (created by Hamilton Helmer) reveals the economic structures that protect business value from competition.
seven-powers
Use when asked to "7 Powers", "build a competitive moat", "analyze defensibility", "find sustainable advantage", "economic moats", or "Hamilton Helmer framework". Helps identify durable competitive advantages. The 7 Powers framework (created by Hamilton Helmer) reveals the economic structures that protect business value from competition.
What It Is
7 Powers is a framework for understanding sustainable competitive advantage. The core insight: Business value comes from possessing an attribute that produces higher returns than competitors AND a barrier that prevents competitors from arbitraging it away.
Power = Benefit + Barrier
Warren Buffett famously said: "In business, I look for economic castles protected by unbreachable moats." Power is understanding what makes something a castle (the benefit) versus a shack, and what makes the moat unbreachable (the barrier).
The key shift: Move from asking "What's our competitive advantage?" to asking "What economic structure creates durable differential returns?"
When to Use It
Use 7 Powers when you need to:
- Evaluate a business's long-term defensibility (investment decisions, competitive analysis)
- Design a startup for durability (not just product-market fit)
- Understand why incumbents can't respond to your disruptive move
- Prioritize strategic initiatives based on what builds power
- Identify whether you actually have a moat or just operational excellence
- Plan second acts (new business lines that could develop power)
- Win market share battles in high-growth phases
When Not to Use It
- You don't have product-market fit yet
- The business is purely commodity with no differentiation possible
- You want to justify a strategy you've already decided on
- You're optimizing operations (power is about structure, not execution)
Resources
Books:
- 7 Powers by Hamilton Helmer
- Good Strategy Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt
- Competition Demystified by Bruce Greenwald
Install via CLI
Run one command in your terminal. Works with Claude Code and other AI assistants that support the Skills CLI.
Install just this skill
npx skills add pmprompt/claude-plugin-product-management --skill 7-powers-the-foundations-of-business-strategy
Or install all 28 skills
npx skills add pmprompt/claude-plugin-product-management
Manual Install (Advanced)
Create the skill file manually. Recommended for advanced users who want full control.
Create the skill file
Run this command to create the directory and SKILL.md file:
mkdir -p .claude/skills/7-powers-the-foundations-of-business-strategy && touch .claude/skills/7-powers-the-foundations-of-business-strategy/SKILL.md
This creates the directory and an empty SKILL.md file.
Open the skill file
Open the SKILL.md file in your favorite editor:
nano .claude/skills/7-powers-the-foundations-of-business-strategy/SKILL.md
Or use code .claude/skills/7-powers-the-foundations-of-business-strategy/SKILL.md for VS Code
Add the content
Copy the skill content and paste it into the SKILL.md file:
Then save the file. Now you can use the skill by typing /7-powers-the-foundations-of-business-strategy in your AI assistant, or it will automatically use it when relevant.
Using a different AI assistant?
.claude/skills/
.opencode/skills/
Related Skills
Hierarchy of Marketplaces
Helps founders and product leaders build defensible marketplace businesses by sequencing supply and demand. The Hierarch...
Positioning Canvas
Helps define competitive alternatives, differentiated value, target customers, and market category. April Dunford's posi...
Go Beyond Copy-Paste
This skill is great for Claude. But with PMPrompt Pro, you can generate Market Analysis documents instantly in your browser—no setup, no context switching.