Helmer: Generative AI will primarily benefit incumbent businesses over new categories
Hamilton Helmer · Business strategy with Hamilton Helmer (author of 7 Powers) · May 5, 2024 · at 41:48
Strategy theorist Hamilton Helmer categorizes tech disruption into pure tech, net-new businesses, and existing businesses enhanced by technology.
0:00 / 0:22exact quote · 22.7s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“I'm kind of the view from very much uncertain at this point that That generative AI will, its biggest impact will be that tertiary class. It will be used in a lot of things that that existed before and exist after, but are made better by it, like semiconductors and automobiles.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Hamilton Helmer
Helmer: Founders should evaluate strategic power before achieving product-market fit
“Even before you have product market fit,
It's worth thinking about strategy. Now it's not strategy in the sense of sort of this fully articulated strategic planning.
We're going to do this.
These are going to be the competitors.
This is going to, how we're goi…”
Helmer: Early startups should take branding and process power off the table
“There are some that only are really available in the, when you reach a stability phase of a business pretty far out there. And so if you're starting a company, take those off the table. So those two are branding and process power.”
Helmer: Achieving true scale economies through data is rare
“People often think that they get
scale economies through data.
And I'd say that that's possible, but it's rare.
And the reason it's rare is not because there aren't scale economies in data, but rather that the range of scale that the existing competitors have…”
Helmer: Material network flywheels that alter returns are rare
“There are often flywheels, ones that really are material, are rare.
The key thing here is materiality, not whether the flywheel exists, but whether
The effect is strong enough to really tilt returns.”
Helmer: Uber and Lyft lack true network economies
“You asked me earlier, or in the material you sent me about Uber and Lyft, I'd say that, you know, they probably have network effects involved, but not network economies.”
Helmer: Corporate value creation reduces entirely to power, market size, and execution
“There are this incredible, I mean, business is really hard, right? And there are just a multitude of things you have to pay attention for. I'm right because all those things fall into those three categories. So it's an exhaustive set, and it's just, it's, it s…”