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Hamilton Helmer

Published podcast speaker

Claims
48
Episodes
4
Shows
2
Named items
2

Books, apps, and tools

The evidenced stack.

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book / recommends

The Road to Reality

“One book that is extremely wonky, and I can only take it in very small doses, but is magnificent, is one called The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose, who's this brilliant mathematician. And it will be very daunting for anybody unless you're a deep math person, but his brilliance in erudition just shines through in this thing. And it's an amazing book. I would say there's another book, boy, I wish I could remember the name. Maybe you can get the name of the author called Gene by this geneticist. And I think he's a Harvard Medical School professor that's about the history of genetics and he is an absolutely luminous writer. I mean, it puts me to shame. I'm embarrassed when I read it because I think how pedestrian my writing is and incredibly knowledgeable about the history of genetics and I think that's such an important topic. So those are two that I would recommend highly, fairly wonky, but I like them both.”

Lenny's Podcast · 5 May 2024

Evidence receipt · Source ↗

book / recommends

Gene

“One book that is extremely wonky, and I can only take it in very small doses, but is magnificent, is one called The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose, who's this brilliant mathematician. And it will be very daunting for anybody unless you're a deep math person, but his brilliance in erudition just shines through in this thing. And it's an amazing book. I would say there's another book, boy, I wish I could remember the name. Maybe you can get the name of the author called Gene by this geneticist. And I think he's a Harvard Medical School professor that's about the history of genetics and he is an absolutely luminous writer. I mean, it puts me to shame. I'm embarrassed when I read it because I think how pedestrian my writing is and incredibly knowledgeable about the history of genetics and I think that's such an important topic. So those are two that I would recommend highly, fairly wonky, but I like them both.”

Lenny's Podcast · 5 May 2024

Evidence receipt · Source ↗

Claim ledger

What Hamilton said.

48 transcript-backed records

01 / recommendation

Recommends The Road to Reality. Recommends Gene.

“One book that is extremely wonky, and I can only take it in very small doses, but is magnificent, is one called The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose, who's this brilliant mathematician. And it will be very daunting for anybody unless you're a deep math person, but his brilliance in erudition just shines through in this thing. And it's an amazing book. I would say there's another book, boy, I wish I could remember the name. Maybe you can get the name of the author called Gene by this geneticist. And I think he's a Harvard Medical School professor that's about the history of genetics and he is an absolutely luminous writer. I mean, it puts me to shame. I'm embarrassed when I read it because I think how pedestrian my writing is and incredibly knowledgeable about the history of genetics and I think that's such an important topic. So those are two that I would recommend highly, fairly wonky, but I like them both.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

02 / belief

The other one which is somewhat more profound I think was one that I had a famous Sri Lankan journalist was a mentor of mine and very dear friend, and he had a favorite expression that I adhere to all the time, which is everything is always about something else.

“The other one which is somewhat more profound I think was one that I had a famous Sri Lankan journalist was a mentor of mine and very dear friend, and he had a favorite expression that I adhere to all the time, which is everything is always about something else.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

03 / belief

I mean, I think that your place and how you connect to it has an important grounding effect. And then before I talked earlier about creativity and I think surrounding yourself in an environment that stimulates that is really important.

“I mean, I think that your place and how you connect to it has an important grounding effect. And then before I talked earlier about creativity and I think surrounding yourself in an environment that stimulates that is really important.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

05 / recommendation

Read the book, and then have conversations with your colleagues about the topic because as you internalize what that means and how, have conversations with them about do we really have this kind of power?

“Read the book, and then have conversations with your colleagues about the topic because as you internalize what that means and how, have conversations with them about do we really have this kind of power?”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

07 / preference

I'm a great fan of the great mathematician, John von Neumann, and he had a view which really irritated a lot of mathematicians, which is that if mathematics wasn't guided by what was useful, it would become, I think the word he used was aesthetic to aesthetic.

“I'm a great fan of the great mathematician, John von Neumann, and he had a view which really irritated a lot of mathematicians, which is that if mathematics wasn't guided by what was useful, it would become, I think the word he used was aesthetic to aesthetic.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

10 / evaluation

He got a lot of people of the Harvard Business School faculty really mad at him because that's what their careers were about and it sounded like he was dissing them. But the point he was making was when you get to this end state, if you already have power that things that drive operational excellence can be mimicked because you can hire a consulting firm who has best practices, knowledges that come in and get you up to snuff.

“He got a lot of people of the Harvard Business School faculty really mad at him because that's what their careers were about and it sounded like he was dissing them. But the point he was making was when you get to this end state, if you already have power that things that drive operational excellence can be mimicked because you can hire a consulting firm who has best practices, knowledges that come in and get you up to snuff.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

11 / evaluation

Porsche was the one that just kept being right on that performance envelope because they were able to do all these investments, and it's a phenomenal business model.

“Porsche was the one that just kept being right on that performance envelope because they were able to do all these investments, and it's a phenomenal business model.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Acquired

15 / belief

I think a non obvious point of all this is that if you're thinking of doing something new getting into stuff, that understanding business definition is critical.

“I think a non obvious point of all this is that if you're thinking of doing something new getting into stuff, that understanding business definition is critical.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Acquired

18 / belief

Anyway, I think that is just a simple observation, which is that the stuff that's most likely will get you there is a different need but using some of the skills that you have.

“Anyway, I think that is just a simple observation, which is that the stuff that's most likely will get you there is a different need but using some of the skills that you have.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Acquired

20 / evaluation

It's especially evident at Apple, but it's really true everywhere for all entrepreneurs. That's why Chenyi and I have to be fairly modest about what we're doing because what we're really trying to do is to provide pattern recognition for those people, but it doesn't substitute for them.

“It's especially evident at Apple, but it's really true everywhere for all entrepreneurs. That's why Chenyi and I have to be fairly modest about what we're doing because what we're really trying to do is to provide pattern recognition for those people, but it doesn't substitute for them.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Acquired

21 / prediction

Right because you can assume that eventually somebody else will, and that may completely ruin your competitive position, for example, if the space doesn't scale.

“Right because you can assume that eventually somebody else will, and that may completely ruin your competitive position, for example, if the space doesn't scale.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Acquired

26 / recommendation

The first point of this conversation is that to properly assess transforming directions, the first thing is carefully understanding your current base of power, then looking at this new segment, whether as I say it could be customers, geographic, technology, whatever product, and seeing whether it relies on that as well because then, oh, boy, a world looks rosy.

“The first point of this conversation is that to properly assess transforming directions, the first thing is carefully understanding your current base of power, then looking at this new segment, whether as I say it could be customers, geographic, technology, whatever product, and seeing whether it relies on that as well because then, oh, boy, a world looks rosy.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Acquired

27 / preference

If you can build on to something that already does that and it works in that environment, then oh, boy, go there, because that's so much easier than doing something really new.

“If you can build on to something that already does that and it works in that environment, then oh, boy, go there, because that's so much easier than doing something really new.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Acquired

28 / evaluation

The counter positioning one is typically the type of power that you would have against incumbents, but it doesn't work against wannabes because they don't have the same problems.

“The counter positioning one is typically the type of power that you would have against incumbents, but it doesn't work against wannabes because they don't have the same problems.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Acquired

29 / evaluation

I'll tell you something, Ben and David, that has occurred to Chenyi and myself over the last year which is a little bit different maybe than what's said in the book, which is that I used to think that it was sequential.

“I'll tell you something, Ben and David, that has occurred to Chenyi and myself over the last year which is a little bit different maybe than what's said in the book, which is that I used to think that it was sequential.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Acquired

33 / recommendation

Seven Powers was an attempt to take an understanding of strategy and make it generally available as sort of pattern recognition—Chenyi I think uses that term which I liked a lot—for founders and people that are interested in trying to create great strategies and make their companies successful.

“Seven Powers was an attempt to take an understanding of strategy and make it generally available as sort of pattern recognition—Chenyi I think uses that term which I liked a lot—for founders and people that are interested in trying to create great strategies and make their companies successful.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Acquired

40 / evaluation

I'd say an exception to that is that if you have a company like that and you see that they're just gaining an enormous relative market share, there might be some other company that's earlier. But there's something about their business model that just doesn't work as well.

“I'd say an exception to that is that if you have a company like that and you see that they're just gaining an enormous relative market share, there might be some other company that's earlier. But there's something about their business model that just doesn't work as well.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Acquired

42 / prediction

The fact that they don't map to each other, and the fact that power maps directly to value, or there's a one-to-one mapping between power and value, that means that disruptive technology does not map to value.

“The fact that they don't map to each other, and the fact that power maps directly to value, or there's a one-to-one mapping between power and value, that means that disruptive technology does not map to value.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Acquired

43 / recommendation

I think when you're thinking about competitive analysis, in particular, when you're thinking about starting businesses, I always tell people, don't focus so much on the competition.

“I think when you're thinking about competitive analysis, in particular, when you're thinking about starting businesses, I always tell people, don't focus so much on the competition.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Acquired

44 / evaluation

What that says is, there's this moment, but then the problem is, from a strategist point of view is that all the information is changing so radically that the person or the group that has to process that is the founder and his team.

“What that says is, there's this moment, but then the problem is, from a strategist point of view is that all the information is changing so radically that the person or the group that has to process that is the founder and his team.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Acquired

46 / prediction

The reason is, if you think about what's going on, if there is a similarly-sized or reasonably-sized competitor—Lyft, for example—in this market or others in other markets, that they can achieve a similar network effect.

“The reason is, if you think about what's going on, if there is a similarly-sized or reasonably-sized competitor—Lyft, for example—in this market or others in other markets, that they can achieve a similar network effect.”
Speaker
Hamilton Helmer
Publisher
Acquired
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