Vikas Gupta: Exploring the 7 Powers in Product Design – Refill 2025

The “7 Powers” framework from The Foundation of Business Strategy by Hamilton Helmer provides a unique lens for creating long-term competitive advantage. While widely used in business strategy, its potential in product design remains underexplored. This talk examines how the 7 Powers—Scale Economies, Network Economies, Counter-Positioning, Switching Costs, Branding, Cornered Resources, and Process Power—can guide early-stage design decisions. By aligning business strategy with design thinking, teams can prioritize opportunities, optimize resources, and deliver impactful user experiences. Through practical examples, attendees will learn how to apply this framework to evaluate ideas for their strategic defensibility and enhance collaboration between design and strategy. Whether you’re a designer or strategist, this session offers a fresh perspective on integrating competitive advantage into your design process. This talk was held at Refill 2025 in Stockholm.