Total Addressable Market (TAM)

What is Total Addressable Market (TAM)

TAM, or Total Addressable Market, refers to the total potential market demand for a specific product or service. It represents the maximum achievable revenue opportunity for a business operating in a particular industry or market segment.

What is your total addressable market (TAM)?

Estimating TAM is not an exact science and involves some level of approximation. It's also important to reassess TAM as conditions change, economically, technologically etc. Here are some practical steps to establishing your TAM

• Define your offering: Clearly outline what your business offers and the problem it solves. This will help you understand your target audience 
• Identify your target customer: Determine who your ideal customer is by considering specific needs or pain points. 
• Determine the market size: Consider the total number of your target customers or companies that could benefit from your product or service.
• Assess market segmentation: Break down your target market into smaller subsets to help understand a more realistic picture of selling potential
• Research industry reports and data: Strive to get insights into the overall market size and growth trends
• Compare against competitors: Evaluate your competitors' customer base, market share, and revenue figures if available. This information can give you an idea of the potential market size and opportunities.

Is market size and TAM the same?

Nope. IMarket size represents the current state of the market in terms of revenue or sales, while TAM represents the absolute upper limit of the market. TAM is often used as a reference point for companies to understand the size of a market, and it helps them gauge the amount of growth potential and market share opportunities.

What is TAM and SAM?

TAM: Total Addressable Market while SAM: Serviceable Available Market. TAM and SAM are both terms commonly used  to analyze the potential market size and opportunities and an investor may ask about both.  In short, Serviceable Available Market (SAM) is a subset of the TAM that represents the portion of the market that a company can realistically target. SAM takes into account limiting factors like geography, demographics etc. and is  a more practical estimate of the market opportunity and best segment to target.

How is TAM SAM and SOM calculated?

It's important to note that calculating TAM, SAM, and SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market) involves making assumptions and estimates based on available data and market research. The accuracy of these calculations depends on the quality of the data and the methodology used.

• TAM: TAM = Total Potential Customers * Average Selling Price
• SAM = Total Potential Customers * Percentage of Customers Your Business Can Realistically Serve
• SOM = SAM * Percentage of SAM Your Business Can Capture