SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market)

What you can realistically win in the next few years with your actual resources.

Example

300 firms in two cities where you have distribution.

Important

SOM is the only one that affects your plan this year. Investors look hardest at how you got to this number.

Related terms

  • TAM (Total Addressable Market) — The total annual revenue available if you had 100% of a market with no competition.
  • SAM (Serviceable Addressable Market) — The portion of TAM you could actually serve given your product, geography and business model.
  • Market sizing — Estimating market size, ideally bottom-up from real units and prices rather than top-down from an industry report.

Lessons that explain it

  • Market size — TAM, SAM and SOM — How to size a market bottom-up so the number means something, instead of the '1% of a $50B market' slide everyone has seen. (12 min)

All 176 terms in the Founder glossary