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The market size slide TAM, SAM, SOM — and why yours is not believed..
The market slide is the most-skipped slide in most decks, because most versions are arithmetic dressed as research. A bottom-up number that is smaller and defensible beats a large one nobody believes.
Investment
Three ways to raise.
Fixed price, fixed scope. Pick the tier that matches your raise — from a single deal deck to a full capital-raise kit.
Essential
A sharp investor deck at the length most decks should be — you bring the content, we design it.
5–7 business days
- 12–15 designed slides
- Core investor structure (problem → ask)
- Your brand applied throughout
- Custom charts (market, traction)
- 1 revision round
- Editable PowerPoint source files
Standard
The full raise: we shape the narrative from your inputs at the length investors actually read.
Priority · 4–5 business days
- 15–20 designed slides
- We build the narrative from your inputs
- Full custom chart set
- Matching 1-page investor teaser
- 2 revision rounds
- Editable PowerPoint + source
Complete
A comprehensive deck for detailed raises and sales — full appendix, plus a condensed sales version.
Rush available
- 25–40 slides — deck + appendix
- Custom graphics & data-room slides
- Condensed sales version of the deck
- 3 revision rounds, white-glove
- 30-minute strategy call
- All source files
N° 01What goes wrong
The billion-dollar reflex.
01
Top-down multiplication
Population times price equals TAM. Every investor has seen this and discounts it entirely. If your market is ‘everyone who drinks coffee’, you have not defined a market.
02
Analyst reports as proof
A published figure for a category adjacent to yours proves the category is large, not that you can sell into it. Cite it if you like, but do not let it carry the slide.
03
Three circles with no method
TAM, SAM and SOM drawn as nested circles with numbers and no explanation of how any of the three were derived. The shape implies rigour the numbers do not have.
N° 02What works
Bottom-up, from a number you can defend.
01
Count the buyers, then multiply by price
Number of companies matching your ideal customer profile, times realistic annual contract value. Smaller, and defensible line by line — which is the point.
02
Show your assumptions on the slide
Buyer count, price, penetration. An investor who disagrees with an assumption can adjust it; one who cannot see your assumptions simply distrusts the total.
03
Make SOM a plan, not a fraction
SOM is not TAM times one percent. It is the segment you can reach with the team and channels you are raising for. Tie it to the go-to-market you just described.
Questions
The answers we give most often.
- What are TAM, SAM and SOM?
- Total addressable market (everyone who could buy), serviceable addressable market (those your product and geography can serve), and serviceable obtainable market (what you can realistically win).
- Top-down or bottom-up?
- Bottom-up. Count buyers, multiply by price. Top-down numbers are discounted on sight.
- How big does the market need to be?
- Venture investors want a credible path to a large outcome — but a defensible smaller number beats an inflated large one.
- Can I cite analyst reports?
- As supporting context, not as the argument. The report describes a category; your slide must describe your buyers.
- Should I show all three circles?
- Only if each has a method behind it. Two well-derived numbers beat three decorative ones.
- Where does the market slide go?
- After problem and solution. Sizing a market before anyone knows what you sell wastes the slide.
Next step
Want the whole deck to hold together?
One strong slide rarely rescues a deck. We design the argument end to end.