Why Market Numbers Just Aren’t Enough for Your Investor Pitch

Size Isn’t Everything…

One of the biggest challenges I see startups struggling with on their pitch deck is what should they say about their market? Where to find the stats? What is their addressable Market?

If you’re not a marketing expert and you’re doing it yourself, this can be daunting. And numbers are only part of the story… While I’m not a marketing expert — I merely tell the story of the market — I’ve written several jillion pitch decks, so here are a few tips for what should be there and how to find it:

1. Sizing it up — It’s important to know your market size (potential customers) and value (what is the total spend per year?) inside and out. Familiarize yourself with 3 terms — TAM = Your Total Available or Addressable Market (everyone in the world who could potentially use your product), SAM = Your Segmented Addressable Market or Served Available Market (Your target market within the TAM), SOM = Your Share of the Market (what chunk of the SAM you will realistically reach within a few years). To get an investment, these numbers must be pretty big so even if you capture a very modest share, you still are giving them a large ROI.
2. Who’s Your Market? — How do you know your TAM/SAM/SOM? Here’s an example: One of my clients is in the travel deals industry. So their TAM is all travelers — let’s say we take…