What is TAM? TAM, SAM and SOM explained
TAM is everyone who could buy, SAM is the slice you can reach, SOM is what you can win this year. Definitions, a worked example, and how to calculate each.
Tom Hill
Growth Lead at Draper
Growth Lead at Draper. Background at the intersection of finance and technology, and lover of tinkering with products based on data.
10 articles
How to start a business with no money
Start a business with no money by selling something that costs time, not cash. What to sell first, what the first $100 buys, and what free actually costs.
Where to find a manufacturer for a physical product
Most suppliers on the big sourcing marketplaces are middlemen, not factories, whatever the listing says. Here is how to tell the difference, and why the first quote is never the price.
How do I name my business?
Name your business last, not first. Once the customer, the promise and the tone are settled, the name is the easy part — and the easiest to rush.
Draper's free tools are live
Three free tools are live: one for coming up with a business idea, one for sizing your market, and one for working out when your income could cover your bills.
What are the best free ways to validate a business idea?
Seven methods that cost nothing but time, ranked by the strength of the evidence each one produces. Asking friends is on the list, at the bottom, and it is not validation.
The best AI tools to start a business in 2026
Ranked on coverage: how much of the path from idea to first paying customer each tool handles on its own, and where the narrow ones still beat the broad ones.
How do I design a brand for a new business idea?
You don't invent a brand, you assemble one from references — and the useful ones come from what your customer already loves elsewhere.
How do I run ads to test a business idea?
An ad test asks three questions in a row: can you reach your market, do they respond to your description, and will they give you an email. It answers no far better than yes.
Is my idea worth building? How to test demand
Most ideas fail on a promise nobody wants, not on the product. This is the cheapest way to find that out before you build — and what one week of evidence can and cannot tell you.