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 HillValidation
Every Draper article on Validation.
Tom Hill
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.
Tom Hill
Is it safe to share my startup idea with people?
Yes — and you should. Idea theft is rare, being first is not decisive, and secrecy kills more startups than copying ever has.
Dexter Todd
Should I start a business at all?
The case for starting something of your own comes down to ownership. Here is how to test whether it is your move, without betting anything first.
Ben Abbatangelo
Is my business idea actually worth building?
Two signs tell you an idea has legs: you can't let it go, and it keeps following you. Live market data tells you the rest.
Ben Abbatangelo
Why idea validation matters
Not everything that feels like validation is validation. What counts, what does not, and how much evidence is enough to start building.
Dexter ToddHow do you get your first customers with no budget?
With no budget, validate the idea first, then write by hand to the people already posting about the problem. Free acquisition costs time, not cash.
Dexter Todd
Validation questions to ask customers: examples
The 12 validation questions to ask customers, with examples of what a good answer sounds like — and the one question that ruins an interview.
Ben Abbatangelo
How much does it cost to validate a business idea in 2026?
Validating a business idea costs between nothing and about $500 in 2026. Here is what each budget buys, and the order to spend it in.
Dexter Todd
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.
Tom HillHow to validate a business idea before you quit your job
Test the idea on real customers while your salary still covers the rent. Hybrid founders who go full-time later fail less often than founders who quit first.
Ben Abbatangelo
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.
Tom Hill
Can you trademark a business idea?
No. A trademark covers a name or a logo, not the idea. Validate the idea first, then protect the name once it is worth something.
Dexter Todd
Idea validation tools: what actually works
Most idea validators are a chatbot with a scoring screen. Here is what each kind actually does, what none of them can know, and when a verdict is worth anything.
Dexter Todd
What if my business idea already exists?
Finding competitors is the good result — it proves people pay for this. What you need is an angle, and it lives in the gap between what everyone competes on and what customers complain about.
Dexter Todd
I want to start a business but have no ideas
You want to start a business but have no ideas yet. You need three constraints and an evening — here is how to get to four candidates you can test.
Dexter ToddHow 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.
Tom Hill
What kind of website do I need to test a business idea?
One page, one promise, a price and an email field. Build it in a day — the longer you spend on the page, the less able you are to hear the answer it gives you.
Dexter Todd
How do solo founders find their first 100 customers in 2026?
A seven-step process: list the rooms your customers already gather in, rate your standing in each, and work through them in that order — then buy traffic to go faster once you know what to say.
Dexter Todd
How do I know if my target market is actually real?
A market is real when the people in it already gather somewhere, describe the problem unprompted, and share words for it. Here is how to check, in an afternoon, for nothing.
Dexter Todd
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.
Tom Hill