SAM is the portion of TAM you can actually reach with your current GTM motion. If your TAM is global but you only sell in English to North American companies, your SAM is much smaller. SAM is what your next 3 years of growth should be pointed at — it's the realistic market given your current distribution, team size, and product scope.
For example, if your TAM is all SaaS companies globally but you only target Series A–C SaaS companies in North America with 20–200 employees, your SAM might be 8,000 companies.
We use SAM analysis to prioritize outbound lists and paid targeting — avoiding the spray-and-pray mistake of going after the full TAM at once.
Related Terms
Relevant Cactus Services
We implement Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) strategies for B2B tech startups every day. Book a free 30-minute call to get a concrete plan for your situation.
Book a free strategy call →Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
Your ICP is the precise description of the company most likely to buy, stay, and expand.
Sales Development Representative (SDR)
An SDR is the outbound hunter on your sales team — their job is to generate qualified meetings, not close deals.
Business Development Representative (BDR)
A BDR is similar to an SDR but often focuses on larger, more strategic accounts or outbound into new markets rather than a defined territory.
Total Addressable Market (TAM)
TAM is the total revenue opportunity if you captured 100% of your target market.
Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM)
SOM is the slice of SAM you can realistically capture in the next 12–24 months given your resources, competition, and execution capacity.
Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)
An MQL is a lead that marketing has flagged as sales-ready based on behavior or firmographic fit.