Business Strategy
TAM (Total Addressable Market)
The total market demand for a product or service—the maximum revenue opportunity if 100% market share were achieved. Often calculated alongside SAM (Serviceable Addressable Market) and SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market).
Biological Context
TAM parallels the total resource base in an ecosystem—the maximum carrying capacity if all resources were captured by one species. Like ecosystem resources, TAM represents theoretical maximum, not achievable reality. Understanding TAM helps assess opportunity scale.
Business Application
TAM sizes investment appropriateness: small TAM limits ultimate scale regardless of execution. SAM (which you could serve) and SOM (which you can realistically capture) provide more actionable estimates.