TAM and SAM for Tech Startups

Developing a new product is hard - especially from the perspective of a marketer like me, who doesn’t code beyond light tweaks to an HTML template or a small script on a submission form. Anyone who can turn lines of code into something that functions as a webpage or mobile app is basically a god to me.

That said, I’ve also seen those gods struggle to get a brilliant product off the ground. Sometimes, those gems never make it past the MVP stage.

That’s where marketing either works - or doesn’t.

So what does work?
A lot of things. But first and foremost (imo): diligently doing your homework.

Right now, I’m working on launching a new product called Calljmp - a secure backend for mobile apps. It’s a completely new niche for me. MBaaS is a complex space with strong competitors and a highly technical audience.

So here I am, deep in the research phase.

What we did as a team so far (connected with marketing):

TAM and SAM analysis. I highly recommend doing a thorough TAM and SAM evaluation - it can really uncover some gems for you. For example, I was surprised by the range of industries our platform can serve. Turns out MBaaS solutions - including Calljmp - are broadly horizontal, supporting mobile app development across virtually every sector.

Notably, banking and finance (BFSI) is the largest vertical using MBaaS - accounting for about 19% of the market in 2023, as banks and fintechs rely on mobile backends for secure apps and digital payments.

Other major adopters include IT/telecom, retail and ecommerce, media and entertainment, healthcare, government, and manufacturing - basically any industry building both customer-facing and internal mobile apps.

This means Calljmp’s potential customer base spans from fintech startups to retailers building shopping apps to healthcare providers with patient apps... Wild, eh?

But eventually, of course, it's for mobile app developers so they can focus on developing apps and not managing servers, databases, or auth flows.

Do you agree with our market assessment?

What were (or are) your first steps?