Course

YC Startup Library: Market Size collection

Y Combinator Free Beginner

This is YC's curated shelf of talks and essays filtered to market size, so you get partner-level guidance in one place instead of hunting across YouTube. It is a good next stop after the single Kevin Hale video when you want more angles from founders and group partners. Everything here is free and vetted by the people who fund thousands of startups.

  • Curated market-size material from YC partners in one filtered view
  • Mixes short essays and talks, so you can pick your format
  • A reliable primary source rather than second-hand summaries
Open on ycombinator.com ↗

The question it answers

  1. What are TAM, SAM, and SOM and how do I actually calculate them?

Read with it

  1. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick
  2. A clear, no-nonsense primer on the three market-size numbers every founder gets asked about, with the bottom-up method that... carta.com Article · ~12 min read Market Size: What is TAM, SAM, & SOM? Carta
  3. Most market sizing advice online is generic TAM SAM SOM filler. This one is written by an investor, backed by a survey of 30... Pear VC Essay · ~15 min read Market Sizing Guide Ian Taylor
  4. When there is no category report to point at, you have to build the number yourself, and this is the essay that teaches you... Andreessen Horowitz Essay · ~20 min read 16 More Startup Metrics Anu Hariharan, Frank Chen, Jeff Jordan
  5. A concrete, copyable Google Sheet (no paywall, no credit card) that builds your number bottoms-up from customer segments and... Visible.vc Template · ~15 min to fill in Total Addressable Market Template (free Google Sheet) Mike Preuss
  6. This lays out both the top-down (start from a big industry number) and bottom-up (build up from your own price times likely... HubSpot Blog Article · ~12 min read TAM, SAM & SOM: What Do They Mean & How Do You Calculate Them? Clifford Chi
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