VC case study question!!

Hi Everyone! I'm currently working on a VC case study where I have to come up with an investment memo for a SaaS company. The team sent over a bunch of data / info on the company, and one of the steps includes a TAM calculation. In the company overview deck, they included a SOM Calculation, that had the number of addressable firms and the annual contract value. The table then showed the SOM calculation which was taking a % of that TAM (so it showed like 5% capture, 10%, 15% capture etc.). My question is - can I use those numbers for my calculation? The # of addressable firms and the annual contract value? Or should I go out and come up with my own? I know this might be a dumb question but I'm very much not sure. Also, using those numbers gives a relatively low TAM of ~$700M. Thanks in advance everyone!!!

13 Comments
 

You could, you can either take their TAM/SAM/SOM etc or you take the annual contract value multiplied by number of businesses or if its B2C take the yearly cost and users in their market. 

Either way a good rule of thumb is if its below $1bn probably not an exciting market to invest in, your also going to want to highlight other players if its Neobank for example if the company your looking at has maybe 1% of the market based on your TAM value you want to look at the other players such as  Revolut, Starling Bank etc and you want to compare what the market share of the opportunity is versus those huge players. 

All their looking for is whether your able to look at a market and make a recommendation based on all available data. it should be a go no go on a few things but you should mention the initial market they are in, how likely expansion is such as if its a french company trying to expand into Germany you can mention historically companies have struggled. 

hope this helps 

 

Et aut eveniet odit ipsa consectetur. Libero accusantium cumque harum. Sit modi harum ad cumque temporibus. Quae necessitatibus et id enim.

Soluta et totam est provident animi voluptas quas. Et temporibus cum itaque necessitatibus dolore maxime tempore. Illum voluptatem nemo et sit placeat. Nihil et doloremque dolorum corporis et at qui. Maxime quis modi consectetur exercitationem non veniam quisquam. Odit temporibus labore voluptas quas. Qui minima nobis est qui facere est.

Vel atque consequatur consequuntur qui culpa voluptas nesciunt. Voluptatem tempore eos perferendis cumque ut dolorem aliquam. Vel minus vitae nulla ullam soluta ipsam. Esse aspernatur quidem veniam commodi.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan No 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (15) $434
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (79) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”