Yesterday I had a conversation with an early-stage startup founder in the idea phase. Big tech aspirations, game-changing AI idea. When I asked her what the product was, she immediately dove into what the tech would do—the MCP, the architecture, the clever integration points. Not once did she talk about the customers or the problem they're experiencing.

I've seen this pattern hundreds of times. Brilliant technical founders fall in love with their solution before they've properly understood the problem. They build something technically impressive that nobody actually needs.

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The TAM trap that's killing your startup

"The market opportunity is enormous," she told me, rattling off impressive numbers about the global addressable market. And I get it. The market opportunity is huge.

And yes, investors do care about total addressable market. They're betting on your startup's success over the long run. But here's what most founders miss: TAM is for your pitch deck. SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market) is for your survival.

Think about it: You're a founder of one. Maybe a small team. You don't have the resources or capacity to execute like the big players who are further along in their journey. You can't afford to boil the ocean.

So while it's important to know your TAM to demonstrate long-term potential, you need to obsess over your SOM—the segment of the market you can realistically capture in your first 12-24 months.

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Finding your beachhead: the segment that actually matters

We spent the bulk of our conversation talking about finding her beachhead—that initial market segment where she could gain traction fastest.

Your beachhead isn't the largest opportunity. It's the segment experiencing the most painful, urgent problem that your specific approach can solve. These customers share four critical characteristics:

1. Problem Severity

How painful is the problem you solve for this specific segment? Not "kind of annoying" painful. We're talking "keeping them up at night" painful. The kind of pain that makes them actively seek solutions rather than just wishfully thinking about them.

2. Problem Urgency

How soon do they need it solved? A problem that's been nagging for years without consequence isn't urgent. But regulatory changes, competitive threats, or operational bottlenecks creating immediate business impact? That's urgent.

3. Willingness to Change

How motivated are they to adopt a new solution? The most painful, urgent problems mean nothing if customers aren't willing to change their current approach. Look for customers who've already tried alternatives and found them wanting. They're primed for change.

4. Market Opportunity

Only after assessing the first three factors should you apply the lens of market opportunity. Is this segment large enough to build a viable business? Can you reach them cost-effectively? Are they willing to pay what your solution costs to deliver?

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The Founder-of-one reality check

Here's something uncofortable most startup advisors won't tell you: Your brilliant AI technology doesn't matter if you can't find customers with urgent problems willing to pay for it.

I've watched technically superior products die in the market while inferior solutions with better market positioning thrive. Why? Because their founders understood a fundamental principle that technical founders often miss:

No one cares about your product. They care about their problem.

Your job as a founder isn't to build the most technically impressive solution. It's to find the intersection of:

• Problems painful enough that customers are actively seeking solutions
• Customers sophisticated enough to understand your approach
• Market segments accessible enough for you to reach with limited resources
• Opportunities substantial enough to build a sustainable business

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Start with the SOM, expand to the TAM

The most successful startup founders I've worked with follow this pattern:

1. Identify a beachhead segment experiencing acute pain your solution uniquely addresses
2. Dominate that initial segment until you own mindshare and have proven success patterns
3. Expand to adjacent segments using your beachhead success as validation
4. Progressively capture larger portions of your TAM as you build resources and credibility

This isn't about thinking small. It's about thinking strategically, in sequence.

By the end of our conversation, the founder started asking different questions. Not "how do we position our AI technology?" but "which specific customer segment experiences this problem most acutely?" Not "What's our TAM?" but "how do I find these segments quickly in the next six months?"

That shift in thinking—from technology-first to problem-first, from TAM to SOM—is the difference between startups that scale and those that struggle.

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So, how do you find your beachhead?

If you're a technical founder with a brilliant solution in search of a problem, ask yourself:

• Who is experiencing the most severe version of the problem I solve?
• For whom is this problem most urgent right now?
• Which segment is most willing to change their current approach?
• Can I realistically reach and serve this segment with my current resources?

Your TAM might be hundreds of millions. But your path to success starts with finding the thousands—or even hundreds—of customers who desperately need what you're building.

Stop selling your tech stack. Start solving real problems for real people who are actively looking for solutions.

The rest will follow.

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Want help identifying your beachhead market or refining your positioning? I work with technical founders to translate complex products into compelling value propositions that customers actually care about.