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- The Riches are in the Niches.
Lesson: Markets reward clarity. Solve for a need, not a trend.
When I first started building Jivati, the Indian beverage category felt wide open. Ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails were booming. Wellness was trending. And I figured the blend of Ayurveda, Asian flavors, and a clean-label spirit would cut through on its own. But once I started studying other brands' pitch decks, I realized I needed to understand the market I was entering deeply. Not just for positioning, but to make a credible case to investors. That’s when I came across TAM, SAM, and SOM. At first, I had no idea what those acronyms meant or how to apply them to Jivati.
But the concept is straightforward:
TAM (Total Addressable Market): What’s the size of the full global market for a given category? For me, it was the entire alcoholic beverage industry.
SAM (Serviceable Available Market): What segment of that market can my product actually serve? In my case, that meant the U.S. RTD alcohol category.
SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market): What portion of that market can a brand realistically capture, based on its strategy, pricing, distribution, and positioning? For Jivati, I modeled this based on expected retail placements, volume targets, and actual go-to-market execution.
This wasn’t a theory anymore. I built a bottom-up model, not a top-down guess. That means instead of using vague market size percentages, I used real numbers: price per unit, target retail placements, and expected volume by channel. It’s grounded in reality, based on how my brand would actually grow. That changed everything. It gave me, and potential investors, confidence that this was a real business, built with intent. The numbers told a story. One I could credibly defend. But many founders stall right after mapping the market. And that’s exactly where smart investors lean in, they won’t just ask how big the opportunity is, they’ll press: how much of it can you actually win, and why you? Early on, one VC told me my SOM was too ambitious. It stung. But instead of defending it emotionally, I went back, did the work, and rebuilt my model with cleaner logic and current benchmarks. I haven’t had that issue since. It helped me stay focused and avoid the red ocean, where brands blur together, follow the same playbook, and fight to be the loudest. I realized I had a blue ocean opportunity: an emerging space with little direct competition, where culture, authenticity, and storytelling gave me a competitive advantage. The win wasn’t in chasing trends; it was in owning a category that hadn’t been claimed yet.
That mindset shift paid off. I got validation at BevNET, where Jivati was named one of the Top 10 most innovative beverages. And even John Fieldly, CEO of Celsius, told me to keep pushing on the Indian angle. He got it. Even my close friends Dean and Deiya Pernas, who have been more than just early investors, they’ve been actively supportive and reminded me early on to stay focused on this overlooked market. They run Pernas Research, a long-term investment firm focused on concentrated, conviction-driven public equity plays. I trust their feedback because they’ve built and defended their strategy, not hyped it. Since 2017, their portfolio has returned around 28% annually, compared to the S&P 500’s 14–15% Buyside Digest, that’s not luck, it’s consistency, rigor, and smarts. They’ve had my back since day one, and their advice always cuts through.
Closing Thought.
Big markets are built by the brands that dominate the small ones. Don’t chase mass attention, earn it. Get insanely clear on who you’re for, prove you can win there, and let the results speak loud. That’s how you grow with leverage, not noise.
Stick around. I’m just warming up.
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