tam-builder

TAM Builder

Build and maintain a scored Total Addressable Market. Uses Apollo Company Search to discover companies, scores ICP fit (0-100), assigns tiers (1/2/3), and auto-builds a persona watchlist for Tier 1-2 companies using Apollo People Search (free).

Three modes:

• build — First-time TAM construction from Apollo search
• refresh — Update existing TAM: re-score, detect tier changes, deprecate stale companies
• status — Read-only report of current TAM state

Prerequisites

Apollo API Key

Add to .env:

APOLLO_API_KEY=your-api-key-here

That's it — one env var.

Config Format

Create a JSON config per client/segment:

{
  "client_name": "happy-robot",
  "tam_config_name": "voice-ai-midmarket",

  "company_filters": {
    "organization_num_employees_ranges": ["51,200", "201,500", "501,1000"],
    "q_organization_keyword_tags": ["call center", "contact center"],
    "organization_locations": ["United States"]
  },

  "scoring": {
    "weights": {
      "employee_count_fit": 30,
      "industry_fit": 25,
      "funding_stage_fit": 20,
      "geo_fit": 15,
      "keyword_match": 10
    },
    "tier_thresholds": { "tier_1_min_score": 75, "tier_2_min_score": 50 },
    "target_industries": ["Telecommunications", "Customer Service"],
    "target_employee_ranges": [[51, 200], [201, 500], [501, 1000]],
    "target_funding_stages": ["Series A", "Series B", "Series C"],
    "target_geos": ["United States"]
  },

  "watchlist": {
    "enabled": true,
    "personas_per_company": 3,
    "person_filters": {
      "person_titles": ["VP of Operations", "Head of Customer Service"],
      "person_seniority": ["vp", "director", "c_suite"]
    },
    "tiers_to_watch": [1, 2]
  },

  "mode": "standard",
  "max_pages": 50
}

Approval Gate

CRITICAL: Never export results without explicit user approval.

Required flow:

1. Search Apollo for a small sample first (~100 companies)
2. Score them and present: tier distribution, example Tier 1/2 companies, scoring sanity check
3. Get explicit user approval before running the full build
4. Only then run the full search + score + export

Pipeline: Build Mode

Step 0: --preview → total count + cost estimate (no DB writes)
Step 1: --sample --test → search 1 page, score in-memory, show results (no DB writes)
Step 2: User reviews sample → approves, adjusts filters, or caps scope
Step 3: Full build → Apollo Company Search → Export to CSV → Score → Tier → Watchlist

Phase details (Step 3 only — after user approval):

Phase 1: Apollo Company Search → Upsert raw companies → Score ICP fit → Assign tiers
Phase 2: (skipped in build mode — no prior data to deprecate)
Phase 3: Persona Watchlist — pull 2-3 personas per Tier 1-2 company (free)

Pipeline: Refresh Mode

Phase 1: Apollo Company Search → Upsert/update companies → Re-score → Detect tier changes
Phase 2: Deprecation — companies missing 2+ consecutive refreshes get deprecated
Phase 3: Persona Watchlist — pull personas for new/promoted Tier 1-2 companies,
         disqualify personas at deprecated companies

ICP Scoring (0-100)

Pure function, no API calls. Weighted scoring across 5 dimensions from config:

• employee_count_fit — headcount in target ranges?
• industry_fit — industry matches targets?
• funding_stage_fit — funding stage in targets?
• geo_fit — HQ location in target geos?
• keyword_match — org keywords overlap config keywords?

Score thresholds (configurable): >=75 = Tier 1, >=50 = Tier 2, else Tier 3.

Deprecation Rules (refresh only)

• First miss (not returned by search): metadata.refresh_miss_count = 1, keep active
• Second consecutive miss: tam_status = 'deprecated'
• Employee count drops to 0: immediate deprecation
• Companies with tam_status = 'converted' are always exempt

Watchlist — Persona Sync

Scenario	Behavior
New Tier 1-2 company	Pull 2-3 personas immediately
Company promoted Tier 3→2	Pull personas during refresh
Company deprecated	Disqualify monitoring personas
Company demoted Tier 1→3	Keep existing personas, stop refreshing

Mode Caps

Parameter	Test	Standard	Full
Max pages	1	50	200
Max companies	100	5,000	20,000

Apollo API Reference

• Company Search: POST https://api.apollo.io/api/v1/mixed_companies/search — Returns matching companies in the accounts array (not organizations). Fields: name, primary_domain, estimated_num_employees, industry, keywords, city, state, country.
• People Search: POST https://api.apollo.io/api/v1/mixed_people/search — $0.01 flat per call (cheapest people search). Returns matching people in the people array. Fields: first_name, title, organization.name. Email/LinkedIn obfuscated on free tier.
• People Match (enrich): POST https://api.apollo.io/api/v1/people/match — ~$0.03 per match. Reveals email, phone, LinkedIn URL, full name.
• Auth: x-api-key: {APOLLO_API_KEY} header on all requests
• Pagination: per_page (max 100), page (1-indexed). pagination.total_entries gives total count.

Output

Save results as CSV to the current working directory:

• tam-companies-{date}.csv — All discovered companies with ICP score and tier
• tam-personas-{date}.csv — Persona watchlist for Tier 1-2 companies (from People Search)