While at TechCrunch’s 2025 All Stage event in Boston, Jahanvi Sardana from Index Ventures, set the record straight with first-time, early-stage founders. She encouraged them to expand their views outside conventional measures such as Total Addressable Market (TAM). Sardana cautioned entrepreneurs not to put too much faith in industry reports. He noted that this type of reliance can misdirect them as they aim to differentiate their enterprises in a crowded marketplace.
At one point during the discussion, an audience member asked what sort of things would make a company attractive to investors such as Sardana. In turn, she raised the awareness of the need for founders to deeply understand the nuances and complexities of market dynamics. Sardana dubbed the invisible market “the worst whammy.” He called it “a little bit of a dark art” and cautioned attendees to beware of its power.
Sardana made a big push for founders to catch some of these big waves of innovation. That means welcoming disruption from the new internet, mobile revolution, cloud computing and AI. She really put the audience to the test with some serious questions about their strategic direction and the development of their products.
“Have you shaped the right product to ride this wave?” – Jahanvi Sardana
Sardana compared TAM to surfing and challenged founders to think about which waves they were able to surf. She categorized TAM into three distinct buckets: known market, emerging market, and invisible market. The familiar market is the defined market of current industries, in which an entrepreneur hopes to innovate faster than legacy competitors.
To illustrate her point, Sardana pointed to the case of non-alcoholic beer before its recent boom in popularity. She made the point that many times you don’t know what you want until you see a product start to show what it could be.
“Think about smartphones in 2006; nobody knew they wanted them and they changed the world,” – Jahanvi Sardana
As Sardana noted, it’s often up to innovators to demonstrate opportunities that buyers can’t yet picture. She stressed the significance of innovation over mere replication, pushing founders to articulate why their product—like a better toothbrush—offers clear advantages.
“You have to tell me why you’re building a better toothbrush,” – Jahanvi Sardana
We talked about truly transformative companies such as Airbnb. What once was a quirky platform has become an emergent inventory stream that eclipses even some of the largest hotel conglomerates. This change has deepened and transformed the travel consumer mindset, reinventing the meaning of travel and opening up incredible fires of innovation that reach far beyond current market borders.
“The reality is Airbnb created a whole new inventory, which is now bigger than some of the largest hotel brands, and that led to a big change in behavior on how people travel,” – Jahanvi Sardana
Sardana’s insights at the event, which coincided with another gathering in San Francisco from October 27-29, 2025, resonate with entrepreneurs looking to navigate the complexities of market dynamics in today’s fast-paced environment.
