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The Mom Test

Getting useful and unbiased feedbacks is critical to the success of any project. However, it is tricky to have it done right. This book unveils several common mistakes that people make, especially for people with a founder mindset, i.e. easily fall into the pitching mode, instead of the learning mode. Then, the author gives out several approaches to fix those mistakes and setup successful conversations. In the author's words, "Customer conversations are bad by default. It's your job to fix them."

A question passes The Mom Test if it:

  1. Talk about their life instead of your idea
  2. Ask about specifics in the past instead of generics or opinions about the future
  3. Talk less and listen more

Key Takeaways

  1. Talk about their life, avoid mentioning your idea at best
  2. Ask for specifics in the past, not generics in the future
  3. Keep the engagement casual, formal meeting only when have to
  4. Learnings must be shared across the entire founding team

Action Items

Before a batch of conversations

  1. Identify a focused and findable segment
  2. Identify the learning goals and expected outcome
  3. Pre-plan the 3 big(key) questions
  4. Identify candidates & create a series of best guesses

During the conversation

  1. Frame the conversation
  2. Keep it casual, don't pitch!
  3. Ask questions that pass the mom test
  4. Deflect compliments, Anchor fluff and Dig beneath signals
  5. If relevant, press for commitment & advancement

After a batch of conversations

  1. Review notes and share the learning
  2. Look for consistent & repeated patterns (refine the segment if needed)
  3. Decide on the next 3 big(key) questions

Ask high quality questions

Especially in the early stage, talking to customer is not about selling the idea, instead it's about learning the problem. Therefore, conversation questions should be designed to help discovering the facts of the problem, i.e. user's life and view of the world (problem).

A good question usually asks about specifics in a user's past life, for examples:

  1. What was the last time XXX happened?
  2. Have you ever tried XXX and what do you think about it?
  3. Can you talk me through XXX?

Some other good questions are designed to unveil user's motivation:

  1. Why do you want this feature?
  2. What would XXX allow you to do?
  3. How are you coping without feature XXX?

Each time ask at least 1 big question which could kill your business entirely

Most questions are for figuring out details of a problem fact. However, we also need to make sure the bigger picture is correct before zooming in. Pre-plan 3 big questions and update the list along the learning. This kind of questions is the fundamental thesis of why your solution should even exist in the first place.

Bad Question Examples:

  1. Do you think it is a good idea?
  2. Would you buy a product which does XXX?
  3. How much would you pay for XXX?

Find & setup conversations

How to ask for meetings or help

A good email format: Vision/Framing/Weakness/Pedestal/Ask

  1. I am an entrepreneur trying to solve problem X, usher in vision Y, or fix stagnant industry Z (don't mention the idea)
  2. Frame expectations by mentioning what stage currently at
  3. Show weakness by mentioning the specific problem that looking for answers on
  4. Put them on a pedestal by showing how much they, in particular, can help
  5. Explicitly ask for help

Going to Them

  1. Cold calls, being ignored doesn't matter
  2. Find a good excuse for formal meetings
  3. If it's casual, just ask their lives
  4. Landing pages to collect emails

Bringing Them to You

  1. Organize meetups
  2. Speaking & teaching
  3. Industry blogging

A Few Tips

  1. reaching out mindset: find a potential advisor instead of a customer to sell to
  2. write down exact quotes when possible
  3. keep having conversations until stop learning new stuffs