The Mom Test: A Guide to Useful Customer Development Conversations
1. • Rob Fitzpatrick is a tech entrepreneur, author,
and partner at FounderCentric,
• He has built products used globally by brands
like MTV & Sony.
• He has raised funding in the US and UK and
recently crowd funded a card game
The Mom Test
A practical Guide to Useful Consumer Development
Conversations
2. ‘How can you learn from your customers and learn if your
business is a good idea…..
when everyone is lying to you.
3. Talk about their
life instead of
your ideas
Talk less and
listen more
Ask about
specifics in the
past not
generics in the
future
problems problems
problems
Mom
Test
4. ‘you should be terrified of at
least one of the questions you
prepare to ask per interview’.
5. Do you think this
is a good idea?
Would you buy a
product that solved
this problem?
How much would
you pay for this?
How do you
currently deal with
this problem
Talk me through
the last time you
had this problem
How much money
does this problem
cost you
6. Collect Real Customer Commitments
Time, money or referral
Compliment? Promise? Opinions?
8. Mom Test Top Tips
1. Keep it Casual
2. Collect Real customer commitments
3. Build Early
Editor's Notes
You shouldn’t ask anyone if your business is a good idea, It’s a bad question and everyone will lie to you ar least a little. It’s not their responsibility to tell you the truth – It is your responsibility to find it.
Talk about their life instead of your ideas
Don’t pitch – if you slip out a pitch apologise.
Talk money - ‘how much does your current solution cost you?’
Questions to dig into customer feature requests
Talk less and listen more
You cannot build a business on a luke warm response
Don’t try scare tactics
Talk about your customer, their life, their ideas.
Ask about specifics in the past instead of generics in the future
Everyone has a problem – but do they care enough about the problem to fix it:
Don’t focus on the problem too early – you are validating a hypothetical problem
To have a useful conversation it is necessary to zoom out to the big picture and then pin point the problem
There are customers and then there are complainers.
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