The Mom Test

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

Avoiding bad data

Can anchor fluff to a real experience in the past
Reject the generic claim, and anchor them towards the actions they already taking

Write all asked idea and feature down, but focus on the scalable ones
Dig into why they wish to add this feature
- "Why do you want this feature"
- "What would that let you do"
- "How are you coping without it"

keep the conversation focused on the other person, ask about specific, concrete cases and examples
Keep your idea and ego out of the conversation

Look whether the person is interested or not before zooming into the question
If you got heavy product risk (as opposed to market risk), unable to prove as much of the business during customer conversations
Always need a list of your 3 big questions

Learning about a customer and their problems works better as a quick and casual chat than a long, formal meeting
If it feels like they’re doing you a favour by talking to you, it’s probably too formal.
Give as little information as possible about your idea while still nudging the discussion in a useful direction.

“Customers” who keep being friendly but aren’t ever going to buy are a particularly dangerous source of mixed signals.”
“ If you don’t know what happens next after a product or sales meeting, the meeting was pointless.”
“The more they’re giving up, the more seriously you can take their kind words.”
“It’s not a real lead until you’ve given them a concrete chance to reject you.”
In early stage sales, the real goal is learning. Revenue is just a side-effect.
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A time commitment could include:

Reputation risk commitments might be:

Financial commitments are easier to imagine and include:

“ If it’s not a formal meeting, you don’t need to make excuses about why you’re there or even mention that you’re starting a business. Just have a good conversation.”
“f it’s a topic you both care about, find an excuse to talk about it. Your idea never needs to enter the equation and you’ll both enjoy the chat.”
- Student doing research around ...
Landing pages

Organise meetups
Teaching and speaking, “You'll find chances at conferences, workshops, through online videos, blogging, or doing free consulting or office hours.”
Be creative

You're an entrepreneur trying to solve horrible problem X, usher in wonderful vision Y, or fix stagnant industry Z. Don't mention your idea.
Frame expectations by mentioning what stage you're at and, if it's true, that you don't have anything to sell.
Show weakness and give them a chance to help by mentioning your specific problem that you're looking for answers on. This will also clarify that you're not a time waster.
Put them on a pedestal by showing how much they, in particular, can help.
Ask for help.

Rather in the mindset of looking for customers, rather look for advisors, evaluate them, see how they can contribute to the idea
“Rule of thumb: Keep having conversations until you stop hearing new stuff.”

Make sure your customers is well segmented, such as computer science student rather than just students
“If you aren’t finding consistent problems and goals, you don’t yet have a specific enough customer segment.”

“Within this group, which type of this person would want it most?
Would everyone within this group buy/use it, or only some of them?
Why do they want it? (e.g. What is their problem or goal)
Does everyone in the group have that motivation or only some of them?
What additional motivations are there?
Which other types of people have these motivations?”
“What are these people already doing to achieve their goal or survive their problem?
Where can we find our demographic groups?
Where can we find people doing the above workaround behaviours?”
“Good customer segments are a who-where pair. If you don’t know where to go to find your customers, keep slicing your segment into smaller pieces until you do.”
“You want to talk to people who are representative of your customers, not ones who sound impressive on your status report.”

Prepping
- Keep the most important questions in mind
- “If this company were to fail, why would it have happened?
- What would have to be true for this to be a huge success?”
- “What do we want to learn from these guys?”
- “If you don’t know what you’re trying to learn, you shouldn’t bother having the conversation.”
Reviewing
- update your beliefs and 3 big question as appropriate
Where to write it down
- “Able to be sorted, mixed, and re-arranged
- Able to be combined with the notes of the rest of your team
- Permanent and retrievable
- Not mixed in with other random noise like todo lists and ideas

The process before a batch of conversations:
- “If you haven’t yet, choose a focused, findable segment
- With your team, decide your big 3 learning goals
- If relevant, decide on ideal next steps and commitments
- If conversations are the right tool, figure out who to talk to
- Create a series of best guesses about what the person cares about
- If a question could be answered via desk research, do that first”
During the conversation:
- Frame the conversation
- Keep it casual
- Ask good questions which pass The Mom Test
- Deflect compliments, anchor fluff, and dig beneath signals
- Take good notes
- If relevant, press for commitment and next steps
After a batch of conversations:
- With your team, review your notes and key customer quotes
- If relevant, transfer notes into permanent storage
- Update your beliefs and plans
- Decide on the next 3 big questions”