The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you

You can talk anywhere and save yourself the formal meetings until you have something concrete to show.

they buy (but if you’re trying to understand why they prefer one over the other, you’ll have to talk to them).

A time commitment could include:

Rule of thumb: If 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.

Them: “Not really ever.” Well, looks like we’re done here then! You: “What would you say is your biggest problem with going to the gym?” This is where the conversation goes horribly wrong. Instead of figuring out whether staying fit is actually a real problem, we’re prematurely zooming in on it. Any response we get is going to be dangerously mislea

While using generics, people describe themselves as who they want to be, not who they actually are. You need to get specific to bring out the edge cases.

By taking an interest in the problems and minutia of their day, you’re already more interesting than 99% of the people they’ve ever met.

“So, first off, thanks for agreeing to this interview. I just have a few questions for you and then I’ll let you get back to your day…” “On a scale of 1 to 5, how much would you say you…”

The structure of separate problem/solution/sales conversations is critical for avoiding bias, but it’s important to realise that the first one doesn’t actually need to be a meeting. It works better as a chat.