The Mom Test: how to talk to customers and learn if your business is a good idea when everybody is lying to you

The questions to ask are about your customers’ lives: their problems, cares, constraints, and goals.

That’s kind of weird, right? We find out if people care about what we’re doing by never mentioning it. Instead, we talk about them and their lives.

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

Results of a good meeting:

Facts — concrete, specific facts about what they do and why they do it (as opposed to the bad data of compliments, fluff, and opinions)
Commitment — They are showing they’re serious by giving up something they value such as meaningful amounts of time, reputational risk, or money.
Advancement — They are moving to the next step of your real-world funnel and getting closer to a sale.

Asking for and framing the meeting:

Vision — half-sentence version of how you’re making the world better
Framing — where you’re at and what you’re looking for
Weakness — show how you can be helped
Pedestal — show that they, in particular, can provide that help
Ask — ask for help

The big prep question:

“What do we want to learn from these guys?”

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

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

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

Signs you’re just going through the motions:

You’re talking more than they are
They are complimenting you or your idea
You told them about your idea and don’t know what’s happening next
You don’t have notes
You haven’t looked through your notes with your team
You got an unexpected answer and it didn’t change your idea
You weren’t scared of any of the questions you asked
You aren’t sure which big question you’re trying to answer by doing this