Book Cheat Sheet: The Mom Test

'The Mom Test' (by Rob Fitzpatrick) is a great book that changed how I asked for feedback in all parts of my life. It provides some great frameworks on how to assess business ideas or get feedback from customers. I've condensed my key take-aways below as a cheat-sheet for you.

Never ask anyone if your business is a good idea. They will lie to you most of the time. It’s not anyone else’s responsibility to show us the truth or tell us what to build. It’s our responsibility.

Dig below the surface for feedback

• Talk about their life instead of your idea.
  • Avoid mentioning your ideas outright for feedback. People will lie to you about how good they are to not hurt your feelings.
• Ask questions aimed at understanding the other person's behaviours and motivations.
  • e.g. Why, where and how did they purchase this? What do they like and not like about it?
  • Dig into emotional signals worth exploring. e.g. Why does this process make someone feel angry or irritated?
• Ask about specifics in the past instead of generic statements or opinions about the future.
  • We want to understand people's existing behaviour rather than what they 'hope' they might do in the future. We want to know what actually happens, not what usually happens.
• Talk less and listen more.

Ask good questions

Examples of common bad questions and how to improve them

• "Would you buy a product that did X?"
  • Instead ask them about how they currently solve x, how much they pay to solve it, and whether they have actually spent effort looking for solutions.
  • Even if someone complains a lot about a problem, if they haven't cared for solutions in the past then they won't now.
• "How much would you pay for X?"
  • Instead ask them how much the problem costs them and how much they pay to solve it.
• "What would your dream product do?"
  • People know what their problems are but not necessarily how to solve them.
  • You want to uncover why they want features (i.e. motivations nad paint points), rather than ask them for feature requests directly.
• "Would you buy X if there was a cheaper and better alternative available?"
  • The answer is always yes. This question doesn't tell us anything new. You don't need to rediscover people's want to find something better.

Examples of good questions

• "Why do you bother?"
• "What are the implications of that problem for you?"
• "Talk me through the last time that happened". This will provide insights on how they actually acted to solve the problem.
• "What else have you tried? Can you talk me through what you've done?"
• "Where does the money come from?". This is important in a B2B context which shows where the budget and purchasing authority lies.
• "Who else should I talk to?". End every conversation like this.
• "Is there anything else I should have asked?"

Ignore bad data

• Ignore compliments
  • Focus the conversation on the other person rather than yourself.
• Ignore fluff
  • Generic claims ("I usually", "I always", "I never")
  • Future claims ("I would", "I will")
  • Hypothetical maybes ("I might", "I could")
• Ignore ideas at face-value
  • It is a good signal if people start suggesting ideas because it means they're excited. But we should dig into the motivations behind the request ('why do you want X?').
  • We want to filter out 'must-haves' from 'nice-to-haves'.
• Do not pitch
  • Once you start talking about your idea the other person doesn't talk about their problems.

Consider if you should even continue asking questions

• Ask questions where you're afraid the answers could completely destroy your currently imagined business or idea. If they do, then it is not worth pursuing.
  • Consider all possible fail-points. e.g. if a potential customer has no budget then this is a dead end.
  • There needs to be a need and willingness to pay for it.
  • "If this company fails, what is most likely to have killed it?”, "What would have to be true for this to be a huge success?"
• Get solid evidence you're fixing a meaningful problem for the customer before zooming into questions. If someone is responding lukewarm then do not try to up your game to gain validation.
  • Instead, ask them follow-up questions to understand their apathy:
    • Is the problem not actually a big deal?
    • Are they fundamentally different from your ideal customer?
    • Are they just tired today?
  • Always thank people for helping you out and leave them to their day.

Consider your customer segment

Target a customer segment as specific as possible. This is important because it helps you: - Narrow down on consistent problems and goals - Create an incredible product for one audience rather than a so-so product for a bunch of audiences - Know where to find your customers

Use the 'customer slicing' process to form a list of 'who-where' pairs indicating possible customer segments and where to find them.

1. Identify specific subgroups
   • Who would want this the most?
   • How many of them would use it?
   • Why do they want it?
   • Do they all have the same motivations?
2. Figure out which subgroups want this solution the most
   • What are they already doing to achieve their goal?
   • Where can we find our demographic groups?
3. If any of these groups seem unfindable, keep slicing them into finer pieces until you know where to find them.

With your list of who-were pairs, decide on who to start with based on who is most: profitable, easy to reach, and rewarding for us to build a business around.

Conversation tips

• Consider the 3 things you want to learn most from the other person
• Keep conversations casual rather than scheduled, long and formal meetings.

Aim for commitment or advancement

• Commitments and advancements shows that a customer is serious as they are willing to give up something of value such as:
  • Time (e.g. clear next meeting with known goal)
  • Reputation (introducing you to others, giving a testimonial)
  • Money
• Always asks for commitment for next steps at the end of a meeting.
  • If they end with a compliment and no commitments then they are just trying to get rid of you.
  • Do not need to push for commitment and be annoying if they don't seem interested at all.

Treasure your crazy customers and first sales

First customers are:

1. Crazy enough to be the first person to try a product despite all the risk
2. Advocates
3. Care deeply about the problem

Treasure them and keep them close.

How to find conversations

• Create warm intros with people around you
  • Everyone knows someone - we just have to ask
  • Ask the people you know
• Bring people to you
  • Organise meetups
  • Speaking and teaching
  • Industry blogging
• Cold leads are doable but not ideal
  • Immerse yourself in communities with your potential customer
  • Find good excuses to chat to people - just treat people's time respectfully and genuinely listen to their problems
  • Create test landing pages - describe value proposition, collect emails, then cold email potential customers for feedback

A template to ask for help

Very Few Wizards Properly Ask (for help) 1. Vision: You're an entrepreneur trying to solve horrible problem X, usher in wonderful vision Y, or fix stagnant industry Z 2. Framing: Frame expectations by mentioning what stage you're at and, if it's true, that you don't have anything to sell. 3. Weakness: 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 4. Pedestal: Put them on a pedestal by showing how much they, in particular, can help 5. Ask: Ask for help.