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The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you
by
The Mom Test is a quick, practical guide that will save you time, money, and heartbreak.
They say you shouldn't ask your mom whether your business is a good idea, because she loves you and will lie to you. This is technically true, but it misses the point. You shouldn't ask anyone if your business is a good idea. It's a bad question and everyone will lie to you at least a l ...more
They say you shouldn't ask your mom whether your business is a good idea, because she loves you and will lie to you. This is technically true, but it misses the point. You shouldn't ask anyone if your business is a good idea. It's a bad question and everyone will lie to you at least a l ...more
Paperback, 134 pages
Published
September 10th 2013
by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
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Start your review of The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you
Outstanding book!
Main lessons learned:
1. Don't pitch your ideas to customers
2. Learn facts. Dig and ask more questions till you have exact facts and data
3. Don't mention your solution
4. Don't listen to opinions, collect facts and pain points instead
5. Compliments means nothing. Really nothing. Deflect them and dig deeper.
6. You can’t learn anything useful unless you’re willing to spend a few minutes shutting up
7. If you don’t know what happens next after a product or sales meeting, the meeting ...more
Main lessons learned:
1. Don't pitch your ideas to customers
2. Learn facts. Dig and ask more questions till you have exact facts and data
3. Don't mention your solution
4. Don't listen to opinions, collect facts and pain points instead
5. Compliments means nothing. Really nothing. Deflect them and dig deeper.
6. You can’t learn anything useful unless you’re willing to spend a few minutes shutting up
7. If you don’t know what happens next after a product or sales meeting, the meeting ...more
Either really good or dismally bad. Not sure which one.
Easy read. Some ideas that could sometimes be useful. Or not.
Q:
Trying to learn from customer conversations is like excavating a delicate archaeological site. The truth is down there somewhere, but it’s fragile. (c)
Easy read. Some ideas that could sometimes be useful. Or not.
Q:
Trying to learn from customer conversations is like excavating a delicate archaeological site. The truth is down there somewhere, but it’s fragile. (c)
Oct 28, 2017
WhatIReallyRead
rated it
it was amazing
Recommended to WhatIReallyRead by:
teachers at my Digital&Product Marketing class
This book is amazing!
I recommend it to everyone who builds products, talks to customers, works in startups or has the desire to sell any ideas/products they came up with or made.
Why I loved it:
- it's a how-to book that offers concrete methods and tools to solve problems on tour path to a new product with an audience;
- it is full of specific examples of good and bad approaches, and reasons why a certain approach is good or bad;
- it is easy to read, short and funny - a real delight to spend your t ...more
I recommend it to everyone who builds products, talks to customers, works in startups or has the desire to sell any ideas/products they came up with or made.
Why I loved it:
- it's a how-to book that offers concrete methods and tools to solve problems on tour path to a new product with an audience;
- it is full of specific examples of good and bad approaches, and reasons why a certain approach is good or bad;
- it is easy to read, short and funny - a real delight to spend your t ...more
This book is about having conversations with potential customers to see if your business is a good idea. It is not written by a UX guy, but someone from tech startups who has learned through mistakes. In some places it's a bit beginner, but it's fun to read, not pretentious, and at times laugh out loud funny. It's a good reminder of the basics and packed full of example dialogues. I actually put down the book I was working on to read this one and devoured it in part of a day.
It starts with a goo ...more
It starts with a goo ...more
The best book for Customer Development I've ever seen!
Must-read for all CEOs, founders, Product Managers, and User Researchers!
My notes, in case you need: https://www.notion.so/uptechteam/The-... ...more
Must-read for all CEOs, founders, Product Managers, and User Researchers!
My notes, in case you need: https://www.notion.so/uptechteam/The-... ...more
It’s nice.
Maybe the only downside is, even though it is a super short book, it is still extremely repetitive: 40% of the book is the exact same message:
“DON’T PITCH! Ask about THEIR lives, their problems, their current solutions/workarounds”.
However, given how easy it is to fall back into "pitch mode", maybe it is worth hammering that message into my brain.
We are about to launch a new product soon at my company and we do have an extremely narrowly segmented customer group, so I will sit down w ...more
Maybe the only downside is, even though it is a super short book, it is still extremely repetitive: 40% of the book is the exact same message:
“DON’T PITCH! Ask about THEIR lives, their problems, their current solutions/workarounds”.
However, given how easy it is to fall back into "pitch mode", maybe it is worth hammering that message into my brain.
We are about to launch a new product soon at my company and we do have an extremely narrowly segmented customer group, so I will sit down w ...more
It's the second time I read this one and once again, I loved every page of it. The book is an amazingly simple, down-to-earth guide on what it means to 'talk to your customers' before you go ahead and build that thing. It's one of those books that you can reread in a few hours every time you're thinking of starting a new project and you'll always find something new and useful. If you want to keep your sight on what's important in the mess of a product's initial research & creation, read this. It
...more
Finally I've finished the whole book! 100 pages full with practical examples how to talk with customers and to really understand their pains without biasing them with your idea. It also will be very helpful for you if you just want to ask good questions and to receive the feedback which will really help you, not the one which will deceive you!
...more
This is going into the list of must-read books I am going to suggest to the product folks.
Priceless.
The book is short and quite expensive, but each page of it is full of very, very useful examples and advise.
I wish I read this book before, and not had an experience of a failed startup, cause I asked wrong questions while doing user research.
I acquired each page slowly, processing and applying to life. I even gave three talks, incorporating the knowledge from this book before I have finished it. :)
The most useful book of 2018. And one of the most useful book for people doing products/ ...more
The book is short and quite expensive, but each page of it is full of very, very useful examples and advise.
I wish I read this book before, and not had an experience of a failed startup, cause I asked wrong questions while doing user research.
I acquired each page slowly, processing and applying to life. I even gave three talks, incorporating the knowledge from this book before I have finished it. :)
The most useful book of 2018. And one of the most useful book for people doing products/ ...more
I can't recommend this book enough. Simple, straightforward and immensely helpful. If you're only going to read one book about validating startup ideas, make it this one.
...more
Maybe not a fascinating page-turner, but a crisp very to-the-point and readable book on doing customer (development) interviews.
A good way to learn about starting a business and pick up some communication skills.
I hate doing customer development but need to do it all the time. This is the most concise, direct, no nonsense guide I have read. And somehow the author manages to keep it low-key and light. Worthwhile.
I learned quite a lot 🤔
Insightful, clear, understandable and quick
Now I'm more sure how to ask questions, how to ask the right questions mind you.
...more
Now I'm more sure how to ask questions, how to ask the right questions mind you.
...more
Highly recommended for anyone who's interacting with customers in a company, whether it's for sales, customer support, or for product/user experience research.
...more
Jan 24, 2021
Shannon (That's So Poe)
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2021-books
Good, solid advice on how to get meaningful feedback without putting people in a spot where they feel the need to make you feel good with fake praise. Lots of specific, actionable suggestions laid out in a clear manner. It did get a little repetitive at times and could have used a copy editor, but otherwise a very good book.
A must read to be prepared to talk to customers while researching for your product
This book is the best business book I've ever read.
No fluff, no tedious and irrelevant stories, and no jargon filled generic crap. This is a manual for how to talk to customers for maximizing learning instead of fishing for compliments and ego boost. The writing is engaging and concise, and there is not a single page whose content can't be put to use immediately. I am sure I will come back to this book multiple times.
Highly recommended for aspiring entrepreneurs. ...more
No fluff, no tedious and irrelevant stories, and no jargon filled generic crap. This is a manual for how to talk to customers for maximizing learning instead of fishing for compliments and ego boost. The writing is engaging and concise, and there is not a single page whose content can't be put to use immediately. I am sure I will come back to this book multiple times.
Highly recommended for aspiring entrepreneurs. ...more
6/5. Simple, interesting, easy-to-read, and very useful!
Jun 25, 2019
Louise
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
business,
non-fiction
A short and to the point business-type book that's extremely helpful in conducting customer research. I heard about this book through an IndieHackers podcast episode and while one could get the gist of this book by just listening to the podcast, the details and examples in the actual book were worth the price of admission.
...more
A nice short book no how to have better conversations with potential customers when you're building an idea. The main concept behind the book is that you shouldn't ask leading questions or questions that expose your ego (what do you think of my idea?). Instead, you should focus on asking questions in a way where they don't even know that you're building something, so your ego is not exposed. So for example, you could ask people "is x a problem for you", "how did you solve this problem in the pas
...more
Amazin book. Full review coming soon!
A must-read book, in an era when everyone is professing the importance of conducting customer interviews as a method for designing successful services and products. Rob's guide is the best I found because it is aimed at engaging with prospects in the most non-biased way possible, which is different in big ways from the exploratory research method taught around, which tends to lean on leading questions or broad assumptions that don't help to validate how committed customers really are to using th
...more
It's complicated to evaluate this book without practicing its recommendations. So the true value will be discovered later. But the chapters where author talks about what questions should be asked to elicit customer requirements correlate with my experience as a business analyst. None of the good questions are about asking what functionality you should build. Talk about people and their life, not your product.
...more
How to ask questions that are not biased? The book aims to make it easier to face tough questions. If you are setting up a business it is a must read for you. If your sales/pitch/validation conversations are pre-planned you will end up with lots of advice and much-needed information instead of going through meetings focusing on trivial stuff and keeping conversations comfortable.
I think I’ve never made as many underlinings and comments as I did on the pages of this one.
I think I’ve never made as many underlinings and comments as I did on the pages of this one.
I've never really heard a more pragmatic way of describing a skill. Really awesome description, relatable and insightful. And I know exactly how to start using Rob's methods of talking to customers to change the way I work for the better, thanks to his simple and practical explanation of how he uses it.
I really found listening to this a revolution in terms of simplifying a concept down. ...more
I really found listening to this a revolution in terms of simplifying a concept down. ...more
The must-read book for every entrepreneur and product manager. It is easy to read, short and clear. Rob Fitzpatrick provides a lot of tips and tricks for customer development that is applicable to every early-stage company.
lots of advice in a short book.
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Rob is an entrepreneur of 12 years. He went through YCombinator (s07) with an attempt to figure out social advertising before Facebook managed to do so, which obviously didn’t work out so well. He has raised funding in the US and UK, built products used by customers like Sony and MTV, designed and Kickstarted a card game, cofounded the education agency Founder Centric, rebuilt a little sailboat, a
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“It boils down to this: you aren’t allowed to tell them what their problem is, and in return, they aren’t allowed to tell you what to build. They own the problem, you own the solution.”
—
7 likes
“Trying to learn from customer conversations is like excavating a delicate archaeological site. The truth is down there somewhere, but it’s fragile. While each blow with your shovel gets you closer to the truth, you’re liable to smash it into a million little pieces if you use too blunt an instrument.”
—
5 likes
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