Concept
The Mom Test
The Mom Test is Rob Fitzpatrick's set of rules for customer conversations so honest that even your mother could not lie to you: talk about their life instead of your idea, ask about specifics in the past instead of opinions about the future, and talk less.
The problem the Mom Test solves is not that people lie; it is that founders ask questions with only polite answers. 'Would you use an app that does X?' invites a yes that costs nothing and describes a future in which the person is more organised than they are. Fitzpatrick's rules remove the politeness by removing the pitch. Talk about their life: what they did the last time the problem came up, what it cost them, what they tried. Ask about the past: a specific event is a fact; a hypothetical is a compliment. Talk less: every minute you spend explaining is a minute you are not learning. The test of a good conversation is that you leave with facts you did not have, and ideally with a commitment, because a person who gives you their time, their money or an introduction is telling you the truth in the only currency that counts.
A real-life example
Selin planned to build a scheduling tool for hair salons in Istanbul. Her first ten conversations were pitches, and every owner said it sounded useful. She started again with three questions: when did you last lose a customer to a booking mistake, what happened, and what did you do about it. Six owners had no such story. Two had lost thousands of lira the previous month and asked when they could try it.
How to use it
- 1Prepare three questions about a specific recent event in the customer's life, and leave the demo at home.
- 2When you hear a compliment or a hypothetical, treat it as a signal the conversation drifted, and steer back to something that already happened.
- 3End by asking for something that costs them: their time next week, an introduction, a deposit. Their answer is the data.