── ── Startups
The Mom Test — Customer Interviews That Don't Lie to You
The Mom Test (Rob Fitzpatrick, 2013) is a way to talk to customers so that even your mom can't give you a false positive. The rule: ask about their life and past behavior, never about your idea. Compliments, hypotheticals ("would you buy?"), and pitch-then-ask all generate flattering noise founders mistake for validation. Good interviews collect facts about what people already…
Run The Mom Test — Customer Interviews That Don't Lie to You on a real problem
Bring something you're actually deciding — free, in the browser.
How it works
1. Talk about their life, not your idea. Never mention the product first. Ask what they're trying to get done and how they do it today. 2. Ask about specifics in the past, not opinions about the future. "When did you last hit this problem? Walk me through it." not "Would you use X?" 3. Dig for the three currencies of commitment: time, reputation risk, money. Real pain shows up as workarounds already paid for. 4. Anchor vague claims to reality. "Always" → "how many times last month?" "I'd pay a lot" → "what do you pay now?" 5. Shut up and listen. Talk <30% of the time. Gate: if you pitched or they complimented the idea, that data is contaminated → discard it. 6. End with a real advance, not a compliment: an intro, a pre-order, a follow-up meeting, access to data. Gate: no advance offered = you learned nothing actionable → the interview failed.
When to use it
- a founder is about to talk to customers/users to validate an idea
- 'I asked people and they loved it', 'how do I run customer interviews', 'is there demand for this?', pre-PMF discovery
When not to use it
the question is quantitative A/B testing on an existing product (use analytics), or the decision needs no customer input.
Worked example
The Mom Test — Customer Interviews That Don't Lie to You
The Mom Test (Rob Fitzpatrick, 2013) is a way to talk to customers so that even your mom can't give you a false positive. The rule: ask about their life and past behavior, never about your idea. Compliments, hypotheticals ("would you buy?"), and pitch-then-ask all generate flattering noise founders mistake for validation. Good interviews collect facts about what people already…
Install this skill (free, MIT)
npx skills add deciqAI/knowledge-skillsUseful? Star the repo — stars help other builders find it.
Related mental models
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