Afterpage

The Mom Test

Rob Fitzpatrick

For founders, product people, and anyone testing an idea with potential customers. Especially useful if people keep saying your idea is great and nobody buys.

A week with this book

A short summary today, then one small action a day for six days. Free for your first book.

The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick

Free for your first book. No card. One click to stop.

Day 1

The ideas the week uses

Rob Fitzpatrick's point is that if you ask people whether your idea is good, they'll lie to be nice, even your mom. Useful customer conversations ask about their life and past behavior, not your idea.

  1. Talk about their life, not your idea. The moment you pitch, people start being polite. Ask about their problems, their work, and how they currently deal with the thing you care about.
  2. Ask about the past, not the future. “Would you use this?” invites optimistic guesses. “When did this last happen, and what did you do?” gets facts. Past behavior predicts future behavior far better than opinions.
  3. Compliments, fluff, and ideas are noise. Praise, generic claims like “I always do that”, and feature requests feel like progress but tell you little. Fitzpatrick suggests deflecting compliments and digging under fluff and requests for the real motivation.
  4. Look for commitment. A good meeting ends with the other person giving something up: time for a follow-up, an introduction, a pre-order, a trial. If they commit nothing, you may not have learned much.
  5. Keep it casual and frequent. Conversations don't need to be formal interviews. Short, informal chats with the right people, done often and written down, beat a few big meetings.

Where it overreachesThe book is short and focused on early discovery. It says less about quantitative validation, pricing, or what to do once you have customers.

Days 2 to 7

How to apply The Mom Test

10 to 20 minutes each, with a two-minute version for a bad day.

Printable week card (one page)

  1. 2Rewrite your questionsWrite the five questions you'd naturally ask a potential customer, then rewrite each so it's about their past behavior, not your idea.
  2. 3Pick your three big questionsWrite down the three things you most need to learn right now, the ones that could change your plans.
  3. 4Have one casual conversationTalk to one person who might have the problem for ten minutes, using only your rewritten questions.
  4. 5Sort your notesGo through your conversation notes and mark each point as fact, compliment, fluff, or idea.
  5. 6Ask for a commitmentIn your next conversation, ask for one concrete next step: a follow-up meeting, an introduction, a trial, or a pre-order.
  6. 7Review and update your planWrite a short summary of what you've learned this week and change one thing in your plan because of it.

Sample

Day 3, in full

This is what lands in your inbox that morning.

AfterpageDay 3 of 7 · Action

Pick your three big questions

Today’s action · 10 to 20 minutes

Write down the three things you most need to learn right now, the ones that could change your plans.

How

Ask yourself what you'd be scared to find out. For example: do they actually have this problem often, do they spend money on it, and who decides? Use them to guide every conversation this week.

Why this one

Fitzpatrick recommends knowing your three most important learning goals before each conversation, so you don't drift into comfortable topics.

If today is a bad day

Write the one question whose answer scares you most.

In short

Questions about this book

Who is The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick for?

For founders, product people, and anyone testing an idea with potential customers. Especially useful if people keep saying your idea is great and nobody buys.

What are the main ideas in The Mom Test?

Rob Fitzpatrick's point is that if you ask people whether your idea is good, they'll lie to be nice, even your mom. Useful customer conversations ask about their life and past behavior, not your idea. Talk about their life, not your idea; Ask about the past, not the future; Compliments, fluff, and ideas are noise; Look for commitment; Keep it casual and frequent.

What do you do in the Afterpage week for The Mom Test?

Day 1 is a short summary. Then one action a day, each 10 to 20 minutes: Rewrite your questions; Pick your three big questions; Have one casual conversation; Sort your notes; Ask for a commitment; Review and update your plan. Day 7 also has a recap.

Where does The Mom Test overreach?

The book is short and focused on early discovery. It says less about quantitative validation, pricing, or what to do once you have customers.

What is the first action in the The Mom Test week?

Rewrite your questions. Write the five questions you'd naturally ask a potential customer, then rewrite each so it's about their past behavior, not your idea. If you only have two minutes: Rewrite one question so it asks about the last time the problem happened.

More like this