Rob Fitzpatrick
The Mom Test
ISBN: 978-1-492-18074-6
People lie to you for different reasons. Most of the time, it’s because they don’t want to hurt your feelings. Very few people will tell you negative things to your face – this is how a polite society works. However, this is incredibly unhelpful for those who are building startups. You need honest feedback about your potential business or product before you spend thousands of dollars or more on prototypes and inventory. The problem is that products are still being developed that have no customer base.
The title of the book The Mom Test refers to the urge to ask your own mother whether or not your idea has merit. The answer that your mother will give you about your business idea will almost always be positive. Who wants to disappoint their son or daughter? The author mentions that asking your parents about a business idea isn’t necessarily bad – it’s what you ask and how you frame the questions that count.
I was recommended this book by a number of colleagues and friends, and I thought it would be a nice supplement to Talking to Humans, which I’ve utilized in teaching the Customer Discovery process to new students in various capacities. However, it approaches Customer Discovery from a different angle. In a way, The Mom Test covers much of the same material as Talking to Humans but highlights the content in a different way. This book hits home the point that you need to be focusing on the problems of others rather than your proposed solution. In drilling into your interviewee’s problems, you should focus on specifics in their past rather than opinions about the future.
Most of the book runs through the author’s updated version of Customer Discovery and what you should do if the interviews start to go sideways. If you are not collecting good data, Fitzpatrick discusses, you are wasting your time. I really liked the author’s approach to this – in developing my own startups, I’ve had some interviews that really didn’t add anything to my knowledge base or drill down to the real problems people are facing. I tried not to discuss the potential solution, but it’s tough not to mention it at the end of the interview. The author included actionable points throughout the book, which makes it a great resource to those who are new to the Customer Discovery process and a great reminder for those of us who have been around the block a few times.
The size of the book does not reflect the quantity of information inside. When I picked up a copy, I thought it would be a quick, easy read. However, I ended up rereading certain sections and taking a number of notes. I’ve started to change the way I am teaching Customer Discovery based on the information I read in the book.
Overall, 8/10, would recommend for people who are building new businesses or are trying to get to the bottom of why their businesses are stuck. This book would be useful for entrepreneurs at any stage of their journey – from college students just learning about the process through seasoned entrepreneurs who have built businesses previously but feel like there was something missing. Grab a notebook and a pen when you pick up a copy of this book – you’ll quickly be taking notes and writing down your own thoughts as you go through the text.