The Mom Test
Rob Fitzpatrick · 2013
The Mom Test (2013) is a book by Rob Fitzpatrick on business & strategy. Rob Fitzpatrick's practical guide to talking to customers so they can't lie to you, even your mom. Learn to extract real facts from customer conversations instead of the flattering, useless feedback that sinks startups.
A short, blunt field guide to customer conversations that saves founders from the most expensive mistake in business: building something nobody wants because everyone was too polite to say so.
Three of the ideas you’ll keep
The Clif summary of The Mom Test pulls out 7 insights. Here are the first three.
- The **Mom Test** is a set of rules for asking questions so good that even your mom can't lie to you, because you never mention your idea, so there's nothing for her to be nice about.
- Follow three rules: **talk about their life, not your idea**; ask about **specifics in the past**, not generics or opinions about the future; and **talk less, listen more**.
- The three sources of **bad data** are **compliments**, **fluff** (generics, hypotheticals, and grand statements about the future), and **ideas**, all feel like progress but teach you nothing.
The other 4 — and the full 9-minute summary — are in the app.
What’s inside: 9 chapters
The whole summary runs about 9 minutes, read or listened to.
- The Mom Test
- Good Questions and Bad Questions
- Avoiding Bad Data
- Digging for Commitment and Advancement
- Finding Conversations and Framing the Meeting
- Don't Pitch: And Keep Control
- Asking Important Questions and Talking Money
- Choosing Your Customers: Segmentation
- Running the Process
Finish The Mom Test tonight.
Read or listen to the full summary in about 9 minutes, then keep the ideas with a minute of review a day. Start with the 2-minute quiz — no card required.
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