The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you

This book is very small, but it packs a punch. If you're like me and have 20+ books you should read then buy this because its easy to read, short and gives you simple, actionable advice to getting better answers out of your customers or soon-to-be customers. It's the one-stop shop for customer development in my opinion. Funnily enough I went to a seminar that gave customer development tips and it was as if the guy was reading straight out of this book.

I read this in a day because it was so good. A lot of business books give you principles but sometimes it can be hard to take away applicable steps… Not with this book. It was concise and actionable. Must-read for anyone interested in working on their own project.

This is a definitely something you have to read after the lean startup. It's one of those books that just makes you realize that the intuitive way od doung things is just wrong (i.e, showing the customer the idea and ask for feedbacks). It tells you how to approach customers, where to find them and what to ask. My favourite part is about setting up meetings. Pre, during, post-meeting advices are key here. Although not in a startup but in a huge company I have started to apply the mom test when gathering consensus about a project idea that would involve different departments....and well yes it does make the difference. To be honest it is a very quick read and the concepts are very easy to pick up.

Fitzpatrick focuses on customer conversations but his advice is really applicable to all conversations where people are not incentivized to be completely forthright with you (e.g. Employees, co-workers, employers, spouses, children, friends, etc). If you want to know how find out what people really think, this book is your instruction manual. Although a little pricey for such a small book (I paid £18), the wisdom conveyed is priceless and it's concision means that you can afford to re-read it often to refresh your memory. Also, I have already loaned my copy to 2 different people (and intend to loan it to more),so when you consider how much use it is getting, it is easier to justify the cost.

I've worked in the bootstrapped startup world for a few years now, and have read a lot of business books. I would recommend The Mom Test as being the #1 book to read. Rob Fitzpatrick writes from experience, not theory, and each page has practical advice for avoiding potentially very expensive mistakes. Having been through the process of customer development, I can completely relate to the problems Rob identifies. In short, read this book before you cut any lines of code!

Very easy to read with many practical examples. I am just about to do some customer questioning and on each page when he says "avoid this", I felt like this would be exactly the thing I would have done! Can't wait to put this book onto practise!

It's easy to do customer research, isn't it? You just find a few customers or could-be-customers and start asking them questions about their problem and thoughts on their preferred solution. Wrong. As the book says "every question we ask carries the very real possibility of biasing the person we’re talking to and rendering the whole exercise pointless." And then "Bad customer conversations aren’t just useless. Worse, they convince you that you’re on the right path. They give you a false positive that causes you to over-invest your cash, your time, and your team." Why is this? Well it seems that the people you ask want to be nice and encouraging (and you want them to be too). This can create an accidental conspiracy where you get to hear what you WANT to hear and not what you NEED to hear. This is vital to understand and the early part of the book is very strong in the way it highlights the problem and the dangers involved with careless questioning. You need to get to facts and the truth of their problems, not their opinions about your solution. This is not a long book but I feel what is here is padded. The more I read, the less involved I was. There is a lot to learn from the book but I feel there is also a lot that could be in here that is missing. You need more structure to your questions. I'm a fan of Jobs To Be Done as a concept for understanding customers and what they want when fixing a problem by buying a solution. This will help frame your questioning and help you develop your first minimum viable product (MVP). I'm giving the book a 4 star rating. It is part of the answer within the entire lean start-up and product innovation subject but I feel the average entrepreneur is going to need to read much more widely before he or she is in a position to make best use of what's in here. Paul Simister helps business owners who are stuck and frustrated, to get unstuck.

If you have an idea and you are going to create a business OR even if you have a start-up and you are building a business, this is a book you should read. Rob Fitzpatrick and the book "The mom test" is a must read. If you think about, if you ask your mom about your new business, she is going to tell you what a great idea. The same with many people you ask, they won't want to offend you. The book will walk you through how you can test an idea or a business in a way that will gain you valuable feedback. It may even save you time and money chasing an idea that will never work, or stop you building facilities that might not be needed.

Asking correct questions and not getting carried away with complements are main leanings from this book. Gives in depth ideas on how to ask.

Great book.

Offre spunti molto utili per ottenere informazioni dalla “voice of customer” e costruire una buona strategia di sviluppo prodotto. Lettura piacevole, poco impegnativa e ricca di esempi pratici. Lo consiglio.

I bought this book as it had been recommended to me over the course of an entrepreneur's course and every single mentor insisted we all read it. They were not kidding - it is full of excellent, practical and valuable insights and information that will fundamentally change how you approach getting to know your customers and building effective and relevant businesses. An excellent and easy, quick read.

Must read for everyone who creates something for others