Listen Specifically

The Mom Test:

1. Talk about their life instead of your idea
2. Ask about specifics in the past instead of generics or opinions about the future.
3. Talk less and listen more.

(Page 13)

Avoid Bullshit

Three types of bad data:

1. Compliments

2. Fluff (generics, hypotheticals, and the future)

3. Ideas

(Page 24)

Customers Don’t Design Solutions

The questions to ask are about your customers’ lives: their problems, cares, constraints, and goals. You humbly and honestly gather as much information about them as you can and then take your own visionary leap to a solution. It boils down to this: you aren’t allowed to tell them what their problem is, and in return, they aren’t allowed to tell you what to build. They own the problem, you own the solution. (Page 23)

Opinions Are Useless

Even if they do like it, that data is still worthless. For example, venture capitalists (professional) judges of the future are wrong far more than right. If a VC’s opinion is possibly wrong, what weight could that of some random guy’s possibly have? (Page 25)

Dig

When you hear a request, it’s your job to understand the motivations which led to it. You do that by digging around the question to find the root cause. Why do they want the feature? Why do they bother doing it this way? How are they currently coping without the feature? Dig. (Page 36)

Genuine Cost = Genuine Compliment

A compliment costs them nothing, so it’s worth nothing and carries no data. The major currencies are time, reputation, risk, and cash. The more they’re giving up, the more seriously you can take their kind words. (Page 65)

Beware the Customer Whisperer

A common antipattern is for the business guy to go to all the meetings and subsequently tell the rest of the team what they should do. Bad idea. Telling the rest of the team 'What I learned' is functionally equivalent to telling them 'What you’ll do.' Therefore, owning the customer conversations creates a de-facto dictator with 'The customer said so' as the ultimate trump card. (Page 99)

Enthusiasm Writes Checks

When someone isn’t that emotional about what you’re doing, it’s pretty unlikely that they’re going to end up being one of the people who is crazy enough to be your first customer. Keep them on the list, but don’t count on them to write the first check. (Page 73)

Keep it Loose

If it feels like they are doing you a favor by talking to you, it's probably too formal.(Page 59)

Seek The Fatal Flaw

Every time you talk to someone, you should be asking a question which has the potential to completely destroy your imagined business...You should be terrified of at least one of the questions you’re asking in every conversation. (Page 41)