--- ## Highlights Fitzpatrick’s Mom Test consists of three rules: Rule Don’t pitch your idea. Rule Ask specific questions about the past. Rule Listen more than you talk. ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/c8931f53-1478-4a5a-bb87-04169c161b50)) Instead of pitching (or even mentioning) your business idea, ask customers about their daily lives. Fitzpatrick explains that the most valuable information you can get from a customer includes 1) their goals, 2) the problems preventing them from reaching those goals, and 3) the habitual way they currently solve their problems. Unlike customer judgments, this information is grounded in reality and is therefore objective and reliable. ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/3ba5505b-a30d-4f42-a182-73cc7ce5fb87)) Rule Don’t Pitch Your Idea ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/bdf2274d-f324-455d-8807-1d71fa37564a)) you can get information about potential customers’ lives without ever letting them know that you’re trying to get feedback from them—or that you have a business idea at all. For example, just by chatting with a stranger at the bookstore about their daily reading habits, you could gauge how viable your business idea for a new e-reader is without ever revealing that you’re an entrepreneu ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/d8c8d1e5-3424-4a35-9e27-2d59dab3d33c)) ask customers to rate on a scale of one to 10 each goal’s importance and how satisfied they are with their current solution. Finally, plug these numbers into the “Opportunity Algorithm” of [Importance + (Importance – Satisfaction) = Opportunity] ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/8edcb876-2465-4ce8-bed8-e13e14fbb5f5)) Rule Ask Specific Questions About the Past ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/76035b2d-3eea-4e5c-abfd-7ed9711aa17b)) people are bad at accurately assessing their present habits and predicting how they would act in the future ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/906154f2-2c22-40f1-98dd-f72468f58945)) Rule Listen More Than You Talk ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/79f79c8c-69df-4929-96cc-51269b1b741a)) Step Choose Your Customer Segment ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/d0ec4638-9e56-4515-a5bb-7af8f1826c9f)) if you fail to identify a narrow enough customer segment, you’ll get contradictory feedback from people with different goals and problems and end up with a product that no one segment loves. ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/10edce49-bad0-4eb3-badf-bbc7f9974613)) To narrow down a customer segment that’s too wide, Fitzpatrick recommends asking yourself questions to divide that group into subsets. For example, if your initial target demographic for your e-reader is “everyone who reads,” you can narrow this down by asking yourself questions like “What groups of people read the most?” or “What kinds of readers spend the most money?” ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/830026d8-6ddd-45a5-9f76-9167682e53c6)) Step Settle on Three Learning Objectives for Your Conversation ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/1196ae8a-1bf7-4702-9f54-0babfdf27ca9)) For example, if you’re planning to sell e-readers, your three learning objectives may be to 1) find out if customers really are dissatisfied with the way they currently read books, 2) figure out what has kept them from buying an e-reader in the past, and 3) discover what is motivating your customers to read books in the first place. ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/796b4a50-94e3-4b2a-bf28-bfc1794aa3ba)) How to Choose Learning Objectives: Seek Disappointment ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/df1840f7-0626-4d56-b68e-7170246a1555)) The most valuable customer feedback you can receive is bad news that highlights the flaws in your business. ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/4a40423e-eb34-4cd2-9262-4c50a3383ed8)) aim your learning objectives at the weakest and riskiest parts of your business. ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/62bb601b-2036-496e-86d4-19c7f4ad29fd)) For instance, if you believe that money is the key to happiness, it’s better to find information that disproves that belief and have a temporary identity crisis than to spend your entire life chasing higher salaries and making yourself miserable. ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/8b839f6b-8d7f-4ab9-82f5-dc7fa8b0ce65)) Step Seek Informal Conversations With Potential Customers ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/7519bb07-04d3-4e42-9db9-f0f13c9b5315)) Customers are more likely to open up about their lives if they don’t feel pressured to give high-quality feedback. As mentioned above, in a casual setting, they often won’t know you’re conducting market research at all—they’ll just think you’re interested in their lives. ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/cf2d62a4-f1d4-4563-9417-36a3ef298a65)) Step If Necessary, Schedule Formal Meetings ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/246058f2-faf4-4979-ba98-e747fa2fc481)) Fitzpatrick mandates making clear that you’re seeking details about the customer’s life and nothing more. ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/069f9ed5-ea20-4ee2-9bc9-a451df25bbb7)) since the customer segment you’re calling has a problem you’re trying to solve, you can think of yourself as a helpful ally that people would be grateful to receive a call from ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/5f8049d4-b6cf-4646-a057-048a702a358c)) Stage Use Discussions With Customers to Develop Your Business ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/385e94d4-e25a-4a90-af6c-30c55210cbeb)) Once you have a prototype to show, you can set aside the Mom Test and start pitching your product to customers. This is because, at a certain point, the only way to objectively verify that your product is valuable is by convincing people to sacrifice something for it. In sales, this is known as “commitment.” ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/92f24d77-7489-4d87-ad4c-6f769f86b00f)) Rather than money, they may commit their time (for example, by agreeing to let you film them for a product testimonial) or their reputation (for example, by posting on social media about your product) ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/9dea1b36-01cf-45eb-a947-7ab56898bd01)) Fitzpatrick states that pushing for commitment after a meeting always results in a win: You either get a commitment that moves your business forward, or you get a rejection that yields valuable information (it either highlights your product’s flaws or indicates that you’ve met with someone outside your customer segment). ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/1e35caa6-6321-48b4-8994-4f668569f141)) Fitzpatrick recommends going into these conversations with the goal of finding long-term advisors, not making sales. Advisors—people who give you consistently accurate feedback over time—are valuable if you can stay in contact with them ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/995d6116-9672-4bc4-9f82-39bf503c69c2)) Tip Involve All Core Team Members in Discussions With Customers ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/a28246c1-351f-4aff-9bf0-e85b51ab7135)) Tip Actively Learn From Discussions With Customers ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/4850847f-09a9-4d73-9cc0-9f09d07997e5)) Tip Never Stop Seeking Feedback ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/6f2a3030-afea-45ec-9216-46d04702e38d))