The Mom Test Questions
From Entrepreneurship Skills For Young Adults by RJ Barranco, Chapter 5 ( How to Tell If Anyone Will Actually Pay You ), after Rob Fitzpatrick’s The Mom Test (2013). Free for non-commercial classroom use.
The premise
When you tell someone about your business idea — “I’m thinking of starting a sticker shop with these custom designs — what do you think?” — what they hear is “validate me and make me feel good about this.” Even your closest friends will tell you the encouraging thing, because saying “actually, I wouldn’t buy that” is awkward and might damage the friendship.
The fix is not to ask people about your idea. The fix is to ask them about their life. Past tense, specific, request for a story. The first kind of question gets you compliments. The second kind gets you information.
The three questions that work
1. “Have you ever had this problem? Tell me about the last time.”
Why it works: Past tense + specific. You’re asking about something that actually happened, not whether they “could imagine” having the problem. If they have to invent a story to answer, the problem isn’t real for them.
What you’re listening for: A real, dated, specific incident. “Yeah, last Tuesday, I spent forty minutes looking for…” is signal. “Hmm, yeah, I guess that happens sometimes” is not.
2. “What did you do about it?”
Why it works: This is where the actual signal lives. People who really had the problem will describe what they tried — a workaround, paying for an inferior solution, giving up, complaining. People who didn’t really have the problem will hedge, generalize, or change the subject.
What you’re listening for: Concrete actions. “I tried X, then I downloaded Y, then I gave up and just dealt with it” is signal. “I dunno, I’d probably try to find something online” is not — that’s hypothetical, not actual.
3. “What does the time or money you spent on this currently cost you?”
Why it works: This is the question that tells you whether the problem is worth solving — to this person, with their actual budget. People will say lots of things sound nice; they’ll only spend money or significant time on the things that actually matter.
What you’re listening for: A specific, quantifiable cost. “It eats about three hours a week” or “I paid $200 for a tool that mostly doesn’t work” is signal. “It’s just annoying” is not — it costs them nothing measurable, which usually means they won’t pay you to fix it.
What NOT to ask
Don’t ask:
- “Would you use this?” — they’ll say yes to be nice
- “What do you think of my idea?” — they’ll compliment it
- “Would you pay for this?” — saying yes costs them nothing; saying no is awkward
- “How much would you pay for this?” — the number they say is meaningless without a real purchase
These all feel like good questions and they all give you useless information. Stop asking them.
What to do with the answers
If multiple people describe a real recent instance of the problem, a workaround they actually tried, and a measurable cost — you have validation. Build the thing.
If multiple people hedge or invent or change the subject — you do not yet have a real problem to solve. Either find a different problem, or find different people to interview. Don’t build until at least three or four people have given you the kind of specific, costly, real-recent-incident answer that means the problem is genuine for them.
A note on who to interview
Don’t only interview your friends. Don’t only interview your family. Find the people who would actually pay for the solution — strangers who fit the profile, people on Reddit or Discord who post about the problem, customers of competing solutions. The goal isn’t friendly conversation; it’s real information.
The Mom Test Questions · From Entrepreneurship Skills For Young Adults (RJ Barranco), after Rob Fitzpatrick’s The Mom Test (2013) · YA Nonfiction Skills series · skillsforyoungadults.org