How to Talk to Customers About Your Business Idea with Rob Fitzpatrick, Author of The Mom Test

Lessons of Innovation

If you are wondering how you should talk to customers about your business idea without introducing any bias and gain useful insights, then this episode is for you, as I speak to the well-known tech entrepreneur Rob Fitzpatrick about just that.

Rob Fitzpatrick is a serial entrepreneur, a Y Combinator alum, and the author of ‘The Mom Test’, which we discuss in today’s episode. Rob has designed start-up education programs for a bunch of accelerators, taught at Oxford and UCL, and built products used globally by brands like Sony and MTV.

In today’s episode, we speak about,

• The Mom Test - why you should not ask anyone if your business idea is a good idea?
• How to ask questions that bring you valuable insights instead of empty promises?
• Don’t mention your idea too soon if you want to avoid customer bias
• Ask questions about your customers’ life instead of your business idea
• The types of bad data to be aware of and avoid
• The sort of questions you should prepare and ask.
• Pitch only if you're going to ask for commitments; else you are just seeking approvals.
• When you should move on, to build the product or pivot?

Links:

• The Mom Test
• Rob Fitz Website