Validation Framework · GENERAL STARTUP Edition
Using the Mom Test for Startup Validation
Applying Rob Fitzpatrick's "Mom Test" means never asking users if your idea is good. Instead, you validate by asking hyper-specific questions about their past behaviors, actual budgets, and current makeshift workarounds.
What Does 'Validated' Actually Mean?
Extracting unbiased, empirical data about past customer spending behavior.
Signs You're Validated
- The user describes an elaborate, painful Excel spreadsheet they built to solve the problem
- The user reveals they currently pay an expensive consultant to do the task manually
- The user gets emotionally frustrated describing their current workflow
The 3-Step Validation Process
Ban the Future Tense
Never ask 'Would you use this?' or 'How much would you pay?'. These elicit polite lies.
Time required: Pre-interview prep
After this step you have: A script focused entirely on past actions.
Ask for the Workaround
Ask: 'Talk me through the last time you dealt with this problem. What exactly did you do to fix it?'
Time required: During interview
After this step you have: Proof that the problem is painful enough to demand action.
Check the Wallet
Ask: 'How much money or time have you already spent trying to solve this?' If the answer is zero, the problem isn't worth solving.
Time required: During interview
After this step you have: Validation of market willingness to pay.
Mistakes That Kill the Validation Process
- 01Pitching your solution in the first 5 minutes of the interview
- 02Accepting 'That's a great idea!' as actual market validation
- 03Asking hypotheticals like 'If we built X, would you buy it?'
Tools Referenced in This Guide
The Mom Test Book
FreeOtter.ai
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