The Mom Test

Why it’s on the list: The canonical short guide to customer discovery interviews — how to ask questions that can’t be answered with polite lies, so you actually learn whether your business idea is valid.

Where I saw it: Referenced in a tweet by Mike Adams (@michaelglena) on “The Founder’s Guide to Actually Understanding Users,” with Rob Fitzpatrick (@robfitz) credited as a contributor.

Connections

• User Research — the book’s core subject: how to structure conversations with potential customers so their answers reveal truth rather than validation.
• Customer Discovery — the startup methodology the book operationalizes; complements “get out of the building” with concrete techniques for not being misled.
• Product Development — upstream of product decisions: the insight that customers lie not out of malice but because they’re being polite is foundational to any honest product process.