1. Chapter #1 The Mom Test
1.1. The Mom Test
1.1.1. Talk about their life instead of your idea
1.1.2. Ask about specifics in the past instead of generics or opinions about the future
1.1.3. Talk less and listen more
1.2. Rules of thumbs
1.2.1. Customer conversations are bad by default. It’s your job to fix them
1.2.2. Opinions are worthless
1.2.3. Anything involving the future is an over-optimistic lie
1.2.4. People will lie to you if they think it’s what you want to hear
1.2.5. People know what their problems are, but they don’t know how to solve those problems
1.2.6. You're shooting blind until you understand their goals
1.2.7. Some problems don’t actually matter
1.2.8. While it’s rare for someone to tell you precisely what they’ll pay you, they’ll often show you what it’s worth to them
2. Chapter #2 Avoiding bad data
2.1. Bad data
2.1.1. Compliments
2.1.2. Fluff (generics, hypotheticals, and the future)
2.1.3. Ideas
2.2. Fixing it
2.2.1. Deflect compliments
2.2.2. Anchor fluff
2.2.3. Dig beneath opinions, ideas, requests, and emotions
2.2.4. Stop seeking approval
2.2.5. Cut off pitches
2.2.6. Talk less
3. Chapter #3 Asking important questions
3.1. Love bad news
3.1.1. There’s more reliable information in a “meh” than a “Wow!” You can’t build a business on a lukewarm response
3.2. Look before you zoom
3.2.1. Start broad and don't zoom in until you’ve found a strong signal, both with your whole business and with every conversation
3.3. Look at the elephant
3.4. Prepare your list of 3
3.4.1. You always need a list of your 3 big questions
4. Chapter #4 Keep it casual
4.1. Meeting anti-pattern
4.1.1. If it feels like they’re doing you a favour by talking to you, it’s probably too formal.
4.2. How long are meetings?
4.3. Putting it together
4.3.1. Give as little information as possible about your idea while still nudging the discussion in a useful direction
5. Chapter #5 Commitment and advancement
5.1. Commitment
5.1.1. They are showing they’re serious by giving up something they value such as time, reputation, or money
5.2. Advancement
5.2.1. They are moving to the next step of your real-world funnel and getting closer to a sale
5.3. Meetings succeed or fail
5.3.1. If you don’t know what happens next after a product or sales meeting, the meeting was pointless
5.4. The currencies of conversation
5.4.1. Time commitment
5.4.1.1. Clear next meeting with known goals
5.4.1.2. Sitting down to give feedback on wireframes
5.4.1.3. Using a trial themselves for a non-trivial period
5.4.2. Reputation risk commitments
5.4.2.1. Intro to peers or team
5.4.2.2. Intro to a decision maker (boss, spouse, lawyer)
5.4.2.3. Giving a public testimonial or case study
5.4.3. Financial commitments
5.4.3.1. Letter of intent (non-legal but gentlemanly agreement to purchase)
5.4.3.2. Pre-order
5.4.3.3. Deposit
5.5. How to fix a bad meeting
5.5.1. It’s not a real lead until you’ve given them a concrete chance to reject you
5.6. Don't pitch blind
5.7. Crazy customers and your first sale
5.7.1. In early stage sales, the real goal is learning. Revenue is just a side-effect
6. Chapter #6 Finding conversations
6.1. Going to them
6.1.1. Cold calls
6.1.2. Seizing serendipity
6.1.3. Find a good excuse
6.1.4. Immerse yourself in where they are
6.1.5. Landing pages
6.2. Bringing them to you
6.2.1. Organize meetups
6.2.2. Speaking & teaching
6.2.3. Industry blogging
6.2.4. Get clever
6.3. Creating warm intros
6.3.1. 7 degrees of bacon
6.3.2. Industry advisors
6.3.3. Universities
6.3.4. Investors
6.3.5. Cash in favours
6.4. Asking for and framing the meeting
6.4.1. Vision
6.4.1.1. Half-sentence version of how you’re making the world better
6.4.2. Framing
6.4.2.1. Where you’re at and what you’re looking for
6.4.3. Weakness
6.4.3.1. Show how you can be helped
6.4.4. Pedestal
6.4.4.1. Show that they, in particular, can provide that help
6.4.5. Ask
6.4.5.1. Ask for help
6.5. To commute or to call
6.6. The advisory flip
6.7. How many meetings
6.7.1. Keep having conversations until you stop hearing new stuff
7. Chapter #7 Choosing your customers
7.1. Segmentation
7.2. Customer slicing
7.2.1. Good customer segments are a who-where pair. If you don’t know where to go to find your customers, keep slicing your segment into smaller pieces until you do
7.3. Talking to the wrong people
8. Chapter #8 Running the process
8.1. Prepping
8.1.1. If you don’t know what you’re trying to learn, you shouldn’t bother having the conversation
8.2. Reviewing
8.2.1. Good meeting
8.2.1.1. Facts
8.2.1.1.1. Concrete, specific facts about what they do and why they do it
8.2.1.2. Commitment
8.2.1.2.1. They are showing they’re serious by giving up something they value such as meaningful amounts of time, reputational risk, or money
8.2.1.3. Advancement
8.2.1.3.1. They are moving to the next step of your real-world funnel and getting closer to a sale
8.3. Who should show up
8.4. How to write it down
8.5. Where to write it down
8.6. The process
8.6.1. Before
8.6.1.1. If you haven’t yet, choose a focused, findable segment
8.6.1.2. With your team, decide your big 3 learning goals
8.6.1.3. If relevant, decide on ideal next steps and commitments
8.6.1.4. If conversations are the right tool, figure out who to talk to
8.6.1.5. Create a series of best guesses about what the person cares about
8.6.1.6. If a question could be answered via desk research, do that first
8.6.2. During
8.6.2.1. Frame the conversation
8.6.2.2. Keep it casual
8.6.2.3. Ask good questions which pass The Mom Test
8.6.2.4. Deflect compliments, anchor fluff, and dig beneath signals
8.6.2.5. Take good notes
8.6.2.6. If relevant, press for commitment and next steps
8.6.3. After
8.6.3.1. With your team, review your notes and key customer quotes
8.6.3.2. If relevant, transfer notes into permanent storage
8.6.3.3. Update your beliefs and plans
8.6.3.4. Decide on the next 3 big questions
8.7. This stuff is fast
8.7.1. Go build your dang company already