Scenario:

You got an idea X, you went to your friends and asked them if it's a good idea or not.

Friend 1: Yeah, it sounds good, it will work.

Friend 2: It will be better if you add Y features to it.

Friend 3: Hmm, not sure but you can try building it.

Your friends say it's a good idea, so it will definitely work and then you spend like 2-3 months of your life working on that product and in the end, no one buys it not even your friends.

Why? They said that the product idea was good, why didn't anyone up for using it?

Cause the pattern which you used for validating your idea is an anti-pattern for validating product ideas.

How to validate ideas then?

Using The Mom Test method.

I am writing the stuff which I learned and found useful from this book.

The mom test is a set of simple rules for crafting good questions that even your mom can't lie to you about

Rule 1: Don't tell your ideas directly, keep it casual.

Whenever you are having a conversation to validate your idea, don't let them know that you are trying to validate the idea, keep it casual, in this way, they will give honest answers to your questions.

In case you get overwhelmed and pitch them your idea, try to navigate the conversation to talk about facts only.

Rule 2: Stay away from Compliments and Opinions

Opinions are worthless

Compliments give us bad data, it gives us false positives.

We can avoid compliments by not mentioning our ideas.

Rule 3: Always Keep your 3 big questions ready

Keep 3 questions ready related to your product which can help validate the idea. Your product's success or failure should be dependent on these questions.

Rule 4: Take notes and discuss it with your team.

After a conversation make notes, it will be helpful to check if we are going in the right direction or not. Discuss the conversation with your team.

Thanks for reading the post 🎉