Customer Discovery Without Lying to Yourself

The interview that left you feeling great is often the one that taught you least.

Founders ask whether people would use the idea, collect compliments, and leave convinced they have proof. Then nobody buys. The idea may have been fine. The questions asked for predictions and opinions, the people on the calls already liked the founder, and nobody was asked to commit to anything.

This course teaches the interview discipline behind The Mom Test, a practitioner's method from founder Rob Fitzpatrick's book, and puts it to work. You ask about what people already did, deflect praise into facts, and replace the three questions that produce false positives. You read real interest by what a prospect gives up: time, reputation or money. Then you audit who you talked to, read ten interviews as one set, and make the call to build, refine or kill.

"Compliments are the fool's gold of customer learning: shiny, distracting, and worthless." Rob Fitzpatrick, The Mom Test

Who it's for

Founders: keep hearing "I love it" and want to know whether anyone will pay.

Product and research teams: want interview habits that produce evidence, with less agreeable noise.

Anyone testing an idea: would rather find the flaw in a twenty-minute call than after months of building.