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Never ask a customer if they'd buy your product
💡 Validate demand by asking about customers' actual past behavior — not by asking whether they'd like your idea, because everyone says yes to be polite.
Early founders love to pitch: they describe the idea and ask "Would you use this?" Almost everyone says yes — and almost everyone is lying to be nice. This is the core lesson of The Mom Test, a customer-discovery framework named for a simple truth: even your mom will tell you your idea is great, because she loves you. Enthusiasm from a friendly interview is the most dangerous signal in a startup, because it feels like validation while teaching you nothing.
The fix is to stop talking about your idea and instead ask about the person's past behavior and real life. Not "Would you pay for a meal-planning app?" but "Walk me through the last time you tried to plan dinners for the week — what did you actually do, and what went wrong?" Questions about specific past actions are hard to fake; questions about a hypothetical future invite polite fiction.
The strongest evidence isn't a compliment at all — it's commitment: someone giving up something they value, like their time, a referral to a colleague, or a pre-order deposit. "I love it" costs nothing to say. Handing over an email, a meeting, or money reveals what people truly believe.