This document provides tips and guidance for talking to users at different stages of a product development process. It discusses common mistakes to avoid like talking about your idea rather than the user's problem. It provides example questions to ask users like what is hardest about a particular task or problem. The document also describes how talking to users can be useful at the idea, prototype, and launched stages, including how to find initial users and identify best first customers to get feedback. It emphasizes keeping user interviews casual, taking notes, and being respectful of users' time.

1. How to talk to users

2. Good founders maintain a direct
connection to their users.
No middleman!

3. Write code.
Talk to
users.

4. Three common errors you
probably make when talking to
users…
From The Mom Test
by Rob Fitzpatrick

5. 1. Talk about their life, not your
idea
The Mom Test

6. 2. Talk specifics, not hypotheticals
The Mom Test

7. 3. Listen, don’t talk
The Mom Test

8. Five great questions you can ask in
every user interview

9. 1. What’s the hardest part about
[doing this thing]?

10. 2. Tell me about the last time you
encountered that problem...

11. 3. Why was that hard?

12. 4. What, if anything, have you done
to try to solve the problem?

13. 5. What don’t you love about the
solutions you’ve tried?

14. Talking to users is useful at all stages:
- Got idea?→find users with problem
- Built prototype→best first customer
- Launched→find product market fit

15. Find first users with problem
- Friends, coworkers, intros
- Drop by in person!
- Industry events
Idea Stage

16. Tips
- Take notes
- Keep it casual
- Careful with their time
Idea Stage

17. Identify best first customers
Prototype Stage

18. Find numerical answers to:
- How much does this problem cost
them?
- How frequent is the problem?
- How large is their budget?
Prototype Stage

19. Severity of Pain
(ROI, Savings)
Frequency
(Daily, Monthly)
Ability to Fix?
(Budget, Authority)
Prototype
Stage

20. Prototype
Stage

21. Prototype Stage

22. Iterate towards Product Market Fit
Launched Stage

24. measure the percent who answer
“very disappointed.”

25. measure the percent who answer
“very disappointed.”
Achieved PMF when value is >40%

26. Tips:
- Ask for phone # during sign up
- Don’t design by committee
- Discard bad data
Launched Stage