The Mom Test summary

Sometimes when you pitch your business idea to potential investors or sponsors they’re just not interested in it. And if they’re not going to invest in you, you’re ultimately wasting both your time and theirs. So make sure you’re on the right track by learning to recognize the signs of a good or a bad meeting.

There are a few tell-tale signs of a conversation gone bad. Compliments, for example, seem positive on the surface but usually indicate disinterest. When a people compliment your idea, they’re probably just being polite by avoiding outright rejecting you. Compliments allow them to divert the conversation away from the topic of investment so they can get back to doing whatever they’re really interested in. Compliments are often a polite way to get rid of you.

Start-ups rarely suffer from a shortage of options or ideas. In fact, they usually have too many. If you pursue every possibility out there, you’ll drown in a sea of projects and have nothing to show for it in the end. And how do you avoid this? By focusing on a small group of target customers.

Imagine you’re developing a fitness app, for example. You might think it would be wise to target young men and women with jobs to work around who want to stay healthy and fit. That’s not good enough, however. Your target group should be much smaller than that.

If you’ve ever been to an awkward meeting that dragged on for hours, you’ll know those kinds of meetings aren’t productive. You don’t want your talks with customers to end up the same way, so here are some strategies for keeping meetings effective.

First off, be casual. Allow your conversation partner to feel relaxed so he’ll open up about his feelings.