The Mom Test is a book about how to talk to customers and learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you. The book provides a framework for how to have honest conversations with customers, and includes case studies and examples of companies that have used the Mom Test to validate their businesses.

Rob Fitzpatrick is the author of The Mom Test, Write Useful Books and The Workshop Survival Guide.

1. Talk to real customers, not just your friends and family Your friends and family are not going to give you an honest opinion about your business idea. They'll either tell you what you want to hear or they'll be too afraid to hurt your feelings. To get an accurate gauge of whether or not your business is a good idea, you need to talk to real customers.

Steps to take: 1. Identify your target market. 2. Find a way to reach them. 3. Have a conversation, not a pitch. 4. Listen for pain points. 5. Ask for referrals.

2. Avoid confirmation bias and ask open-ended questions Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out information that confirms our existing beliefs and to ignore information that contradicts those beliefs. This can lead us to believe that our business idea is better than it actually is. To avoid confirmation bias, we need to be open-minded and willing to consider information that contradicts our beliefs.