Mom Test examples — bad vs good, side by side
Four side-by-side conversation snippets showing the same founder running the same interview two ways — and getting completely different signal.
For the methodology — the 3 rules, the question structure — read the full Mom Test guide.
What does a good Mom Test conversation sound like?
Side-by-side dialogue: the bad version and the good version of the same moment. The bad versions dominate real interviews because they feel productive, and the slow meandering answer is the one that carries the signal.
- The dialogues are composites: patterns recombined into illustrative conversation, realistic wording, no single exchange verbatim
- Bad questions are common because they feel productive. “Would you use this?” returns a quick yes; “what did you do the last time?” feels slow and returns the answer
- Habit one: after every question you ask, count five silent seconds before saying anything else. The useful answer arrives in that gap
- Habit two: when the reply contains “would” or “usually”, ask instead for the specific last time it happened
- Good and bad sit next to each other on purpose, because the difference is usually one clause rather than a different topic
✗ Bad version
Founder: "We're building a project management tool for distributed teams. Would you use something like that?"
User: "Yeah, definitely. We're always looking for better tools."
Founder: "Great! Would you pay $20 a month per user?"
User: "Sounds reasonable. Send me a link when it's ready."
✓ Good version
Founder: "Tell me about how your distributed team currently coordinates work. What was the last project where coordination got hard?"
User: "Last quarter — we were rolling out a new feature across 3 time zones. Slack messages got buried, the PM didn't see blockers, two engineers worked on the same thing for a week."
Founder: "How did you eventually catch the duplication?"
User: "Standup the following Monday. Cost us $20K of engineering time."
Lesson:The bad version got two polite yeses and zero useful information. The good version surfaced a $20K pain point and the moment it was discovered.
✗ Bad version
Founder: "I'm thinking of building a fitness app that uses AI to design workouts. Sound interesting?"
User: "Yeah, sounds cool. I've been wanting to get back in shape."
Founder: "How much would you pay for that?"
User: "Like $10 a month? Maybe $15."
✓ Good version
Founder: "When was the last time you tried to start working out consistently?"
User: "Three months ago. Got a Peloton, used it for 5 weeks, stopped."
Founder: "What made you stop?"
User: "I got bored doing the same classes, and I didn't know which one to pick when I had 40 minutes."
Founder: "When you stopped, did you feel guilty about the cost?"
User: "Yeah. I'm still paying $44/month and I haven't opened the app in 6 weeks."
Lesson:The good version found the actual problem (boredom + decision fatigue) AND a strong willingness-to-pay signal ($44/month already being paid for unused service). The bad version got a hypothetical $10–15 price.
✗ Bad version
Founder: "We're building an AI assistant that joins your sales calls and writes summaries. Useful?"
User: "Yeah, our sales team would love that. We waste so much time on notes."
Founder: "How much would your team pay for it?"
User: "I'd need to check, but probably worth $30 a seat."
✓ Good version
Founder: "How does your team currently handle call notes?"
User: "Reps take notes in Salesforce after each call. Some are great, some are 2 lines."
Founder: "When was the last time bad notes caused a problem?"
User: "Last week. AE forgot a customer's objection from the discovery call, brought it up again on the demo. Customer got annoyed, deal slipped."
Founder: "What did you do about it?"
User: "Yelled at the rep. Asked why we don't have call recordings. Looked at Gong but it's $1,500/seat — out of budget."
Lesson:The good version surfaced the specific incident, the decision-maker behavior, the existing tool consideration, AND the budget ceiling. The bad version got a hypothetical $30 with no anchor.
✗ Bad version
Founder: "Would you use an app that plans your meals based on what's in your fridge?"
User: "Honestly, yes. I throw out so much food."
Founder: "Cool! What features matter most?"
User: "Probably barcode scanning, recipes, maybe a shopping list."
✓ Good version
Founder: "Walk me through last week's meals. What did you actually eat?"
User: "Ordered DoorDash 3 nights, made pasta twice, ate cereal for dinner once."
Founder: "You said you throw out food — when was the last time?"
User: "Last Sunday. Found a half-bag of spinach and some chicken from a week ago. About $15 of food."
Founder: "What made you not cook them?"
User: "I came home tired, didn't want to think about what to make, ordered DoorDash. Then forgot they were there."
Lesson:The good version revealed the real problem isn't lack of recipes — it's decision fatigue at 7pm. Different product entirely than what the bad-version interview implied.
Catch yourself in real time
Reading the examples is easy. Catching yourself slipping into the bad version mid-conversation is hard. We built GoNoGo as a 15-min drill — voice AI asks Mom Test questions, then shows you the transcript with traps highlighted.
Practice for free →15 min · No credit card · Then talk to humans