Some books stay with you. The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick is one of those books for me. I’ve read it, I’ve listened to it on Audible — at least five times already — and I know I’ll listen again. It’s short, sharp, and every time I return to it, I pick up something new.
At its core, this book is about how to talk to customers. More importantly: how to ask them the right questions so you actually learn what they want, instead of confirming what you already believe. It’s a guide to solving real customer problems rather than the imaginary ones we invent in our own heads.
And this isn’t just for entrepreneurs. Yes, every business owner should read it — whether you’re running a startup or managing a mature company. But it’s also a book for anyone who wants to develop real empathy. Not the “imaginary empathy” of guessing or assuming what people need, but genuine understanding built through better conversations.
Fitzpatrick shows, with simple examples, how easily we drift away from listening. One moment we’re hearing the customer’s pain point, and the next we’ve redirected the conversation to our own idea, our own ego, our own problem. That’s why so many products and services end up reflecting the creator’s vision, not the market’s reality.
Reading The Mom Test is both humbling and empowering. It reveals how much I still have to learn about truly listening, about asking better questions, about creating something for others, not for myself. It’s a breakthrough book, one I recommend to anyone who wants to build not only better businesses, but better connections with people.
I still do exercises from this book regularly, reminding myself to check: am I really in dialogue, or am I slipping back into my own head? And that’s the power of The Mom Test: it’s not just a read — it’s a practice.
