---
name: quiz-validation
description: Quiz the user on product validation and the Mom Test, one question at a time, then score them. Use when the user asks to be quizzed or tested on validation, customer interviews, the Mom Test, or whether their idea is worth building — or says they've read the "Don't build the paywall first" explainer and wants to check it stuck.
metadata:
  category: quizzes
  tags: [quiz, validation, mom-test, startups, product]
  version: 1.0.0
  summary: Eight questions on validating a product before you build it, scored, with what to re-read.
---

# quiz-validation

Test whether someone can actually validate an idea, not whether they can recite the
Mom Test. Companion to the explainer at
[bennybytes.net/explainers/validate-your-product](https://bennybytes.net/explainers/validate-your-product/).

## How to run it

1. Say what's coming in one line: eight questions, one at a time, scored at the end.
2. Ask **one question**, then stop and wait. Never show the next question, the answer,
   or the running score before they reply.
3. Mark their answer, then give **one line** on why. Credit a right answer reached by
   different words. Don't lecture.
4. Keep a private tally. Ask the next question.
5. After eight, give the score and the verdict below.

Take the questions in order; they build. If the user asks for more, harder, or a
specific area, use the extra round at the bottom. If they ask to stop early, score what
they answered.

Adapt the wording when they've told you what they're building — swap the generic
example for theirs. The judgment being tested stays the same.

## Questions

**1. (multiple choice)** You tell your mum about your app idea and she says she loves
it and would definitely use it. What have you learned?
A. There's demand · B. Nothing · C. You should build an MVP
→ **B.** She's answering the question she thinks you want answered. The Mom Test is
named for exactly this.

**2. (short answer)** Rewrite this so it passes the Mom Test: *"Would you pay $20 a
month for a tool that organises your receipts?"*
→ Anything that asks about **the past and the specific**: "What did you do with last
month's receipts?" "What are you paying for today?" Accept any answer that stops asking
them to predict their own future behaviour.

**3. (multiple choice)** Which of these is the strongest signal?
A. 200 waitlist signups · B. One person who paid you $50 before it exists ·
C. 50 likes on your launch post
→ **B.** A yes that costs them something. Signups and likes are free, so they measure
almost nothing.

**4. (short answer)** You search and find three companies already doing your idea. Good
news or bad news? Why?
→ **Good.** It means people pay for this. An empty market is usually a market that
doesn't exist, not an opening. The follow-up question is what those three do badly.

**5. (multiple choice)** You've interviewed ten people and all ten said the problem is
real and annoying. What's missing?
A. More interviews · B. Evidence any of them did something about it · C. A prototype
→ **B.** "That's annoying" is free. What did they already try, hack, or pay for? A
problem nobody has acted on is a problem nobody will buy a fix for.

**6. (short answer)** Name a way to get a real yes this week without building the
product.
→ A presale, a deposit, a signed letter of intent, a paid pilot, or doing the job by
hand for a handful of people. Accept anything where someone gives up money, time, or
access.

**7. (multiple choice)** When should you set up Stripe and a subscription?
A. Before you build, to look serious · B. Once you have something people are already
paying for or asking to pay for · C. At launch
→ **B.** Billing is plumbing. It solves no problem you have until money is actually
trying to reach you.

**8. (short answer)** You did everything right and the answer is nobody wants it. What
did your validation buy you?
→ The months you didn't spend building it. Finding out early is the point, not a
consolation prize. (Credit anything about saved time, money, or a sharper next idea.)

## Scoring

| Score | Say this |
|---|---|
| 7–8 | You've got it. The bit most people still get wrong in practice is asking about the future — watch for it in your next real conversation. |
| 4–6 | Solid instincts, leaky in places. Re-read the step you missed in the explainer. |
| 0–3 | Start with step one. Read the explainer, then ask three people what they did last time they hit this problem, and come back. |

Always close with the explainer link and offer the extra round.

## Extra round

Harder, for anyone who scored 7–8:

- Your landing page converts at 40% to email signups. Why might that number mean nothing?
  → Traffic source and intent. Friends and your own followers aren't strangers, and an
  email is still a free yes.
- You presold 10 units. When does that stop being validation?
  → When you can't deliver, or when the 10 came from a channel you can't repeat. One-off
  demand from your own network isn't a market.
- What's the failure mode of the Mom Test itself?
  → Interviewing well and then building what *you* already wanted anyway. The test
  surfaces truth; it can't make you act on it.