Cheatsheet
Decision Rules
Section titled “Decision Rules”| When… | Do… | Because… |
|---|---|---|
| You’re about to mention your idea in a learning chat | Don’t. Ask about their life. | Once they see your idea, they protect your feelings. |
| They compliment you | Ask “How are you dealing with this now?” | Compliments carry no data. |
| You hear “usually / would / might” | Ask “When’s the last time?” | People describe who they want to be. |
| They request a feature | Ask “What would that let you do?” | Requests should be understood, not obeyed. |
| They show strong emotion | Dig: “Tell me more about that.” | Emotion marks where the real problem is. |
| They say they’d pay but never searched for a fix | Discount it heavily. | If they haven’t looked for a solution, they won’t buy yours. |
| The response is lukewarm | Ask 1–2 questions on why, then thank them and leave. | “Meh” is reliable; pitching harder only creates false positives. |
| You don’t know if they care about the area | Zoom out: “What are your big goals right now?” | A premature zoom invents problems. |
| They say “If you can get me more X, I’ll pay” | Log it as product risk, not validation. | It confirms something never in doubt. |
| The product meeting ends with a compliment or stall | Ask for a commitment today. | Meetings succeed or fail; “went well” means failed. |
| The trial costs them nothing | Raise its cost. | The more they give up, the more you can trust them. |
| They won’t make intros | Assume you’re too pitchy or formal, or they don’t care. | Take their nice words with extra salt. |
| You avoid a question | Ask what you’d tell a delegate to do, then do it. | At least one question per chat should scare you. |
| You need a formal meeting | Use VFWPA, then take control. | Unframed meetings become bad sales meetings. |
| You can’t say where to find your segment | Keep slicing. | A good segment is a who-where pair. |
Which Conversation Is This?
Section titled “Which Conversation Is This?”- Is the problem real and important? → casual chat, no idea mentioned, about 5 min.
- How do they handle it now? → “Talk me through the last time” or “your workflow”, 10–15 min.
- How does the industry work? → expert conversation, 1 hour or more; let them talk.
- Do they want my solution? → product meeting of about 30 min (5 lateness / 5 hello / 5 goals, problems, budget / 10 show / 5 next steps), ending with a commitment request.
- Is the risk mostly in the product? → talk less, build sooner, and still check willingness to pay.
Commitment Strength
Section titled “Commitment Strength”| Currency | Weak | Strong |
|---|---|---|
| Time | A ten-second sign-up for a free trial | A next meeting with goals, wireframe feedback, a real trial period |
| Reputation | “I’ll intro you when you’re ready” | An intro now to a boss, team, or decision maker; a public case study |
| Cash | “I would definitely buy that” | An LOI, pre-order, or deposit; “Can I buy the prototype?” |
| Combinations, such as a paid trial with their whole team, are the strongest. |
Meeting Endings
Section titled “Meeting Endings”- Great: “Can I buy the prototype?”
- Good: “What are the next steps?” (if you know yours); “When can you come back to talk to the rest of the team?”
- Maybe: “When can we start the trial?” Check what it costs them.
- Bad: “Love it!”; “Let me know when it launches”; “I’ll intro you when you’re ready”; “I’d definitely buy that”
Thresholds and Defaults
Section titled “Thresholds and Defaults”- 3 Mom Test rules; 3 big questions per type of person; at least 1 scary question per conversation.
- A 1-hour formal meeting costs about 4 hours in total.
- Prep: up to 1 hour of best guesses; 5 minutes of LinkedIn and website checks; 10 minutes at minimum.
- At most 2 people from your side: one talks, one takes notes.
- 3–5 conversations may be enough in a simple, familiar industry. More than 10 with scattered answers means the segment is too vague.
- Most individual questions can be answered within a week. Talk for 1–2 weeks before offering something to commit to.
- Founders attend in person until sales are repeatable.
Warning Signs
Section titled “Warning Signs”- “That meeting went really well.” / “Everybody loves it.” → you collected compliments.
- A pipeline of zombie leads → you never asked for commitments.
- You talked more than they did → you were pitching.
- An unexpected answer didn’t change anything → the question wasn’t important.
- Twenty conversations give twenty must-have features → you’re mixing segments.
- “Because the customers told me so!” → learning bottleneck.
- No notes, or notes nobody reviewed → you’re going through the motions.
- Before any conversation, ask: “What do we want to learn from these guys?”