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Live Heuristic Demagnetizer · Rob Fitzpatrick Standard

Hypothetical Courtesy & Flattery Radar

Watch the scanner identify hypothetical trigger words. People are polite when asked about the future; they only tell the truth about what they actually did in the past.

CRITICAL SPECULATION BIAS
Flattery / False-Positive Risk:80%2 Speculative Patterns Flagged
Why Standard AI & Humans Give False Positives:People are polite and imaginary money is free. A customer will enthusiastically say 'yes' in an interview and never enter their credit card at launch.
Select Common Flawed Founder Questions:
Speculation Triggers Detected:Hypothetical Speculation ('Would you / Will you')Hypothetical Pricing Commit ('Would you pay')

The Mom Test Solution: 3 Hard Behavioral QuestionsZero Courtesy Bias

Never ask customers what they will do. Ask what they already paid for, suffered through, or hacked together in the last 30 days.

Rule 1: Past Behavior

“How did you create and send your last 5 client invoices? Walk me through the exact steps.”

Why This Works:Exposes whether invoicing is an active bottleneck or a trivial 5-minute task.

Rule 2: Existing Budget

“What software subscriptions or contractor hours do you currently pay for to manage billing?”

Why This Works:Proves whether a real line-item budget already exists.

Rule 3: Past Consequence

“When was the last time an invoice error or delay cost your company money or client trust?”

Why This Works:Quantifies the real commercial pain threshold.

Want to test these 3 Mom Test questions against an adversarial synthetic panel of 10 target buyers?
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