How well can you explain WTF you do? How easily can your audience understand the value of your startup? How simple is your message, so a bystander can pitch it to a potential user?
Try out the mommy test.
Explain your startup to your Mom (or another relative, or your spouse, or partner, or neighbor…) and see what they understand, what they retain, and what they can pitch back to you.
How well did they do? Was the greatness of your solution easily understood? Was it obvious? Would you be happy to try it out or fork out a payment to use it?
The Mommy Test is very important to see how easy and clear your pitch is.
‘but my Mom isn’t my audience’; ‘I don’t want my Mom as a user’, ‘my Mom doesn’t understand enough to get what I do’…and more.
True, these are likely correct, but, and this is a big but…who cares?
If you can simplify your message and value sufficiently to make your solution’s greatness even obvious to your parents, then you can always dig deeper and get as technical or detailed as needed to improve the explanation to a potential user/audience.
…but not the other way around.
Moreover, you never know who you’re going to get a chance to pitch your startup to on your next elevator ride – it just might be the wife of your biggest investor, a friend of your best product evangelist, or a silent but powerful potential user.
…and if that person isn’t your exact audience, they may be an influencer to the one that is; don’t you want them to understand your value clearly as well? clear enough they could possibly introduce it to someone who can assist in one way or another.
The mommy test is powerful, practical, and will only help you perfect your message to your real audience and users.