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The Mom Test Book Review

Writer's picture: Jolie RadunichJolie Radunich

Finding a teacher willing to talk about their problems feels like finding treasure.


I mean, it's a catch-22, because I don't want teachers to have problems. But I know how helpful solutions to teacher problems can be as an ex-edtech kid, privileged to grow up on some of the greatest industry tools coming out of the 2000s.


I crave having more one-on-one conversations with teachers. With my product marketing background, this wish feels like a 101 talking point that simply doesn't happen as much as I'd like.


Educators are busy. So are product marketers and other business professionals in the industry. Maybe it's the combination of a tall workload and build-up to pressing send on an email request to chat that's the most taxing?

It's an excuse I'm tired of hearing.


I haven't experienced working at a company that has one of the mythical, well-oiled Win-Loss Programs I often read about on LinkedIn and Klue. This isn't a knock—my colleagues across companies aren't shy about clueing me in on this either. If anything, they've patted me on the back for calling out the need to pay more attention to this part of my role.


However, any chance to develop a standardized process to work in more teacher chats was quickly met with new knowledge that it takes far more approval from the executive leadership team than the commitment of an eager individual contributor can provide, to implement one.


Luckily, you or I don't have to rely on the health of corporate systems to have meaningful customer conversations.

Copy of the  "The Mom Test" book in front of a laptop displaying similar content on a website. Pink and white design, focused setting.

How I went into reading The Mom Test

I've known about The Mom Test for a few years.


On top of starting my senior year at NYU, I enrolled in a 16-week tech certificate program called School16. Somewhere between the first class and learning four no-code tech career paths, I got introduced to product marketing and the book. Then it came across my mind again over the holidays.


I love to learn about startups in my free time. As I'm more eager to understand how big problems in education are solved, I know that customer discovery is a key early step for aspiring entrepreneurs to validate the problem they want to solve, mainly: to make sure this is a real problem that real customers face.


I made two cold calls to teachers over the Christmas holiday, to validate the need for high school core curriculum to connect CTE pathways. It's just an idea I've been kicking around and looking into on my own.


Then I bit the bullet and ordered The Mom Test to tighten my interview skills, understand how to find more teachers to interview, and turn interview notes into data to help build a product. I read this book as an aspiring entrepreneur, with corporate experience.


The Mom Test Tip #1: Balance talking and building

Doing too much of either on its own won't help your ambitions.


This reminder takes me back to something I learned in my favorite undergrad business class: You have to get out of the building. You have to talk to customers to validate that you're building something they truly want. And once you build that thing, it's your job to keep going back to them to continually collect feedback.


But to the other extreme, don't spend so much time talking that you forget to work on creating an impactful solution.


The Mom Test Tip #2: Focus on the idea, not your idea

Don't excitedly tell your audience all about what you're building and expect them to provide unbiased answers to your questions about their problems.


You'll be left with fluffy advice that makes you feel good or confident that you're moving in the right direction with your idea. Remember, compliments are fool's gold—shiny, distracting, and worthless.


What you won't get from the conversation are helpful insights that direct how you can continue to build your solution—or if you should be building it in the first place.


This advice also applies to what you decide to build. Edtech, for example, is a mission-driven industry. If you're early enough in your startup journey to be doing customer discovery work, it's more valuable to focus on how you will get to the learning outcomes you want to provide. It's less important to hyperfocus on the exact product and its features at this stage.


The Mom Test Tip #3: Get into their world

90% of marketing is understanding people.


If you're planning to create a solution that impacts real lives, you'll need to talk/market/message to them in real ways.


Across marketing channels, the words you use need to instantly resonate with the buyer/user in a way that makes it sound like they wrote your landing page/email/social copy. Use their words to sell your story.


Consistently talking to your target buyers and users will give you the language to do just that, time and time again.


My personal action items after reading The Mom Test

Now that I've finished the book (yay!) it's time for me to get back in the field and talk to more prospective teacher users and admin buyers.


I had a networking call in the middle of reading and realized this: There aren't many opportunities to meet with teachers in person, outside of their school environment. The taxing nature of the job makes teachers unlikely to attend meetups and other events that fall outside of their workday.


Getting that feedback won't stop me from penciling in milestone edtech events I want to attend throughout the year, but I am approaching my outreach strategy slightly differently.


I'm doubling down on my expansive NYU network by using LinkedIn to find candidates and set up more cold calls.


 

In this series, I'm breaking down what I'm reading by sharing why I picked it up, major themes, and takeaways. If you want to read more, subscribe.



Appendix

I take notes by using a highlighter to mark up a physical copy of the book. Then I type what I've marked up into a Google Doc.


Diary building a founder's mindset in edtech💪

© 2025 by Jolie Radunich

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