You do not need an office, an app or an investor to find out whether your idea solves a real problem. In two weeks you can learn who has the problem, how they handle it today and whether they will commit to something better. All you need is your phone, a spreadsheet and a little money for chai and travel. At the end you make a clear decision: go ahead, change direction or stop.
Before you start: write down your guesses
Steve Blank, who shaped the customer development method, puts it simply: “Most entrepreneurs start a company with hypothesis not facts.” His answer is to get out of the building and test those guesses with real people.
Write three guesses on one page:
- Customer: who has the problem? Be specific, for example “owners of small pharmacies in Peshawar”.
- Problem: what goes wrong for them, and how often?
- Current solution: what do they do about it now, and what does it cost them in time or money?
Then write your stop rule before you speak to anyone. A hypothetical example: “If fewer than five of fifteen people mention this problem without prompting, I will change the customer or the problem.” Writing it first stops you from moving the goalposts later.
Days 1–2: choose who to talk to and book conversations
Aim for 15 to 20 conversations with people who match your customer guess. That is enough to see patterns without taking over your life.
Good places to find them in Pakistan:
- Your own WhatsApp contacts and the community groups you already belong to.
- LinkedIn, for business buyers and professionals.
- University societies and alumni groups, for student or graduate audiences.
- Markets and trade areas, for shopkeepers and wholesalers. Visit outside their busiest hours.
- Industry associations and chambers of commerce in your city.
- Directories such as Startup Network, if your customers are other startups.
How you ask matters. In The Mom Test, Rob Fitzpatrick notes that “Can I interview you?” sounds boring and “Do you have time for a quick chat?” gives people no reason to say yes. Be specific and honest instead:
“Assalam o Alaikum. I am researching how clinic owners in Rawalpindi manage appointments. I am not selling anything. Could I ask you 15 minutes of questions about how you do it today?”
If you have time on day 1, use Google Trends to compare how people search for the problem in Pakistan. It will not prove demand, but it can show seasonal patterns and the words people use.
Days 3–9: run the interviews
The Mom Test gives three rules that keep interviews honest:
- Talk about their life, not your idea.
- Ask about specific things that happened in the past, not opinions about the future.
- Talk less and listen more.
Do not pitch. As the book warns, “Once you start talking about your idea, they stop talking about their problems.” Also watch for fluff. Generic claims (“I usually”), future promises (“I would”) and hypotheticals (“I might”) feel positive but prove nothing. When you hear them, ask for a real example from last week or last month.
Sample question list
Adapt these to your idea and translate them into Urdu or a regional language if that is what your customers speak:
- Tell me about the last time this problem came up. What happened?
- What did you do about it?
- What else have you tried? Why did you stop using it?
- How much time or money does this cost you now?
- Who else is involved when you decide how to handle it?
- What is the hardest part of the whole process?
- How do you usually pay for services like this: cash, bank transfer, JazzCash or Easypaisa?
- Is there anything I should have asked but did not?
- Who else should I talk to about this?
Questions to avoid
- “Would you use an app that…?” People are polite and will say yes.
- “How much would you pay for…?” Ask what the problem costs them today instead.
- “Do you think this is a good idea?” The book calls compliments “the fool’s gold of customer learning”.
Take notes the same day
Use one row per conversation in a spreadsheet: role, city, whether they raised the problem without prompting, their current solution, what it costs, exact quotes and any commitment they offered. Ask permission before recording a call or voice note.
Days 10–12: ask for commitment
Interviews tell you what people say. Commitment tells you what they will do. The Mom Test describes commitment as giving up something of value: time, reputation or money.
Low-cost ways to ask for it:
- Time: book a follow-up session where they try a rough version, even a manual one you run over WhatsApp.
- Reputation: ask for an introduction to a decision-maker or to a peer with the same problem.
- Money: offer a pre-order or a small deposit by bank transfer, Raast or a mobile wallet. Tell people clearly that it is an early test and that you will refund them if you do not launch.
You can also make a one-page offer with a WhatsApp short link or QR code so interested people can message you directly. Count the messages, not the page views.
Days 13–14: decide
Fill in a simple scorecard:
- How many people described the problem without prompting?
- How many are already spending time or money on a workaround?
- How many gave you time, an introduction or money?
Compare the numbers with the stop rule you wrote on day zero. The book offers a useful test: if people have not already looked for ways to solve the problem, they are unlikely to look for, or buy, yours. Then make one of three calls:
- Go: the problem is common, painful and already costing people money. Plan a small first version.
- Change: the problem is real but belongs to a different customer, or the painful part is different from your guess. Run another sprint.
- Stop: nobody cares enough to act. You have saved months and money.
Your two-week checklist
- Write your customer, problem and current-solution guesses on one page.
- Set your stop rule before the first conversation.
- Book 15 to 20 conversations with people who match your customer guess.
- Use the question list. Ask about the past and never pitch.
- Log every conversation in a spreadsheet the same day.
- Ask for time, an introduction or a refundable deposit.
- Score the results on day 13 and make a go, change or stop decision on day 14.
Sources and further reading
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