You finally sit down with a senior clinician who seems interested in your solution. You pitch your medtech idea — and they nod. They smile. They say, “That sounds amazing!”
You walk away thinking: we’re onto something.
But then… crickets. They don’t reply to your emails. They don’t introduce you to colleagues. They never become a customer.
What went wrong?
According to The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick, probably everything.
This book teaches founders how to ask better questions, ones that lead to real insights, not polite lies. Especially in healthcare, where people are busy, risk-averse, and socially conditioned to be encouraging, learning how to run a good customer conversation is a superpower.
If you want to stop being misled by flattery and start finding the truth, this book is essential reading.
Welcome back to this week’s Medtech Mentor Book Club, building on our last Monday Masterclass on discovery interviews… we hope you like it!!
💡 Why This Book Matters for Medtech Founders
You only get so many shots at speaking to clinicians, patients, or procurement leads. The Mom Test helps you make them count.
It teaches you how to:
- Avoid biased, vague, or overly optimistic feedback
- Ask questions that uncover genuine pain points and behaviour
- Get useful insights even from short, casual conversations
In medtech, where building the wrong thing can be hideously expensive, and waste not just money but time and sometimes even trust and credibility, mastering these skills early can save your startup.
📘 Top 5 Takeaways & Insights
1. Don’t Ask If Your Idea Is Good:
If you ask someone – especially someone nice, like your mum, what they think of your idea, they’ll lie to protect your feelings. That’s the trap.
Instead, ask about their past behaviours and lived experience, not their opinions.
2. Look for Evidence in the Past, Not Guesses About the Future
Good questions ask are things like “When did you last experience that problem?” and “What did you do to solve it?” instead of “Would you use this?”
Your aim should be to walk through a real life example of the last time they had a similar problem, how they solved it, and ideally identify why the existing alternative/way of solving the problem is insufficient.
3. Compliments Are Worthless; Problems Are Gold
If someone says, “That sounds cool,” it’s not evidence. If they say, “I’d pay to solve this today, and I’m looking for a new solution” that’s gold.
Watch what they do, not what they say. Hypotheticals are dangerous!
4. Always Be Learning, Never Be Pitching
Customer discovery isn’t about convincing people you’re smart or that your solution is brilliant. It’s about humbly testing whether your idea solves a real problem. Stay curious, not persuasive.
If you are doing most of the talking – you are doing it wrong!!
5. Have a Clear Learning Goal for Each Conversation
Don’t just chat. Know what you’re trying to learn. Prepare your 3 most important questions — and be ready to shut up and listen!
🧠 How to Apply This as a Medtech Founder
Before your next user interview:
- Write down your assumptions, what you think is true
- Turn each assumption into a question you can test
- Focus on understanding the user’s current workflow, frustrations, and budget
During the conversation:
- Avoid pitching — you’re not trying to impress them
- Ask about the last time they encountered the problem
- Dig into what they did, how often it happens, and how they solved it
Afterwards:
- Write up your notes
- Look for patterns: is this a real, widespread, urgent problem?
- Let the evidence guide what you build next
✅ Who This Book Is (and Isn’t) For
Great if you…
- Are preparing for customer discovery or interviews (If you haven’t done these yet you SHOULD be!!)
- Have limited access to real users and want to make every chat count
- Are building B2B medtech solutions that require deep understanding of user context
Less useful if you…
- Are scaling sales and already validated your market
- Want detailed frameworks for pitching or closing deals
- Prefer product-led discovery over direct user interviews
🔗 Further Reading & Resources
- Get you copy here you won’t regret it!
- Check our our Monday Masterclass blog for more on discovery interviews and why they are important
- 👉 Follow us on LinkedIn or sign up below to join our mailing list to get these blog posts, insights and expert tips straight to your inbox/
- 🧰 Free Resource: if you sign up below get access to our awesome Medtech Founder’s Starter Pack – filled with tools, advice and useful stuff!!
P.S. we do use affiliate links which means we get a small amount of money if you buy something – this is at no cost to you and we never recommend anything we don’t think is awesome! Thanks for reading!