How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you
by Rob Fitzpatrick
Recommended by Hiten Shah
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Recommended by 1 source and appears in Best Startup Books, Entrepreneurship, and Management.
The Mom Test is a quick, practical guide that will save you time, money, and heartbreak. They say you shouldn't ask your mom whether your business is a good idea, because she loves you and will lie to you. This is technically true, but it misses the point. You shouldn't ask anyone if your business is a good idea. It's a bad question and everyone wi...
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Why recommended
Recommended by 1 source and appears in Best Startup Books, Entrepreneurship, and Management.
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
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Consider The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. Recommended by 60 sources.
“A blunt, conversational tour through the worst parts of building a company. Horowitz shares personal stories from his own startup failures and recoveries, offering practical wisdom on layoffs, pivots, CEO loneliness, and managing when times are bad. The value is in the honest, experience-based insight you won't get from business school. The limitation is its narrow focus on venture-backed tech startups—if you're not in that world, some advice may feel irrelevant. Reads like a wise mentor telling you what nobody else will.”
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.
