🔍 Mom Test Customer Discovery

Your Customer Discovery Plan — Small Law Firm Doc Review

Interview Structure

Each interview should be 30-45 minutes, structured roughly:

Minutes 0-5: Rapport + setting expectations

'Thanks so much for your time. I'm [name], exploring how small law firms handle document-heavy work. I'm NOT selling anything — I'm in research mode, trying to understand real workflows. I'll ask a bunch of questions about your day-to-day. Is it OK if I record for note-taking? (Share the eventual transcript or notes.)'

Minutes 5-15: Context + their world

'Tell me about your firm — size, practice areas, how you got here.'

What does a typical week look like?'

What aspects of the work do you enjoy most?'

Minutes 15-30: The pain zone (don't mention solutions yet)

'Walk me through the last big document-review project you did.'

'Where did that work become painful or tedious?'

'How much time did it take? How do you bill that?'

'What have you tried to make it faster or less painful?'

'What do you wish you could hand off to someone else?'

Minutes 30-40: Willingness to invest

'What did you spend on tools or help for that kind of work last year?'

'Who at your firm decides what software or services you adopt?'

'What has made you adopt new software recently — what broke through vs what didn't?'

Minutes 40-45: Referrals + close

'Who else at your firm or in similar firms would be interesting to talk to about this?'

'Is there anything I should have asked that I didn't?'

'Can I follow up if I have more specific questions later?'

Specific Questions to Use

Past-behavior anchors (gold standard):

• 'Walk me through the LAST time [specific scenario] happened.' [Specific, past, concrete]
• 'What did you try? What happened? What did you do next?'
• 'How often does that happen?'

Pain-specific probing:

• 'What's the hardest part of [their described process]?'
• 'What gets you frustrated with the current way?'
• 'What would have to change for [pain point] to go away?'

Investment signals:

• 'What have you already tried to solve this?' [Their workarounds reveal pain intensity]
• 'What tools or services have you paid for in the last year for this kind of work?'
• 'How much is [the problem] costing you per month in lost time?'

Network signals:

• 'Does this problem come up in conversations with other attorneys?'
• 'Who else shares this problem? Other firms like yours?'

Specific Questions to AVOID

• ❌ 'Would you use a tool that does X?' (Will always get 'probably yes' — worthless)
• ❌ 'If I built you X, would you pay for it?' (Same problem)
• ❌ 'What do you think of [my product idea]?' (Contaminates with your solution)
• ❌ 'How would you design a better system?' (Customers are not product designers)
• ❌ 'Would [specific feature] be helpful?' (Leading, contaminated)
• ❌ 'What are your biggest frustrations?' (Too abstract — probe specific situations instead)

How to Interpret Responses

Strong signal of real pain:

• They've already tried multiple solutions (paid tools, hired help, specific workarounds)
• They can quantify the cost in hours or dollars
• They describe it with emotion (frustrated, furious, 'makes me want to quit')
• They've talked about it with colleagues
• They have specific workflows they've developed AROUND the problem

Weak signal (don't over-weight):

• 'Yeah, that's kind of annoying, I guess.' [Mild, no workaround attempts]
• 'We've just learned to live with it.' [Acceptance, not motivation]
• 'I don't have time to deal with that.' [Deprioritized — unlikely to adopt solution quickly]

False positive (watch for this):

• 'Oh yeah, that would be great!' when you pitch your idea [politeness bias]
• 'I'd definitely pay for that!' in abstract hypothetical [future-hypothetical bias]
• Excitement about YOUR enthusiasm, not the problem [social mirroring]

Sourcing Interviewees

You have 2 attorneys personally — that's the foundation.

Path to 15 interviews:

1. Warm referrals from your 2 contacts (aim for 3-5 additional)

- 'Hey, I'm exploring how small firms handle doc review. Do you know 2-3 attorneys at firms like yours who'd give me 30 min? Just for research, not selling.'

2. LinkedIn cold outreach (aim for 7-10)

- Target: attorneys at 5-15 lawyer firms, associate level or partner, specifically in transactional law or litigation (heavy doc review)

- Message template:

> Hi [Name], I'm [your name], researching document-review workflows at small law firms. Not selling anything — genuinely trying to understand the day-to-day challenges. Would you have 30 min in the next 2 weeks for a conversation? Happy to share what I learn from others.

3. ABA Small Firm Resource Center or state bar associations — sometimes they have communities of small-firm lawyers open to research

4. Paid interviews: $100 gift card can unlock interviews. For 15 attorneys × $100 = $1,500. Worth it to compress timeline from 6 weeks to 3.

5. Attend small firm legal tech conferences (ABA TECHSHOW, LawNext) — great for density of potential interviewees in 2-3 days

Pattern Recognition Framework

After 5 interviews:

• Are they describing the SAME pain in different words? Or different pains entirely?
• Are the specific past-behavior examples they give similar?
• What WORKAROUNDS are they using? Are any common?

After 10 interviews:

• Do you see a specific segment within 'small law firms' that's more pained than others? (e.g., litigation > transactional? 5-10 lawyers > 10-15?)
• Are they already paying for something adjacent? Where is that budget sitting?
• Is there a natural 'who decides' pattern? (Managing partner? COO? Tech chair?)

After 15 interviews:

• You should be able to write a precise Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
• You should know the SPECIFIC problem (not generic 'doc review')
• You should know what they've tried and WHY it failed
• You should have 3-5 direct quotes that capture the pain

What You're Looking For (to justify building)

GO signal:

• 10+ out of 15 describe the specific pain with similar details
• Multiple have tried paid solutions that didn't work
• They can quantify cost ($5K-$50K+ per attorney per year in lost time)
• They naturally ask 'wait — do you have something for this?' (pull signal)

PIVOT signal:

• Pain is real but different from what you thought
• The actual decision-makers aren't who you targeted
• Budget exists but in a different category than you expected

NO signal:

• Pain is mild, accepted
• They've learned to live with it
• Budget consistently low or non-existent
• Your 2-3 'enthusiastic' interviewees are outliers, not the pattern

Key Takeaways

• Mom Test: ask about past behavior, not hypothetical future behavior. 'Last time X happened' > 'Would you use a tool that does X?'
• Don't pitch your solution in first 15 minutes. Contaminates the interview.
• Silence is a tool. Wait 5 seconds after good answers — customers fill silence with deeper info.
• Look for evidence of investment (paid solutions tried, workarounds built, time spent). This indicates real pain.
• 15 interviews is the right target. 5-10 interviews reveal the pattern; 15 refines it.
• Sourcing: warm referrals first, cold LinkedIn second, paid ($100 gift cards) if needed to compress timeline.
• GO signal: 10+ of 15 describe same pain, quantify cost, some pull signal (they ask about your solution).
• Pivot signal: different pain than expected, different decision-maker, different budget category. Adjust your hypothesis.
• Document everything within 1 hour. Memory fades fast. Record + transcribe + notes.