Spot the poisoned question · round 1 of 4
RAPID FIRE · keep scoreWhich one poisons the answer?
A
Would you use an app that organizes your notes automatically?
B
Walk me through the night before your last mock exam.
▸ reveal after the vote
A is poisoned, minus a point if you picked it as safe. It begs for a polite yes. B gets a story, and stories cannot lie.
Spot the poisoned question · round 2 of 4
RAPID FIRE · keep scoreWhich one poisons the answer?
A
What did you do the last time you forgot homework?
B
Do you think forgetting homework is a big problem for students?
▸ reveal after the vote
B is poisoned, minus a point. It asks for an opinion about people in general. A asks what YOU actually did, plus a point.
Spot the poisoned question · round 3 of 4
RAPID FIRE · keep scoreWhich one poisons the answer?
A
How much would you love a study planner with AI?
B
Have you ever paid for anything that helps you study? What was it?
▸ reveal after the vote
A is poisoned, minus a point. Love is free and worthless. B checks for real past spending, behaviour not feelings, plus a point.
Spot the poisoned question · round 4 of 4
HARDER · no bait wordsThis one's sneakier. No "wouldn't you" in sight.
A
What's the most annoying part of group projects for you?
B
Walk me through your role in the last group project you were part of.
▸ reveal after the vote
A is poisoned, minus a point, just quietly. "Most annoying part" assumes something IS annoying and fishes for a complaint. B asks for one real memory with no assumption baked in, plus a point.
You first
Why would your own mother lie to you?
▸ click to reveal after they answer
Because disappointing you costs her more than a small lie costs anyone. Every adult you interview runs the same math, just with a smaller discount. In Beijing there is even a word for it, mianzi, face. Nobody wants to be the one who makes you lose yours by rejecting your idea out loud. So skip the opinion question. Ask about the LAST TIME the problem happened, behaviour tells the truth.
Why everyone lies
What they say vs what they do
Says
"This is so cool, I would use this every single day!"
Does
Closes the tab. Never opens it again. Downloads a different app the next morning.
Trust the second one. Always.
The three rules
The whole Mom Test, three moves
Their life, not your idea
The moment your app comes up, they get nice. Stay on their morning, their homework, their group chat.
Past behaviour, not future promises
Anyone can promise to use something tomorrow. Ask what they actually did last time.
Listen more than you talk
About 20 percent you, 80 percent them. Talking a lot means you are pitching, not interviewing.
Hear it in practice
Your idea vs their life
Your idea
So would you use an app that reminds you to submit homework on time?
Their life
Walk me through what happens the morning an assignment is due.
You first
In a good interview, what percent of the talking should be you?
▸ click to reveal after they guess
20%
you talk
80 percent them. If you are doing most of the talking, you already lost the interview, you are pitching.
The four questions
That is the entire script
01
Walk me through the last time you [problem]
02
What did you do about it? What did it cost you?
03 + 04
Tried anything else? · If this vanished forever, what would you honestly do?
Questions 1 and 2 of 4
Force one memory. Force a number.
Q1 · walk me through the last time
"Yeah that happens a lot" is a pattern, not a memory. Push for one exact time: where were you, what did you do the second after?
Q2 · what did it cost you
"It was annoying" is a feeling, not a cost. Push for a real number: minutes, yuan, or a grade.
Questions 3 and 4 of 4
Read the alternative. Read the honest future.
Q3 · tried anything else?
"No, nothing" rarely means no competition. It usually means the pain was not big enough yet, or they gave up. Ask why they stopped.
Q4 · if it vanished forever?
The trap: "well what if I built X, would you use that?" That is a pitch, not a question. Watch their face, not just their words.
Leading questions
A leading question hands them the answer
If your question contains "wouldn't", "don't you think", or your own idea, you already told them what to say. A neutral question makes them think for themselves.
Leading vs neutral, three times
By the third one, finish it yourself
Leading · homework
Don't you think it'd be great if homework reminders synced automatically?
Neutral
Walk me through how you keep track of homework deadlines.
Leading · splitting a bill
Wouldn't it be so much easier to split a bill with one tap?
Neutral
Tell me about the last time you split a bill with friends.
Leading · studying
You'd probably use an app that summarizes the textbook chapter, right?
Neutral
What do you actually do the night before a reading quiz?
Quick physical check · do it nowOFFLINE · screens closed
Turn to your neighbor. Ask them a leading question. On purpose.
1:00 on the clock
1Pick any topic. Lunch, homework, the weekend.
2Ask a question that hands them the answer: "Wouldn't it be great if..."
3If you just got asked one, raise your hand.
1:00
Room catches every hand
Before you dojo
How you sit changes what they say
Keep a poker face
Don't light up at good news, don't wince at bad news. Any reaction teaches them what to say next.
Let the silence sit
Count to three after they answer before you talk again. The real answer often comes after the pause.
Write their exact words
Quotes, not summaries · Destination: TEAM FOLDER. Put quotation marks on the page, live, while they are still talking.
The customer carousel · stand up now
OFFLINE · screens closedPAIR · rotating ringsTwo rings of chairs. Real answers only.
8:00 total
1Two rings, chairs facing in, or two facing lines. Outer ring: hold your own Day-1 problem card, answer AS YOURSELF about your real problem. Inner ring: interview them with the four questions.
22 minutes. Bell rings, inner ring rotates one seat: new customer, same four questions. Two rotations, three different interviews.
3Bell one more time: the whole rings swap roles. Outer ring now interviews, inner ring answers, for one final 2-minute round.
Real answers onlyInterviewers: behaviour questions only1 point per past-specific event surfaced
8:00
Materials: the bell · rotate on it, swap on the last ring
Why practice first
Claude will be meaner than your mom
It plays a polite, evasive, slightly-lying adult, exactly like a real interview, then it turns around and scores every leading question you asked. No human interview partner will do that for you.
Copy this prompt · run it now
The dojo: Claude plays the customer
Role-play a customer for my problem interview. Be realistic: polite, a bit evasive, occasionally lying to be nice, like a real adult talking to a student. After the interview, score me on this rubric: minus one point for every leading question I asked, plus one point for every question that got you to describe one specific past event instead of a general opinion. List each question you are scoring and why. Problem area: [X].
runs the same in Claude or ChatGPT.
Demo · watch one round first
I run round zero. Then you run round one.
LIVE DEMO · no rehearsal
"Role-play a customer for my problem interview. Then score me."
Run live, on a real problem from the room. Whatever the score says, it says.
YOU DO
Just watch this one. Open your own laptop and have the dojo prompt ready to paste, but don't run it yet. Notice the shape: interview first, score second.
The Claude dojo · do it now
FOLLOW ALONG · laptops openPAIR · interviewer + scorekeeperThe dojo, scored
5:00 on the clock
1Partner A interviews Claude-as-customer. Partner B scores on paper with the same rubric, live, at the same time as Claude.
2Same rubric, two scorers: minus a point per leading question, plus a point per real past event landed. Don't compare until time's up.
5:00
Compare: your partner's score vs Claude's
Debrief · 60 seconds
Compare your score with Claude's
Where you agreed
Same leading question or same past event, flagged by both scorers? That's a real habit, not a fluke.
Where you disagreed
Human scorekeeper and Claude called a question differently? Read it again together and decide who was right.
Fix ONE thing, then go
Not all three. You're interviewing for real in a few minutes: take your partner's worst habit and don't repeat it.
15:08
Read your biggest disagreement to the room
One pair reads a question where their human scorekeeper and Claude disagreed, out loud, and says who was right. This becomes the shared example everyone remembers walking out the door.
The real sprint
Who, what, and how you rotate
5+ interviews
Cross-team, staff, parents on WeChat, friends by video
Quotes, not summaries · Destination: TEAM FOLDER
Write what they SAID, on paper
Never pitch
You are a detective, not a salesperson
Work in pairs
One asks, one writes, silently. Never both talking at once.
Swap every interview
Whoever wrote last time asks next. Everyone gets both reps.
Mix your targets
At least three different kinds of people
Calling a parent
The WeChat call, step by step
1Voice or video call your parent. Tell them it's the deeper version of last night's four questions.
2Put the phone on speaker so your partner can hear and write too.
3Ask all four questions before you say one word about your idea.
4Thank them, hang up, write your best quote down before you forget it.
THE WALL wants quotes
Would you write this down?
Not a quote, an opinion
"I think that's such a good idea, I would totally use it!"
A quote worth the wall
"Last Tuesday I forgot my planner at home, so I just guessed on the reading and got it wrong."
Proof this actually works
Before Dropbox worked, its founder just showed people a video.
75,000 signups overnight, from one screen recording, before the product reliably worked. Drew validated before he built. You built first today, and that's fine, now it's time to find out if it works for someone besides you.
youtube.com/watch?v=3lVtP0HRvyA
Go deeper · optional
The Mom Test, and one legendary demo
The book today's four questions come from
short read
Rob Fitzpatrick's Mom Test, free excerpts and the whole framework, straight from his own site.
momtestbook.com
YC's version of today's whole lesson
~30 min
A Y Combinator partner on how to actually talk to users, the direct companion to what you practiced with Claude today. It is lecture length, so save it for tonight if you are hooked.
youtube.com/watch?v=z1iF1c8w5Lg
The demo video that got 75,000 signups
2 min watch
Drew Houston made a short video of Dropbox before Dropbox really worked. The most famous proof that talking to (and showing) real people beats guessing.
youtube.com/watch?v=3lVtP0HRvyA
All three are on the portal too.
15:15 · next
Right now: the interview sprint
60 minutes, 5+ real people, starting the second you leave this room. Tonight: two more interviews at home. Tomorrow's 9:00 kickoff: share your strongest quotes, then straight into naming and branding what you learned.