The Mom Test

Biological Parallel

Vervet monkeys have distinct alarm calls for eagles, leopards, and snakes—because asking 'is there danger?' gets useless answers, but 'what specific threat?' gets actionable intel. The Mom Test is signal specificity: don't ask if someone likes your idea (social grooming); ask what specific problem they solved last Tuesday (reliable environmental data). Biology punishes organisms that can't distinguish honest signals from social noise. Customer development is environmental sensing, not validation-seeking.