Nice To Have Or Need To Have? Don’t Count On Mom To Make The Final Call

I came across a great article on Silicon Moon about how to most effectively gauge market interest in your product or service.  The original article was posted to Venture Beat.

Key question – Does it disrupt the numbing normalcy that we’ve grown used to in our daily lives?  Because if it doesn’t, there’s no market for it.  Period.  So, pick a new hobby.  Seriously.

Have you ever heard of the Mom test? A great article on The Startup Toolkit says that you should never run an idea past your mother because in her eyes, everything her child does is fabulous, therefore she’s not in a place to poke holes in it.  And if the idea stinks, she won’t be honest with you for fear of crippling your creativity and drive.

Not the case with my mom.  She’s probably the ugliest friend I have.  She shoots holes in EVERYTHING.  It doesn’t matter that I’m her daughter.  That never stops her from voicing her opinions.  That’s pretty much the opposite of the typical motherly response.

Jeez, it would be nice if she threw me a bone now and then.  She could preserve the remaining few shreds of my self-confidence.

Here’s another interesting point…even if you have the OMG idea, if you’re not passionate about it, it’ll still be a hard sell.  Because really, if you can’t believe in your product, no matter how good it is, how can you create a need for it?

It’s difficult.  Think about it, people who are super-dedicated to their efforts have a kind of contagious enthusiasm about them.  It can make the idea seem better than it may actually be, just because they are so driven.  Don’t get me wrong…it’s not going to apply to EVERY idea out there just because someone’s excited about it.  A person can be passionate about an organic edible handbag but that doesn’t mean people are going to actually buy it (or eat it, for that matter).

Am I right?