The Mom Test Customer Validation Framework

What it does

The Mom Test Customer Validation Framework is a Cursor skill: a SKILL.md playbook that AgenticKit installs at .cursor/skills/mom-test. Cursor's agent loads it when the task matches the skill description, instead of stuffing the same rules into every chat.

Validating startup ideas using Rob Fitzpatrick's 'The Mom Test' rules: ask about past behavior, avoid hypotheticals, and listen for real commitment.

Asking past-behavior questions, avoiding false compliments, and real commitments. The file is domain knowledge, not a slash macro. You do not type it. The agent reads it when the job is mom test.

Why it exists

Default Cursor has no memory of how your team ships positioning, copy, and launch assets. Founders paste the same conventions into chat, then watch the model drift on the next turn. This skill exists so those conventions live on disk and load only when relevant.

It ships in the Marketing Kit. It is wired to the User & JTBD Researcher (market-researcher) and Growth Marketing Lead (growth-strategist) agents. It is wired to the /feature-spec: PRD & Product Feature Requirement Spec and /positioning: Product Positioning & ICP Strategic Framework commands. That graph is the point: the skill is the standard, the agent is the role, the command is the trigger.

When to use it

• Use The Mom Test Customer Validation Framework when the work is specifically about asking past-behavior questions, avoiding false compliments, and real commitments.
• Load it before a long session that will touch this surface more than once. A one-line edit does not need the full playbook.
• Use it when you are writing something a buyer will see: landing copy, launch posts, SEO pages, or positioning docs.

When not to use it

• Do not treat the skill as a replacement for a slash command. Skills teach. Commands run a pipeline.
• Do not paste the whole SKILL.md into chat. If Cursor is not loading it, fix the description or invoke the matching command.
• Do not use it to generate spam or spray the same launch post across every channel.

Example workflow

1. Install the Marketing Kit so .cursor/skills/mom-test lands in the repo.
2. Open a new Cursor agent chat pointed at the files this skill governs.
3. Ask the User & JTBD Researcher (market-researcher) to read the skill, or run /feature-spec: PRD & Product Feature Requirement Spec.
4. Review the first artifact against the practices below. If it violates one, stop and correct the file. Do not prompt 'just finish it'.
5. Commit the skill-guided files with the rest of the slice so the next session inherits the same standard.

Example usage

Example prompt: "Read .cursor/skills/mom-test and apply it to this change. Do not invent extra conventions."

Or trigger the pipeline: /feature-spec: PRD & Product Feature Requirement Spec. That command is written to load this skill.

Check the output against: Talk about the customer's actual life and past actions instead of your idea

Example output

• The skill itself does not write a single output file. It changes what the agent is allowed to produce in positioning, copy, and launch assets.
• When you run /feature-spec: PRD & Product Feature Requirement Spec, expect repo files plus notes under docs/, not a chat-only answer.

Best practices

• Talk about the customer's actual life and past actions instead of your idea
• Ask about specific instances in the past rather than generic opinions
• Discount compliments and seek real commitments (time, money, or reputation)
• Stop pitching during research interviews. Listen and take verbatim notes

Common mistakes

• Ignoring "Talk about the customer's actual life and past actions instead of your idea" and hoping a later prompt will clean it up.
• Copying the skill into .cursor/rules as always-on. That burns context and fights Cursor's load-on-match design.
• Running two overlapping skills that contradict each other in the same turn.
• Publishing generated copy without a human pass. The skill is a playbook, not a publisher.