The term "Minimal Viable Product" (MVP) has been thrown around so much that it has almost become a cliché. Yet, many entrepreneurs still misunderstand its true purpose. They approach MVPs with a huge list of features, requirements, and a six-month roadmap pre-launch, leaving little room for potential users' feedback. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Instead of treating an MVP as a scaled-down version of the final product, consider it as a test of a hypothesis. When you don't have product-market fit, all you're working with are assumptions. The goal of an MVP is to validate these assumptions as quickly as possible, and you don't need six months to do it. Here's a step-by-step approach to launching an MVP the right way.