How do you pitch an idea to a client?
Show the client their problem solved, ask for one small next step, and send it so they can show colleagues. A pitch structure, and which format to use.
On this page
- What makes a pitch land with a client?
- How do you structure the pitch?
- Slides or a prototype: which should you pitch with?
- How do you pitch when you are not in the room?
- What do you do after the pitch?
- Questions people ask
- Should I build a prototype before the client has agreed to anything?
- What if the client asks for a deck?
- How do I pitch to several people at one company?
- How do I know if the pitch landed?
- Do they need to install anything?
- Sources
- About the author
- Related guides
By Kaz Kato · Published 12 October 2026 · Updated 12 October 2026
Show the client their problem solved, rather than describing your answer to it. Start with what the problem costs them today. Then show the idea working, on data that looks like theirs, and ask for one small next step. Afterwards, send it so they can try it again and show the colleagues who decide.
This guide covers what makes a pitch land, a structure you can reuse, which format to pitch with, and how the pitch keeps working once you have left the room. It is written for anyone selling an idea: agencies, consultants and founders alike. Pitching a website and bringing a prototype to an agency pitch apply it to two common briefs.
What makes a pitch land with a client?
Kaz’s view, not a measured finding: a pitch lands when the client recognises their own problem early, and sees it solved before you ask for anything. What loses them is a pitch about you: your process, your team, your tools. Keep those for when they ask. Show the thing, then stop talking.
Three things, in Kaz’s view, separate a pitch that moves from one that is politely received:
- It is about their problem, in their words. Not the category, not the market: the thing that annoyed them last week.
- They can see it, not just hear it. An idea they have used is easier to say yes to than one they had to imagine.
- The ask is small. A second meeting, a pilot, an introduction. Not the whole budget on the first call.
How do you structure the pitch?
Open with their problem and what it costs them now, then show the idea working on the two or three moments that matter. Close with one next step, and send the whole thing afterwards so it can be shown again. Six steps, in this order, work for a meeting, a call or a link sent cold.
- Their problem, in their words — say it back the way they said it to you, so they know you listened.
- What it costs them now — use their own figure, from them or their reports. Never one you made up.
- The idea, shown working — the screen or the flow that removes the problem, on mock data shaped like theirs.
- The moments that matter — the two or three points they will repeat to their boss. Leave everything else out.
- One next step — a meeting, a pilot or an introduction. One, not a menu.
- Send it afterwards — a link they can open again, and pass to the people who were not there.
Slides or a prototype: which should you pitch with?
Pitch with a prototype when the idea is something people will use, and with slides when it is a strategy, a price or terms. Most pitches need both: the working idea for the part that has to be believed, and a page or a deck for the detail. The table compares five formats by what you learn afterwards.
| Format | What the client gets | Effort for you | What you learn afterwards | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A conversation | Your words | Low | What they say in the room | Early, informal |
| A slide deck | Claims and pictures | Medium | Whether it was opened, at best | Strategy, price, terms |
| A one-page proposal | The offer in writing | Low | Whether they reply | The deal is nearly agreed |
| A clickable mock-up, such as Figma | Screens to click through | Medium | Not described by Figma | The design is the idea |
| A working prototype in a Roomi room (ours) | The idea working, with a guided tour | Higher, and less if you build it with AI | Who opened it, what held them, who they passed it to | The idea is a product |
On the mock-up row: Figma can put a password on a design file or a prototype on any of its paid plans. Its help page names sharing with external clients, and with people who don’t have a Figma account, as uses for it. Figma’s help page on password protection says nothing about a record of who opened a protected file or prototype.
We make Roomi, so read its row with that in mind. It is in the table because it is the format this guide argues for, and the product page shows it working.
How do you pitch when you are not in the room?
Assume the pitch will be forwarded to people you never met, and let it tell itself. A short guided tour walks each viewer through the idea in your order, with a line on what to notice at each step. And a link made for one person names whoever it reaches next, so you see who is deciding.
- Write a tour of three to six steps, one idea each, in the order you would say it out loud. Writing the tour has the rules. The demo tour script is a template to copy.
- Make one link per person. Each link is named for its viewer, and everything they do is filed under that name.
- Expect it to travel. Whoever opens a forwarded link is asked whether they are the person it was made for. Someone who says no gives their name, and appears under the same link.
When you send each link, tell the person who you are, that the room records what they do in it, and how to reach you about that. Roomi’s terms ask you to, and one line in your message does it.
What do you do after the pitch?
Read what each person did before you follow up. See who opened it, how far through the tour they got, what they came back to and who they passed it to. Then send one short message about the part that held them, with one next step, while it is still fresh for them.
How to follow up after a demo says what to send for each thing a viewer did, and the follow-up email gives the texts. If you are replacing a deck with the working idea, sending a demo instead of a deck covers the switch.
Questions people ask
Should I build a prototype before the client has agreed to anything?
Kaz’s view: yes, if it is small and aimed at the moment that decides the deal. Build the screen that solves their problem, on mock data, not the whole product. If the client has asked for no unpaid work, respect that and pitch with words.
What if the client asks for a deck?
Send both. Put the deck in the room as a PDF, where it opens in the room’s own reader beside the working idea, and you see which pages were read.
How do I pitch to several people at one company?
Give each person their own link, named for them. If one passes it on, the next person is asked who they are, and any viewer can ask you to bring in a colleague.
How do I know if the pitch landed?
Look at what each person did: whether they came back, how far through the tour they got, and what they answered to “What happens next?”. Their stage on the pipeline follows from that.
Do they need to install anything?
No. Their link opens the room in a browser, on a laptop or a phone. They need no account, and nothing is downloaded to their machine.
Sources
- Figma: help.figma.com/hc/en-us/articles/5726720100247-Add-password-protection-to-files-and-prototypes, checked 12 October 2026
About the author
Kaz Kato, Co-founder & CTO, Roomi. Kaz co-founded Roomi with Tesh, whom he has built with since 2017: two startups that failed, one venture studio that didn’t, and an exit.