How do I present a prototype to stakeholders?

By Kaz Kato · Published 20 October 2026 · Updated 20 October 2026

Send the prototype before the meeting, not just during it. Give each stakeholder their own link and a short guided tour of the few screens that matter, then use the meeting to discuss what they tried. You’ll know who opened it, so you can brief the ones who didn’t.

This guide covers what to send ahead, how to keep people on the screens that matter, and why each person gets a link of their own. Then how to run the meeting, what to do about the people who didn’t look, and how to be straight about what isn’t finished. It works for a client’s team or your own. Product teams and prototyping show it from each side.

What should you send before the meeting?

Send the working prototype itself, on a link, a few days ahead. Add a two-line note saying what it is and what you want from them, and a short tour of the screens that matter. People who have tried it come to the meeting with opinions, not first impressions.

• The prototype, running. Not a recording or screenshots. Something they can click.
• Mock data, made up for the purpose. Invented people, companies and figures, so nothing real is in it and nobody has to ask. How to use mock data in an AI-built demo shows how.
• A note of two lines. What it is, and the decision you want from the meeting.
• A guided tour. Covered next.

Every Roomi room says, on the page, that the demo runs on mock data and nothing reaches a real system. That line answers the first question most people ask.

How do you keep stakeholders on the screens that matter?

Give the prototype a short guided tour: a few steps, one idea each, in the order you would show it. Each step opens its screen and says what to notice. People can leave the tour to explore on their own, and start it again at any step, so nobody gets lost in a corner you haven’t built.

Three to six steps is the room’s own guidance. Start with who it is for, then the moment the product matters, then what the business gets. The demo tour script template has a table to plan it with, and writing the tour is the full reference.

If you built the prototype with Claude, ask it to deploy with a tour. It drafts the steps from the prototype’s own screens and shows you before anything goes live.

Should every stakeholder get their own link?

Yes. A link of their own tells you who tried the prototype, what they looked at and for how long, and what each person said. One shared link only tells you that someone opened it. And if a stakeholder forwards their link, you see who it reached, which tells you who else has a say.

Make the links in the app, from the terminal or by asking Claude. How to give each client their own demo link has the steps for each.

A forward is worth noticing. When someone new appears under a stakeholder’s link, the prototype has reached a person you may not have met. Offer them a link of their own, and ask whether they should be in the meeting.

How do you run the meeting itself?

Open with what people did, not with a demo. Say who tried it and where their time went. Take the comments they left, screen by screen. Then agree the decision you came for, who owns it, and by when. The meeting is shorter, because nobody is seeing it for the first time.

1. Before the meeting, read the room. Each person’s journey shows their visits in order: what they opened, how far through the tour they got, and where they stopped. The Feedback tab lists every comment, with the screen it was left on.
2. Start with what they tried. “Most of you went straight to the reports page. Let’s start there.”
3. Take the comments on their screens. Each comment comes with a picture of the screen it was pinned to, or the room’s outline of it, so you can put it up and talk about it.
4. Agree the decision. What happens next, who owns it, and the date.
5. Answer in the room afterwards. Reply to each comment in the Feedback tab. The person reads your reply the next time they open their link.

What do you do about the ones who didn’t open it?

Brief them before the meeting, not during it. A short note the day before, with their link again, is often enough. If they still haven’t looked, offer five minutes on a call to walk them through it. Then everyone arrives having seen it, and the meeting can stay on the decision.

You can see who hasn’t opened their link: their card on the pipeline is still in Sent. Don’t single anyone out in the meeting. A word in private works better than a roll call.

What if the prototype isn’t finished?

Say so, plainly, beside it. Add a page to the room listing what works, what is mock and what isn’t built yet. Stakeholders forgive a gap they were told about. They lose trust over one they found on their own, and the meeting turns into a list of bugs.

A room’s Read more holds pages you write, in Markdown or HTML, beside the prototype. One called “What this is, and what it isn’t” does the job. Prototype, MVP or proof of concept helps you name what you are showing.

Pick the meeting date first, then send the prototype with a tour, a link for each person, a few days before it.

Questions people ask

Should I present a prototype live or send it first?

Both. Send it first, so people try it in their own time. Then use the meeting to talk about what they found, rather than watching you click through it on a shared screen.

How do I get useful feedback from stakeholders?

Ask them to leave comments on the screen they mean, not in an email thread. A comment pinned to a point in the prototype says exactly what it is about, and usually comes with a picture of that screen.

What if a stakeholder opens it on their phone?

The room is built for a phone too, with its controls in a bar at the bottom. A laptop’s prototype is shown at its desktop width, or fitted to the screen. Their visit is recorded the same way.

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. More at katosan.co.uk.

Related guides

• What should a demo tour script say? A template

• How do I give each client their own private demo link?

• Prototype vs MVP vs proof of concept: what is the difference?