Meaning
An interactive, clickable early simulation of a product used to test and validate workflows with real users before coding.
Three examples from work
User testing
UX DesignerWe tested the clickable prototype with five enterprise customers.
PODid they understand how to invite team members?
Investor meeting
FounderWe brought an interactive prototype to demonstrate the core value proposition.
InvestorBeing able to click through the onboarding flow makes the vision tangible.
Tech feasibility
DevI built a code prototype to test WebSocket synchronization speed.
LeadGreat, share the benchmark results at our engineering sync.
Can be a noun ('test a prototype') or verb ('prototype a feature'). A prototype simulates functionality without requiring complete backend logic.