By January 2019, at 21, I pitched Danny Morel on letting me speak at Relentless IV. I offered press for the event three times. Here’s the thread, what I offered, and why it didn’t happen.

Quick answer

I didn’t get on stage. By January 2019 a mutual connection, Nathan Ortega, introduced me to Danny Morel, who ran Relentless IV, the July 2019 event in Anaheim where Kobe Bryant was the confirmed keynote. I offered to speak and to run press for the event. Danny was interested, and we worked out the angle and the outlets. Then he passed for one reason: the lineup was already set. I made the offer bigger twice, but there was no slot to give.

Key facts

EventRelentless IV, July 24-26, 2019, Hilton Anaheim
HeadlinerKobe Bryant, confirmed keynote (announced October 11, 2018)
OrganizerDanny Morel
IntroNathan Ortega, Instagram group message
WhenJanuary 2019, final answer January 19
My age21
What I offeredSpeaking, plus press for Danny and the event
Booked before he passedIntroductions at Influencive, NASDAQ and Thrive
Booked after he passedForbes and Entrepreneur
Press deliveredNone. The press was in exchange for the slot.
ResultDidn’t happen. Danny’s only reason: the lineup was already set.

Watch on Instagram: My video about almost speaking at Relentless IV

How did I get in front of the organizer?

Through an intro. Nathan Ortega, following up with Danny, put the three of us in an Instagram group called “Potential speaker.” I opened with what I wanted and what I’d bring:

“If there’s any availability to speak at Relentless I’d love to be a part of it.”

I listed the stages I already had coming up: the Find & Flip Summit the following week, then talks in Greece and Thailand, and a conversation about speaking at Traffic and Conversions in February. I offered to do an interview if there was a process, and said my company could run press for the event. Then I told him why the press would be easy to get:

“It will be especially easy because of the people you have already speaking.”

The PR Newswire release announcing Kobe also listed past Relentless speakers, including Alex Rodriguez, Gary Vee, Rob Dyrdek and Mimi G.

What did I say I’d speak about?

Danny’s first question was what my talk would be. My answer:

“I can talk about how to get PR within 48 hours and use that to ultimately create the personal brand that eliminates objections and gives you the red carpet experience in business.”

That was what Influencer Press did. The topic and the offer were the same thing: I was pitching a talk about getting press, and proving it by getting the event press.

What did I offer?

Press. In the same message Danny asked about my topic, he asked whether I’d get him articles in exchange, and where and how many. I named the outlets:

”& yes - I’m thinking full pieces on Forbes, Entrepreneur, NASDAQ, Harvard Business Review, Influencive.”

He told me he wasn’t usually open to this kind of trade, but he needed coverage in major publications. That was the opening. He wanted to know what I’d guarantee, whether the pieces would be full features about him alone, and when it could be done.

I told him I’d get him all of them and would have my team on it right away. I also told him I could have him booked at almost all of them that month, and that the one thing nobody could give him was the date each piece would go live, because that is up to each publication’s editors.

What angle did we agree on?

I asked whether he wanted the articles about him or about the event, so my writer could angle them correctly and only come to him for approval. He described his brand as a successful Latino entrepreneur giving back to the Hispanic community through Relentless, and said the pieces should cover both. I took that as the pitch:

“That’s the angle that we will lead with then. That way it ties in both angles.”

Then I asked where to send the introductions once interviews were booked, and he gave me his email. Everything I’d offered now had an angle, an approver and a place to land.

How far did it get?

Far. The next day, January 18, I came back with bookings:

“Booked 3 already.”

The three were Influencive, NASDAQ and Thrive, and I told him I was speaking to someone about Entrepreneur later that day. Influencive and Thrive Global were contributor platforms. He was happy with the speed and said he was most interested in Forbes, Entrepreneur and HuffPost. I told him the truth about one of those:

“Huffington probably won’t happen because they shut down their contributor platform.”

I told him Entrepreneur and Forbes I would get him.

By the end of January 18, after he had already passed, I told him Forbes and Entrepreneur were booked too. That made five introductions booked in about a day.

What was booked, and what was live?

This is the part of the thread I’d point anyone to. Danny asked what I could guarantee within the next week, and said he was most interested in the higher-visibility outlets. He also mentioned they were launching a new website, so the timing mattered to him.

I asked whether he meant published and live, or booked and scheduled. He said both. So I split it:

  • Would be live: Influencive and Thrive.
  • Booked with someone at the publication, with the intro made and them writing it: Entrepreneur, Forbes and NASDAQ.

And I told him why I couldn’t put dates on the second group:

“For the bigger pubs I can’t give you a specific date because not even the writer at the publication will know until their own editor tells them.”

That was the same commitment I’d made the day before, broken down by timing: what would be live, what would be in progress, and what nobody, including the writer, could put a date on yet.

Why didn’t it happen?

There was no room. Danny was close to moving forward, and the timing of the articles wasn’t the issue. He’d looked at the schedule and what they were trying to accomplish, and adding another speaker was going to be difficult because the lineup was already set. He apologized and thanked me for the effort.

That was the only reason he gave. Not my age, not my topic, not the outlets. Kobe had been announced as the keynote three months earlier. By the time I got the intro, the program was close to done. The offer wasn’t the problem. The slot didn’t exist.

What did I do after the no?

I made the offer bigger, twice.

“Let me make the initial offer better.”

First I pointed out that neither his Facebook page nor his Instagram profile had the verified badge, and offered to help with that. We had done it before for a past client on Facebook. I added a TechCrunch piece, and a promo video for the event on Entrepreneur’s Facebook page. The idea was that by the time the event sold out, he’d be verified on both platforms and Entrepreneur’s page would be sharing the promo.

I left him an easy way out in the next message:

“If not - all good my man I appreciate you looking to make it work”

Then I told him the rest was already moving:

“Btw to show you I’m serious I already booked your Forbes and Entrepreneur one too. So I can make those intros today as well.”

The next day, January 19, I checked one more time:

“Hey Danny, just want to make sure this is a hard pass.”

I told him I’d make the offer better again if it wasn’t, and I named the problem directly:

“I understand that the lineup is set and it would be difficult to put me in.”

I offered to have my team work with his to figure out where I could fit, and made my case on what I’d already done:

“And if I was able to get you 5 bookings on the publications you wanted overnight. / I’d say it’s worth a shot trying to make this happen. I can make good on my word.”

He said they were out. That was the last message in the thread.

What happened to the press I’d lined up?

It wasn’t delivered. The press was in exchange for the speaking slot. When Danny passed, the exchange was off, so none of the pieces ran.

Did my age matter?

Not in this thread. I was 21. In the video I made about this later, I put it this way:

“I was barely out of my teens running a PR firm that most people thought I was too young to lead.”

Danny never raised it. He asked what I’d speak about, what I’d deliver, and when. He passed because the lineup was set. If you’re young and pitching for a stage, this is what the record shows: the organizer judged the offer, and the offer was good enough to get a real conversation. What stopped it was the calendar.

Why did I want to speak at Relentless IV?

Because Kobe Bryant was headlining it. He was announced as the confirmed keynote in October 2018, and getting on the same lineup as Kobe at 21 would have put me on a stage most people in my industry never get near. Relentless had already brought in speakers like Alex Rodriguez, Gary Vee, Rob Dyrdek and Mimi G. That was the room I was asking to be in, and it’s why I kept making the offer bigger after Danny said the lineup was set.

What did almost speaking at Relentless teach me?

Five things, all from this thread.

  1. Lead with what you give. Danny only considered it because I came in with something he needed. A request to speak with nothing attached would have been a fast no.
  2. Find out what the organizer needs. He told me directly: coverage in major publications, a story about him and the event together, and timing that worked with a new website. Every part of my offer was built around that.
  3. Ask before the lineup locks. The headliner was public in October. I asked in January. The best offer in the world can’t buy a slot that’s already filled.
  4. Separate booked from live. I could control introductions and bookings. I couldn’t control when an editor runs a piece. I told him that as soon as he asked about timing, and backed up the rest with five bookings in about a day.
  5. Make one follow-up count, then stop. I followed up after the no with a bigger offer and a direct question. When the answer was still no, I let it go.

The interest was there. The slot wasn’t. As I said in the video:

“Sometimes almost touching greatness teaches you more than reaching it.”

FAQ

Did Ulyses Osuna speak at Relentless with Kobe Bryant?

No. He pitched Danny Morel for a speaking slot at Relentless IV in January 2019. Danny passed because the lineup was already set.

Who organized Relentless IV?

Danny Morel. Relentless IV ran July 24-26, 2019, at the Hilton Anaheim, with Kobe Bryant as the confirmed keynote.

Who introduced Ulyses to Danny Morel?

Nathan Ortega. He was following up with Danny and put the three of them in an Instagram group message called “Potential speaker.”

What did Ulyses offer in exchange for a speaking slot?

Press for Danny and the event: articles on outlets including Influencive, Thrive, NASDAQ, Forbes and Entrepreneur, then help with social media verification, a TechCrunch piece and a promo video on Entrepreneur’s Facebook page.

Was the press for Relentless IV ever published?

No. The press was in exchange for the speaking slot. When Danny passed, none of it was delivered.

Why did Danny Morel pass?

The only reason he gave was that the lineup was already set and it would be difficult to add another speaker. Kobe Bryant’s keynote had been announced in October 2018, three months before the conversation.

How long did the conversation take?

The dated messages run from January 17 to January 19, 2019. The first messages, including the intro, came shortly before and aren’t dated. Five outlets were booked in that window, and the final answer came on January 19.

How do you get a speaking slot at a big event?

In this case the route was an intro from someone the organizer already knew, plus an offer that solved a problem the organizer had. What decided it was timing: the lineup was set before the ask.

Does offering press help you get a speaking slot?

In this case it got a real conversation. Danny said he normally wouldn’t consider a trade like that, but he needed coverage in major publications. It didn’t create a slot that wasn’t there.

Why publish a story that didn’t end on stage?

Because it’s what happened, and the reasons it didn’t work are the useful part.

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About the author

Ulyses Osuna founded Influencer Press at 19 and has run it for nearly a decade, placing founders and creators in major outlets, on TV, on podcasts and on Times Square billboards. He has appeared on The Dr. Phil Podcast, been a panelist on Nasdaq TradeTalks, and spoke at Harvard Kennedy School in 2026. More: about, methodology, transparency.

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