Under Fyre: Former Chief Storyteller at Box Dissects the Fyre Pitch Deck

Doug Landis, former Chief Storyteller at Box, is an expert at crafting slide decks that tell compelling stories. Guru sat down with Doug to talk through the infamous Fyre Festival pitch deck; what it takes to tell a great story; and where the Fyre deck fell short.

1. Commentary by Doug Landis
Under Fyre: Former Chief
Storyteller at Box Dissects the
Fyre Pitch Deck

2. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre pitch deck
“We know from how this story turns out
that what they were hoping to do with
this deck is tell a story and create a
scarcity syndrome for this
once-in-a-lifetime experience.

It’s really interesting that this deck
doesn’t say any of that.”

3. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre pitch deck
“Right off the bat, they start off with two
compliance messages, which is a
bummer because you lose the
opportunity to actually hook your
audience right out of the gate.”

4. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre pitch deck
“Truthfully, this is to cover your ass and, as
we know, it didn’t end up meaning squat.
So why put it in the front?”

5. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre pitch deck
“Any great story has a structure, and it
usually has a hook to get your audience
engaged; to help them understand where
are we going on this journey. All great
stories paint a picture; all great stories
use contrast.

But if you look at this deck, the very first
slide outside of the confidentiality is all
about Fyre. ‘This is who we are and this is
what we do.’”

6. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Bookings
“And then, here’s a weird slide called Fyre
Bookings which makes no sense based
on the context we’ve been given so far.”

7. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre | The problem
“Now we get into the problem. On this
slide there’s the problem – Recorded
music revenue is under pressure; and
there’s also the solution – Live bookings
is the fastest growing segment of the
entertainment industry. So there’s a
problem and solution on the same slide.

And then after that, you’ve got another
problem! But, we’ve seen firsthand that
the live industry is broken.”

8. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre | The problem (continued)
“So what’s the problem? Is it that we’re
not able to generate enough revenue as
artists? Or is it that this live booking
process doesn’t work?

If I were an investor looking at this deck
I'd be like ‘What am I investing in? Am I
investing in helping the recording
industry generate more revenue? Or am I
investing in a solution to solve for live
booking?’”

9. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre | The solution
“‘Fyre removes the friction to securing
talent.’ I didn’t know we were talking
about friction with securing talent. I
thought we were talking about the live
booking system? Or the record industry
struggling to make money?

After setting up the problem, I wanted
examples of how live booking is broken.
Give me examples of artists that have
struggled as a result of this live booking
system not working.”

10. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre | The solution (continued)
“As a potential investor, I don’t really
connect with this idea that the record
industry is struggling to make money.
What I can connect with is this idea of live
booking being broken. So what I was
hoping for on this next slide was some
context around what that’s all about.

Just paint a picture as to what the
problem is, but through the voice of the
customer.”

11. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre | The solution (continued)
“In essence, what this is missing is a point
of view. It’s stating a bunch of facts, which
as we know in the world of storytelling,
facts fade. People forget them, and it’s
the stories that stick.

Besides, they’re introducing Fyre as a
solution to whatever the problem is way
too early. They haven’t generated enough
of a problem. They haven’t connected us
to the problem itself.”

12. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre | Talent network
“What is this slide connected to? The
issue with live booking? Is it connected to
the revenue for the record industry, or the
problem with securing talent? It’s totally
out of nowhere. ‘Here’s our talent
network.’ – Okay, so what?

This whole deck is ridiculously
self-serving. The creators of this deck are
all about me, me, me.”

13. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre | Value statement
“This seems to be a mashup of a solution
slide and a values slide. But again, the
value statement for which problem?

They haven’t earned the right to start
talking about how they’re solving
anything, because they haven’t built up
a problem enough that I can connect to
because it’s super confusing. It’s all over
the place.”

14. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre | Revenue model
“We’re only at slide 10 here, and I'm
completely confused. I don’t know which
problem we’re trying to solve, how they
solve it, and then they talk about their fee!
They haven’t earned the right to talk
about revenue at all!

Again, one of the most powerful tools in
storytelling is contrast. So instead of
stating their revenue model, demonstrate
how their solution is a new, innovative
approach.”

15. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Festival
“From the look of this slide, you know
we’re getting into the second prong of
their strategy. Fyre Bookings is one way
to connect talent to your audiences, and
then Fyre Festival is another way. This at
least makes sense.”

16. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Festival
“The one thing I will tell you, the person
who created this deck, they understand
sizzle. Because the imagery and even the
font that they use, it’s pretty.

It’s exactly what I would expect from
someone who’s trying to say ‘Look at me,
don’t you want to be famous like
everyone else.’”

17. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Festival
“Okay, this is good. I like this slide. This is
the first slide for me that feels like
storytelling.

Because one of the most powerful words
in the world of storytelling is “imagine.”
Here we’ve got a great image and a
thought-provoking question.

Now we’re talking.”

18. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Festival
“But, then they blow it. They totally blow
it. This slide has the opportunity to paint a
picture beyond what the previous slide
set up.

They asked ‘What if we reimagined music
festivals,’ then failed to reimagine it. Just
say ‘A reimagined festival experience will
ignite energy and empower our guests.’

Boom. That’s all you need to say.”

19. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Festival | Vision
“And then, all of the sudden – talk about
losing all momentum – we get to slide 15,
and it’s all about Fyre again.

You just left me hanging, the storyline
was about reimagining a music festival.
Take me down that journey!”

20. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Festival
“Here they should be painting that
picture of what a reimagined festival
experience is by contrasting it to the old
festival experience. It’s all about
contrast.”

21. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Festival | Overview
“And then, introduce the opportunity to
make that shift. Then you introduce Fyre
and the new Fyre festival.

After the great set up of reimagining a
music festival, they’ve completely pooped
out.”

22. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Festival hype video
“Again, sizzle. We all know how successful
this video was for them.”

23. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Festival | Summary
“Here they’re giving us some specifics, but
they haven’t gotten me bought in yet. I
don’t care about this because I don’t
connect with the problem or solution
yet.”

24. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Starters
“Visually, this slide is out of place. We
haven’t seen this black and white imagery
for a transition slide yet.”

25. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
“And then this is hilarious, there are so
many slides on what they call “Fyre
Starters” who are influencers who are
going to market this thing.

So I'm supposed to somehow connect
with these people just because they
have 50k followers and get 100k likes?
So what? I don’t get it.”
Fyre Starters

26. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
“...”
Fyre Starters

27. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
“...”
Fyre Starters

28. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
“This is excessive.”
Fyre Starters

29. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
“They’re trying to force a level of
credibility instead of trying to build up
credibility by using real stories. That’s a
massive red flag. ”
Fyre Starters

30. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Festival | Press
“Here’s some more social proof and forced
credibility.”

31. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre | Year 1 achievements
“Words like ‘expecting’ and ‘securing’
means they haven’t happened yet. Those
aren’t achievements.

If you’re going to tell me a story, tell me a
story that gets me bought in first and
then take me through the tactics. Instead,
they kind of told the story, then they said,
‘By the way, here are some of the tactics.
Look at all this shininess.’”

32. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Festival | Brand synergy
“From purely a content creation
standpoint, this slide looks like the earlier
Fyre Festival and Fyre Bookings bridge
slides. This style indicates that we’re
moving to a new category of information,
but Brand Synergy is still connected to
Fyre Festival.

Just like the Fyre Starters, this slide is still
connected to the festival, but doesn’t
feel like it. It feels like we’re on a whole
new topic. ”

33. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Festival | ?
“I don’t even know what they’re trying to
say here.”

34. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Festival | Pending partnerships
“This is the same as sharing ‘expected’
achievements. ‘Pending’ partnerships
don’t mean anything!”

35. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Festival | Land ownership
“e need to dig into this more. They say
‘We’ve secured this private island’ – okay
great, so what? They said they had a
space, but they didn’t have any
infrastructure, they didn’t have any
technology there whatsoever.

To due your due diligence as an investor,
you definitely have to dig more into that.”

36. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre | Financials
“This is terrible.”

37. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre | Raise
“They’re trying to raise $25MM, so what’s
the expectation? If this is a $100B
industry then it’s like alright, $25MM that
doesn’t seem like a whole lot.

But in that case, show me the revenue
run rate of the company, of the festival.
Just show me some details! Show me
that this is actually well thought-out. ”

38. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Squad
“When it comes to the Fyre Squad –
which is hilarious, because it’s just the
people behind it – this is supposed to be
interesting but it doesn’t mean shit.”

39. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Squad
“What they’re trying to do is generate
some level of credibility by saying ‘Look at
all these badasses that we have in the
company.’

Instead these are just vague facts.”

40. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Squad | Founders
“When making an investment, you want
to understand the team, and what gives
them any level of credibility to do this.

I'm sorry but Billy – his little profile doesn’t
say anything. And just because Ja Rule is
a rapper also doesn’t mean anything.”

41. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Sqaud
“Everyone after Billy and Ja Rule are just
operators, none of their names mean
anything.

Investors will be looking at the team and
their ability to actually execute. They’ll be
looking for the market opportunity.”

42. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Squad
“Aren’t there enough festivals out there?
What makes all these people believe
that this festival is now going to
compete with Coachella and every other
festival?

Why do we need another one? Is it
because live booking is broken? Is it
because it’s hard to get talent? Again, I
don’t get it. Because their problem isn’t
clear. And their targeting isn’t clear
either.”

43. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Squad
“A really important element of
storytelling is actually having a point.

Anyone can tell a story, but there’s
nothing worse than listening to someone
rambling on while you’re like ‘Where are
you going with this?’

At the end of the day, I look at this and I'm
like where are you going with this?”

44. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre Squad
“The goal of a great presentation is to
take someone on a journey. Tell them
what you’re going to tell them, actually
tell them, and then tell them what you’ve
just told them.

You’ve got to give people structure,
otherwise they have no idea where you’re
going. Without structure, there’s no flow;
without flow, everyone is lost and
confused, which is exactly how I feel
right now.”

45. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre
“Literally, what did I just sit through? As
an audience member – as an investor –
you want it to be dead simple.”

46. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre
“‘Let me just drop a quote here that
seems somewhat soulful.’”

47. © 2019 Guru Technologies, Inc.
Fyre
“This deck made no sense. It didn’t flow
and it didn’t tell a compelling story that I
could actually connect to.”