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Ben Dobbins

Minister of Instrumental Music, Shaughnessy Heights United Church · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

founderexecutiveentertainerauthor@dobynsbc ↗zombieorpheus.com ↗

Dobyns co-founded Zombie Orpheus Entertainment and Dead Gentlemen Productions, pioneering a fan-supported, creator-distributed model for cult fantasy and gaming projects. After divesting from ZOE in 2021, they provide creative and crowdfunding consulting through Convergent Stories and work in church music in Metro Vancouver.

11statements → 5claims → 2claims resolved → 3.91/5average certainty → 1.64/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated → 8said about them ↓

0 supported 2 partly supported 0 contradicted 3 not checkable as stated how the 5 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

5 assertions · 3 insights · 3 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 5 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 2 are resolved, and 3 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Ben argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
50% certainty 3
50% certainty 4
none yet certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Ben Dobbins on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

Everything Ben Dobbins said on Top Founders that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Insight
Independent film funding relies on obfuscating investor losses
“The entire process of funding independent films is based on obfuscating the fact that independent films, you're going to lose your money if you invest in them.”
Ben Dobbins Nov 14, 2016 ▶ 2:58 Ep 478: Fans Pay $500K To Keep Favorite Shows, Will This Kill Netflix with CEO Ben Dobyns
Insight
Digital media should act as free advertising to build a fanbase
“Each of these films, each of these episodes is its own advertisement for the next product, and we're no longer the business of selling units. We're in the business of building A sustaining fan base. Essentially using the internet for what it does best, making …”
Ben Dobbins Nov 14, 2016 ▶ 4:05 Ep 478: Fans Pay $500K To Keep Favorite Shows, Will This Kill Netflix with CEO Ben Dobyns
Insight
Strong day-one Kickstarter momentum drives organic backer conversion
“A really big day on Kickstarter then starts to attract more people, and they see it on Kickstarter, people who haven't heard of us begin to join on, and on Kickstarter and crowdfunding, success begets success.”
Ben Dobbins Nov 14, 2016 ▶ 10:45 Ep 478: Fans Pay $500K To Keep Favorite Shows, Will This Kill Netflix with CEO Ben Dobyns
Disclosure
Zombie Orpheus turned down a $500,000 venture capital investment
“I've turned down a lot of money in venture capital. Most recently half a million.”
Ben Dobbins Nov 14, 2016 ▶ 15:29 Ep 478: Fans Pay $500K To Keep Favorite Shows, Will This Kill Netflix with CEO Ben Dobyns
Disclosure
Zombie Orpheus will release the Strowlers IP to allow commercial derivatives
“Our next big radical step For a new property that we're launching, Strowlers, we're actually going to release our world bible and our intellectual property to allow commercial derivatives under, again, a Creative Commons style license.”
Ben Dobbins Nov 14, 2016 ▶ 16:50 Ep 478: Fans Pay $500K To Keep Favorite Shows, Will This Kill Netflix with CEO Ben Dobyns
Assertion Not checkable as stated
JourneyQuest recouped its entire season one budget via PayPal within one year
“So based purely on fan contributions via a PayPal button on our site, we made back our entire production budget in a year. We paid our investors back.”
Ben Dobbins Nov 14, 2016 ▶ 6:01 Ep 478: Fans Pay $500K To Keep Favorite Shows, Will This Kill Netflix with CEO Ben Dobyns
Assertion Partly supported
Zombie Orpheus raised $112,000 on Kickstarter for JourneyQuest season two
“We then turned around on Kickstarter and funded season two raised a 112,000 dollars.”
Ben Dobbins Nov 14, 2016 ▶ 6:18 Ep 478: Fans Pay $500K To Keep Favorite Shows, Will This Kill Netflix with CEO Ben Dobyns
Assertion Partly supported
Zombie Orpheus averages a strong $97 per backer on Kickstarter
“On the Kickstarter we tend to average 97 dollars per backer.”
Ben Dobbins Nov 14, 2016 ▶ 7:56 Ep 478: Fans Pay $500K To Keep Favorite Shows, Will This Kill Netflix with CEO Ben Dobyns
Disclosure
Zombie Orpheus raised over $600,000 across three Kickstarter campaigns in 2016
“We've done three Kickstarters this year. We've raised over 600 grand on there.”
Ben Dobbins Nov 14, 2016 ▶ 9:00 Ep 478: Fans Pay $500K To Keep Favorite Shows, Will This Kill Netflix with CEO Ben Dobyns
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Third parties raised millions using Dobyns' Kickstarter planning spreadsheet
“Third parties have used this spreadsheet to raise millions of dollars on Kickstarter.”
Ben Dobbins Nov 14, 2016 ▶ 12:13 Ep 478: Fans Pay $500K To Keep Favorite Shows, Will This Kill Netflix with CEO Ben Dobyns
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Zombie Orpheus raised an additional $45,000 through BackerKit post-campaign add-ons
“We were able to turn around on Backerkit and raise another 45,000 dollars Just from add-ons and upsells.”
Ben Dobbins Nov 14, 2016 ▶ 13:37 Ep 478: Fans Pay $500K To Keep Favorite Shows, Will This Kill Netflix with CEO Ben Dobyns

The other half of the tape: Ben Dobbins's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 7 times in 2 episodes on Top Founders. 1 statement on the record names them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Nathan Latka 7

Statements about Ben Dobbins, by other people (1)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Zombie Orpheus gives films away for free and remains profitable annually
“He founded Zombie Orpheus Entertainment in 2010. He's been giving the company's films away for free ever since, since. He still does, and he ends each year In the black.”
Nathan Latka Nov 14, 2016 ▶ 1:36 Ep 478: Fans Pay $500K To Keep Favorite Shows, Will This Kill Netflix with CEO Ben Dobyns

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
0041822016episodesmentions
0122016episodes it came up in
0021422016episodesmentions per episode
2016 7 mentions in 2 episodes 4 per episode

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
Ep 478: Fans Pay $500K To Keep Favorite Shows, Will This Kill Netflix with CEO Ben Dobyns Nov 14, 2016 11m
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