Seth Godin

Seth W. Godin, also known under his pen name as "F. X. Nine" (born 1960), is an American author, marketing expert, entrepreneur, and a former dot-com business executive.

Early life and education Seth W. Godin graduated from Williamsville East High School in Williamsville, New York in 1978.

He attended in Tufts University, graduating with a degree in computer science and philosophy. He also earned an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Career After leaving Spinnaker in 1986, Godin self-funded Seth Godin Productions with $20,000 as a book packaging business. He operated this venture out of a studio apartment in New York City. He and Mark Hurst co-founded Yoyodyne, a permission marketing company named after the fictional Yoyodyne in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.

Business ventures Yoyodyne, launched in 1995, used contests, online games, and scavenger hunts to market companies to participating users. In August 1996, Flatiron Partners invested $4 million in Yoyodyne in return for a 20% stake. In 1998, he sold Yoyodyne to Yahoo! for $29.6 million and became Yahoo's vice president of direct marketing.

In March 2006, Godin launched Squidoo. By July 2008, Squidoo had become one of the 500 most visited sites in the world. In 2014, it was sold to HubPages.

Godin founded altMBA, a 4-week online workshop, in 2015. He also runs a podcast called Akimbo.

Awards Godin received the following awards:

Forbes Business Book of the Year, 2004 for Free Prize Inside New York Times, USA Today & Wall Street Journal bestseller, The Dip Business Week bestseller, The Dip Business Week named Linchpin among its "20 of the best books by the most influential thinkers in business" on November 13, 2015. American Marketing Association's Marketing Hall of Fame, 2018 Time 25 best blogs of 2009 The 2018 Jack Covert Award for Contribution to the Business Book Industry Winner

Personal life Godin and his wife Helene live in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. They have two adult sons.

Selected works Godin, Seth. Permission Marketing: Turning strangers into friends and friends into customers. London, Pocket Books, 2007.

– Detailing the idea of Viral marketing

The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams. 2023.