Seth Godin
Seth Godin | |
|---|---|
 Godin in 2009 | |
| Born | 1960 |
| Alma mater | Stanford University Tufts University |
| Occupation(s) | Author, entrepreneur |
| Website | sethgodin |
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.[1][2][3][4]
Early life and education
[edit]Seth W. Godin graduated from Williamsville East High School in Williamsville, New York in 1978.[5]
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.[6]
Career
[edit]After leaving Spinnaker in 1998, 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.[7] 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.[8][9]
Business ventures
[edit]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.[7][10] In 1998, he sold Yoyodyne to Yahoo! for $29.6 million[11][12] and became Yahoo's vice president of direct marketing.[13]
In March 2006, Godin launched Squidoo.[14] By July 2008, Squidoo had become one of the 500 most visited sites in the world.[15] In 2014, it was sold to HubPages.[16]
Godin founded altMBA, a 4-week online workshop, in 2015.[17] He also runs a podcast called Akimbo.[18]
Awards
[edit]Godin received the following awards:
- Forbes Business Book of the Year, 2004[19] for Free Prize Inside
- New York Times, USA Today & Wall Street Journal bestseller, The Dip[20]
- Business Week bestseller, The Dip[21]
- Business Week named Linchpin among its "20 of the best books by the most influential thinkers in business" on November 13, 2015.[22]
- American Marketing Association's Marketing Hall of Fame, 2018[23]
- Time 25 best blogs of 2009[24]
- The 2018 Jack Covert Award for Contribution to the Business Book Industry Winner [1]
Personal life
[edit]Godin and his wife Helene live in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, with their two sons.[25]
References
[edit]- ^ Trachtenberg, Jeffrey (June 24, 2012). "Giving Book Readers a Say". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
- ^ Walker, Rob (November 14, 2014). "Self-Promotion, but With Self-Respect". New York Times. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
- ^ Adams, Bryan (April 28, 2016). "The 3 Rules of Successful Business as Taught by Seth Godin (and Your Mother)". Inc. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
- ^ Ruggeri, Christine. "Seth Godin". Leaders.com. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
- ^ "Seth Godin Biography, Williamsville Education Foundation Wall of Fame". July 25, 2024.
- ^ "Seth Godin". Thinkers50. September 9, 2022. Archived from the original on May 15, 2025. Retrieved May 15, 2025.
- ^ a b Kuntz, Mary (September 9, 1998). "Entrepreneur Profiles: Point, Click--And Here's The Pitch: Yoyodyne uses prizes to get you to read those online ads". BusinessWeek. Archived from the original on March 4, 2000. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
- ^ Yee, Bernard (September 1996). "Joyriding: Play Games on the Internet and Win Big Prizes". Next Generation. No. 21. Imagine Media. p. 27.
- ^ Taylor, William C. (March 31, 1998). "Permission Marketing". Fast Company.
- ^ Yahoo! to Acquire Yoyodyne, Earthweb News, October 12, 1998, archived from the original on February 14, 2005
- ^ Junnarkar, Sandeep. "Yahoo to buy Yoyodyne". CNET News. Archived from the original on December 19, 2013. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
- ^ Yahoo Acquiring Yoyodyne Wired.com. October 12, 1998.
- ^ "Speaker: Seth Godin". Business Week's "Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age". Special Libraries Association. June 18, 2008. Archived from the original on July 4, 2008. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
- ^ Eric Enge Interviews Seth Godin on Stone Temple Consulting. June 20, 2007
- ^ Traffic Details: Squidoo.com on Alexa.com. Retrieved July 18, 2008
- ^ "Seth Godin's Squidoo Acquired by HubPages". SearchEngineWatch. August 19, 2014.
- ^ Caprino, Kathy. "Seth Godin: What Is Strategy And Why We So Often Get It Wrong". Forbes. Retrieved January 30, 2025.
- ^ "Top 15 Marketing Podcasts in 2024". Exploding Topics. April 28, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2025.
- ^ "Forbes.com's Business Books Of The Year". Forbes. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
- ^ "The Dip by Seth Godin: 9781591841661 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
- ^ "The BusinessWeek Best Seller List". October 15, 2007. Archived from the original on October 15, 2007. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
- ^ Feloni, Richard (November 13, 2015). "20 of the best books by the most influential thinkers in business". Business Week. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
- ^ Richards, Katie (April 2, 2018). "Meet the 3 Newest Members to The American Marketing Association's Marketing Hall of Fame". Adweek.com. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
- ^ "Seth Godin's Blog". Time. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
- ^ Seth Godin on Stepping Up and Making it Happen
External links
[edit]
- Living people
- American male bloggers
- American bloggers
- American business theorists
- Advertising theorists
- Marketing theorists
- American marketing people
- People from Hastings-on-Hudson, New York
- People from Williamsville, New York
- Writers from Mount Vernon, New York
- Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni
- Tufts University alumni
- Tufts University School of Engineering alumni
- Williamsville East High School alumni