Seth Godin

Seth Godin (born July 10, 1960) is an American author, entrepreneur, marketer, and public speaker.

Background

Born in Mount Vernon, New York, Godin graduated from Williamsville East High School in 1978. He received degrees in computer science and philosophy from Tufts University, followed by an MBA in marketing from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.^[1] From 1983 to 1986, he worked as a brand manager at Spinnaker Software.^[1]

After leaving Spinnaker in 1986, he used $20,000 in savings to found Seth Godin Productions, primarily a book packaging business, out of a studio apartment in New York City.^[2] He then met Mark Hurst and founded Yoyodyne. After a few years, Godin sold the book packaging business to his employees and focused his efforts on Yoyodyne, where he promoted the concept of permission marketing.

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.^[2] The site had over 1 million visitors, and the companies America Online, American Express, H&R Block, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Sony Music, Sprint, and Volvo used its services.^[3] At Yoyodyne, Godin published Permission Marketing: Turning strangers into friends and friends into customers. In 1998, he sold Yoyodyne to Yahoo! for about $30 million^[4][5] and became Yahoo's vice president of direct marketing.^[6]

In March 2006, Godin launched Squidoo^[7] In July 2008, Squidoo was one of the 500 most visited sites in the world.^[8] By 2014, it was no longer financially viable and was sold to HubPages^[9]

In October 2012, Godin started a business mentoring podcast on the Earwolf network. ^[10]

Writing

As of April 27, 2014, Godin is the author of 17 books: Tribes and Linchpin are his two best-selling books, while Free Prize Inside was a Forbes Business Book of the Year in 2004.^[11][12] Purple Cow sold over 150,000 copies in more than 23 print runs in its first two years.^[13] The Dip was a Business Week and New York Times bestseller.^[14][15] In the early 1990s, he curated a 10-book series for children titled Worlds of Power. Each of the book's plots is based on a video game.^[16]

In June 2012, Godin launched a Kickstarter campaign to finance his next book.^[17] In the first week, he raised more than $250,000 from readers, which in turn secured him a book contract with his publisher.^[18]

In April 2016, Godin's book, All Marketers Are Liars, was selected by Carine Alexis at Forbes as one of six essential books every marketer should have on their shelf.^[19]

Blog

Godin also releases a daily blog on the Typepad platform. ^[20]

Bibliography

• Godin, Seth (1993). The Smiley Dictionary. Berkeley: Peachpit Press. ISBN 1-56609-008-3. 
• Godin, Seth (1995). eMarketing: Reaping Profits on the Information Highway. New York: Berkley Pub. Group. ISBN 0-399-51904-1. 
• Godin, Seth (1999). Permission marketing: turning strangers into friends, and friends into customers. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-85636-0. 
• Godin, Seth (1998). If You're Clueless about Selling: And Want to Know More. Dearborn Financial Publishing. ISBN 0-793-12989-3. 
• Godin, Seth (2001). Unleashing the Ideavirus. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 0-7868-8717-6.  Book online – Detailing the idea of Viral marketing
• Godin, Seth (2002). The Big Red Fez: How To Make Any Web Site Better. New York: Free Press. p. 112. ISBN 0-7432-2790-5. 
• Godin, Seth (2002). Survival is not enough: zooming, evolution, and the future of your company. New York: Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-2571-6. 
• Godin, Seth (2003). Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable. Portfolio. p. 224. ISBN 1-59184-021-X. 
• Godin, Seth (2004). Free Prize Inside!: The Next Big Marketing Idea. Penguin USA Portfolio. p. 256. ISBN 1-59184-041-4. 
• Godin, Seth (2005). All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World. Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 1-59184-100-3. 
• Godin, Seth; the Group of 33 (2005). The Big Moo: Stop Trying to be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable. Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 1-59184-103-8.  CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
• Godin, Seth (2006). Small Is the New Big: and 193 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas. Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 1-59184-126-7. 
• Godin, Seth (2007). The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick). Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 1-59184-166-6. 
• Godin, Seth (2008). Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?. Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 1-59184-174-7. 
• Godin, Seth (2008). Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us. Portfolio Hardcover. p. 160. ISBN 1-59184-233-6. 
• Godin, Seth (2010). Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?. Portfolio Hardcover. p. 256. ISBN 1-59184-316-2. 
• Godin, Seth (2011). Poke the Box. Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 1-936719-00-2. 
• Godin, Seth (2011). We Are All Weird. The Domino Project. ISBN 1-936719-22-3. 
• Godin, Seth (2012). The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly?. Portfolio Penguin. ISBN 0-6709-2292-7. 
• Godin, Seth (2012). V Is for Vulnerable: Life Outside the Comfort Zone. Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 978-1591846109. 
• Godin, Seth (2013). Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?: And Other Provocations. Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 978-15918-4609-3. 
• Godin, Seth (2014). What To Do When It's Your Turn (and it's always your turn). Seth Godin. ISBN 978-19367-1931-0. 

Personal life

Godin and his wife Helene live in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, US with their two sons.^[21]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Seth Godin.

• Official website
• Seth Godin at TED
  
• Seth Godin at the Internet Movie Database
• Subvert Magazine interview
• The Marketplace of Ideas – interview (2010)