Seth W. Godin (born July 10, 1960), also known as "F. X. Nine", is an American author and a former dot-com business executive.

Background

In 1977, Godin worked at a bagel factory. Godin graduated from Williamsville East High School in Williamsville NY in 1978. After leaving Spinnaker in 1986, he 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. Mark Hurst and he then 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.

Awards

Godin received the following awards:

Personal life

Godin and his wife Helene live in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, with their two sons.