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 a MBA in marketing from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. From 1983 to 1986, he worked as a brand manager at Spinnaker Software.

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. In the same offices he 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

In 1995, Godin launched Yoyodyne, which used contests, online games, and scavenger hunts to market companies to participating users. In August, 1996, venture-capital firm Flatiron Partners invested $4 million in Yoyodyne in return for a 20% stake. Over one million viewers visited the site, and the companies America Online, American Express, H&R Block, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Sony Music, Sprint, and Volvo have used its services. 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 and became Yahoo's vice president of direct marketing, a position he held until 2000.