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.
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.
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.
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.
Godin received the following awards:
Godin and his wife Helene live in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. They have two adult sons.