Who

A self-proclaimed "agent of change," Godin is the author of seven books, a sermonizer on the future of marketing, and a popular blogger.

Backstory

Godin studied computer science and philosophy at Tufts and attended Stanford Business School, before moving to Boston to work on early multimedia products for a company called Spinnaker Software. A popular (and very early) speaker on the burgeoning internet, Godin attracted attention when he founded Internet marketing company Yoyodyne in 1995. In 1997, the company landed financing from venture capitalist Fred Wilson; a year later, it was sold to Yahoo! for $30 million. Godin subsequently focused his attention of marketing punditry, preaching the gospel of "permission marketing," now one of the dominant mantras in the advertising business. As he argues in 1999's Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers, "intrusive" marketing—like commercials—is over, and marketers are going to have to find newer, subtler ways to get consumers to opt in to their messages. Some of the trend-heralding marketing books Godin has published include Unleashing the Ideavirus, Small is the New Big, The Big Moo, Purple Cow, and All Marketers are Liars. Most recently, in May 2007, he published The Dip: The Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) .

Currently

Somewhat ironically, Godin's latest venture—a social networking/recommendation network called Squidoo—has largely failed to convince the digerati to opt in to its message. Wired named the site a Web 2.0 "Loser" in 2006.

Personal

Godin's wife, Helene, is an entertainment lawyer. The couple lives in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. They sold their second home in Menlo Park, Calif. for $1.5 million in 1999.