fire in the hole!: the untold story of my traumatic life and explosive success

In Fire in the Hole!, Bob Parsons, founder of GoDaddy, shares his story of extraordinary success as a self-made serial entrepreneur.

Born in the tough town of East Baltimore to parents who were inveterate gamblers, billionaire philanthropist Bob Parsons’ early years were marked by hardship and financial struggle. While he vowed his own children would never lack for anything, never did he imagine the wealth he would one day amass as the founder of Parsons Technology, GoDaddy, PXG Golf, and YAM Worldwide.

In his literary debut, Fire in the Hole!, this extraordinary entrepreneur recounts the exploits of his youth, his hellish days at the mercy of Catholic school nuns, his harrowing tour of combat duty in Vietnam as a US Marine, his pioneering contributions to the software and internet industries, and his latest ventures in power sports, golf, real estate, and marketing.

Along the way, we witness his remarkable resilience as he copes with his mother’s mental illness and his father’s struggles, battles PTSD resulting from both his childhood and war traumas, and mounts a quest to find new and effective treatments for himself and others who suffer from this affliction. He strongly supports veterans organizations, and believing in the concept of paying it forward, has awarded grants to more than ninety-six charities and organizations worldwide through the Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation.

Perhaps the only thing that has come easy to Parsons is his gift for storytelling. His reflections are at turns heartbreaking, heartwarming, hilarious, and inspiring. If ever there were a story about a self-made man whose wealth can be measured as much by the contents of his heart as by the contents of his bank account, this is it.

More than anything, Fire in the Hole! is a ＂can’t put down,＂ damn good read!

Bob Parsons is the CEO and founder of YAM Worldwide, home to his entrepreneurial ventures in the fields of motorcycles, golf, real estate, finance, marketing, innovation, and philanthropy. However, he is perhaps best known as the founder of GoDaddy.

A US Marine Corps Vietnam War Veteran, Parsons is a recipient of the Purple Heart Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, and Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.

Among his other accomplishments, Parsons failed the fifth grade and would not have graduated high school had he not joined the Marine Corps with one of his classmates under the ＂buddy plan＂ in 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War. Upon showing his high school teachers his orders to report to Paris Island for boot camp they changed his failing grades to slightly passing.

After serving in the Marine Corps, he attended college at the University of Baltimore on the G.I. Bill and, to everyone’s amazement, graduated magna cum laude.

In 1984, Parsons started his first business, Parsons Technology, in his basement after teaching himself how to write computer programs. When Parsons Technology was sold to Intuit, Inc., in 1994 for ＄64 million, the company had nearly one thousand employees, ＄100 million in annual revenue, and three million customers.

Three years later, Parsons launched Jomax Technologies which would later become GoDaddy, the world’s largest domain name registrar. He sold a majority stake in 2011 in a deal that valued the company at ＄2.3 billion.

In 2012 Parsons founded YAM Worldwide under which he owns and operates more than a dozen companies, including PXG (Parsons Xtreme Golf), Scottsdale National Golf Club, Harley-Davidson of Scottsdale, GO AZ Motorcycles, Spooky Fast, The YAMWood Foundry, YAM Properties, and YAM Capital.

His alma mater, The University of Baltimore, presented him with an honorary doctorate in 2008 and named him Distinguished Entrepreneur in 2010.

Three of Parsons entrepreneurial ventures--Parsons Technology (#11, 1992), GoDaddy (#8, 2004), and now PXG (#123, 2019)--have been recognized by Inc. Magazine as being among America’s fastest growing privately held companies.

Parsons and his wife Renee started The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation in 2012 to reach causes often underfunded by mainstream philanthropy. The Foundation provides transformational grants to nonprofit organizations successfully working in the areas of homelessness, medical care, LGBTQ youth, education, and the needs of wounded veterans, military families, and first responders.

Parsons credits what he learned in the Marine Corps for everything he’s ever accomplished in life and business. He’s not sure how the Marine Corps feels about that.

LAURA MORTON is the coauthor of more than sixty books, including twenty-one New York Times bestsellers, and has worked with Justin Bieber, the Jonas Brothers, John Maxwell, Tom Ferry, Joan Lunden, Al Roker, Melissa Etheridge, Susan Lucci, Glenn Stearns, Bob Parsons, and many others. She lives in Southern California.