Though my first sketches of Athena were in grad school in 2007, and though technology rises and falls at unprecedented speed, I still think Athena is young. The 2011 Startup Genome Report identified four stages of startup growth: discovery, validation, efficiency, and scale. Athena is in late-validation stage.
Product Development & Early Funding
Athena began as a hypothesis when I was in graduate school. When a survey of the landscape of teacher sharing platforms revealed a disorganized field that seemed unable to address persistent challenges, I assembled a sketch and wireframe for what a coherent, intuitive platform might look like. Teachers responded enthusiastically.
Several years later, after tracking the landscape and finding that no other organizations were approaching the problem in the same way, I partnered with engineer Marshall Bessieres (also an educator) to build an MVP that modeled the basic information architecture of the initial wireframes. Teachers again responded enthusiastically.
Based on teacher and school leader feedback, the Robertson Foundation provided a starter grant to expand the platform, and after another round of teacher feedback, the Edward E. Ford Foundation provided the equivalent of angel funds through a traditional matching grant that was matched by four schools: Deerfield Academy, Choate Rosemary Hall, the Lawrenceville School, and Phillips Academy. This enabled a more robust deepening of the MVP in 2015-16, which underwent more rigorous testing with larger numbers of teachers, especially during Summer Fellowships from 2017-2020.
Continued feedback about the platform and program led to conversation with the Edward E. Ford Foundation about a follow up Leadership Grant. This matching grant was approved in April, 2018, and fundraising supported the development of further core features on the platform and preparations for further growth.
During this time, Athena worked with a number of partner institutions, including most visibly The African Diaspora Consortium, for whom Athena provides a space for teachers around the world to share AP Seminar curriculum focused on introducing high school students to the African Diaspora.
Gratitude
Like many projects, Athena has been made possible so far by the support and countless hours of work many people. A preliminary list misses many people. Please tell me if I’ve missed you….!
Marshall Bessieres, Bentley Rubinstein, Spencer Robertson, Max Gordon, John Gulla, Daniel Szeto, Margarita Curtis, Alex Curtis, John Palfrey, Steve Murray, Xander Manshel, Anna Gonzales, Kayla Corcoran, Betsy Kelly, Emily Richardson, Rhonesha Blache, Maureen Lamb, Linda Whitton, Susan Wallach, Neil Nie, Justin Reich, Michael Nachbar, Kristina Ishmael, Jim Hiebert, Lindsay Burke, Tyler Littwin, Josh Clayton, Bassem Al-Salem, Kassie Freeman, Chris Pupik Dean, and many, many others…
There’s more to do ahead, so thanks also to you reading this.
The (Unrealized) Promise of the Internet
Fulfilling the Need: Program Design
Appendix A — Mission: Improvement
Athena: A Prospectus 
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