ATHENNO Annual Update 2022
This is the first public ATHENNO update and it summarizes the journey over the last years and dreams for a brighter future, as well as has a sneak peek into my history and how ATHENNO was born. ATHENNO will continue to be in the Free Public Beta for the foreseeable future. As a bonus, it contains some advice for young entrepreneurs.
Public Beta Launch
ATHENNO Free Public Beta was released this September. Over the last few months:
Our community continues to grow by ~50% every month. Join the world’s best JTBD & Continuous Discovery Community for free and meet like-minded people, including well-known experts, across the entire planet.
Tens of organizations and users signed up and already created 300 jobs-to-be-done. Thank you to all our active champions.
We now receive enterprise requests across continents.
We received a lot of feedback and quickly launched a lot of new features. (See below)
We are close to being funded and unleashing even more greatness in the world. (Our vision for 2023 is outlined later)
Feature Updates
ATHENNO wasn’t released with everything we wanted by September.
Shortly after that we already launched new core sections - Solutions and Experiments.
You can now go from research to solutions and let ATHENNO help you pick the best solution.
Experiments are a crucial part of modern, especially, scientific product-led organizations. We continue working with individual contributors and UX researchers on improving the way we collaborate on experiments. This is why we are launching Logbook Journal for experiments and Sub-Experiments (Or Sub-Tasks)
We also revamped the Contacts section and have a new contact detail page. Now you can manage all contacts in one place, see who is a member of the customer panel, track psychometrics and easily see related experiments, surveys, top needs and so much more for each contact in one place.
Finally, we made a serious update to the Goals section. Now, instead of editing a goal or key result, a totally new page opens where you can see the entire bird-eye view and opportunity tree in one place. And we made it in a very flexible way. You can create a typical tasks breakdown under each goal if it’s all you need, or you can then add an opportunity right from the goals page, and a solution related to that opportunity. Experiments and tasks can be created at any level. We already have seen how some founders were defining goals and the first high-level task to launch a new experiment. The product/UX/discovery team takes it from there, logs experiment observations, and defines new opportunities. After that new experiments are created to define solutions and finally, experiments at the end are created to test different solutions quickly. Everything is visually seen on one screen, and everything is connected. With ATHENNO you can be flexible and use it in whatever way you want, and save even more time, instead of going into many sections separately.
What’s next for 2023
We started working on integrating our preliminary AI engine that we call ATHENNO Oracle, which will be released in Q1. ATHENNO Oracle will empower every UX researcher, discovery or JTBD enthusiast, product leader, entrepreneur, and anyone else to become a radically more successful commercial innovator. We want you to focus only on doing what you love and being more productive, rather than managing and jumping across many tools, insights, and documents, manually synthesizing notes, breaking down JTBDs into hundreds of personal metrics, and being overwhelmed with many tasks. ATHENNO Oracle will be personalized to every organization and every individual so you could focus on doing what you want to do. Faster and better.
It’s not easy right now for many to go from discovering unmet needs to successful solutions. We will be revamping our onboarding widget and making it more interactive and will continue making ATHENNO even more simple, more beautiful, and even easier to use.
We are launching our global affiliate and partner program that will allow anyone to make up to 50% per month for every client you refer to ATHENNO. We will start with existing JTBD practitioners and UX researchers, then we will be training anyone who would like to become a certified continuous discovery and JTBD expert and professional consultant. More and more companies globally are looking for consultants and freelancers, like you.
We are looking for more exceptional talent to join our mission. Right now we are hiring in enterprise relations, data science, product management, community, content, PLG, growth, and more. Reach out to us in our Slack community for more details. If you are the excellence itself and have passions, the fire of the soul, and want to make the giants fall. Reach out.
Besides the blog and guides, we will be releasing research summaries, and insights from the industry, and will start the YouTube easy-to-understand, short, and to-the-point video educational content. That will be free.
We will continue to stand true to our mission of making entrepreneurship and commercial innovation accessible and successful to all on Earth, regardless of birthplace, language, gender, nationality, race, religion, passport, income, background, social-economical, or any other factor. ATHENNO always will be available for free, forever, and our paid plans will be affordable for every region.
However, to make it happen, next year our focus will be on generating profits and enterprise features so we could continue serving everyone with the highest quality and touch.
We will continue seeking investors and partners. If you would like to learn more, reach out.
So how did we get here…
The Last Years
End of Era
ATHENNO Public Beta first was launched during history. I was delivering a talk and a workshop at the largest product conference in Emerging Europe, Prow in Romania in September. My workshop made a good amount of money. And I donated all of that back and said: “Use it to make this part of the world a better place, it needs it more”, even if I still was relatively broke myself.
Shortly after the event, I jump on a plane to London, for the last time in 2022.
I pass the Imperial State Crown, the closest I ever was to it. Walking through the end, I look back. I think about true leadership, a final sacrifice, a service of eternity. So many people came to London for similar reasons all across the globe. I think about all the silence, melancholic facial expressions, tears, and different ways of respect people showed to the last monarch of the British Empire. From bows to salutations. People of all ages and races, like there is no difference at all. We all are the same in the face of the Divine. I think about history and the end of the era. Elizabeth II was never supposed to become The Queen. Her father wasn’t supposed to become the King. He took responsibility when someone else ran away from it. And this… is what authentic leadership is all about and why I spent 16 hours in queue for the main queue and then got my orange bracelet at the London bridge in the main queue itself over freezing night, cold; being hungry, and exhausted already without sleeping even the night before. I am sorry to the few people in that long queue who were not happy with my pace. I also looked up into these beautiful carvings of the wooden ceiling of Westminster Hall, a thousand years old large open hall without a single pillar in the middle, the oldest part of the Palace. Walking outside and seeing Elizabeth Tower, known as Big Ben, in the middle of the night, seeing an armed officer who asks everyone to move faster, quickly taking a shot from a phone of the Tower - I look for the last time back into the closed coffin which rests on a raised platform, called a catafalque, the royal standard covering it, the Crown Jewels laying on the top of it, royal guards around it, and stairs with the entrance across the hall.
“Grief is the price we pay for love”
At the end of her final journey, I come to Windsor. I walk one hour from Windsor Castle to the Runnymede where the Magna Carta Libertatum (The Great Charter of Liberties) was signed over 800 years ago. I walk through the forest and stumble upon the John F Kennedy memorial, then get out into the open field and see 12 intricately worked bronze chairs called The Jurors, where visitors can sit down. Finally, with the gentle light of the sun passing through the leaves and branches of the trees into my eyes, I came here for the rotunda erected over 60 years ago and re-commemorated by the American Bar Association which pledges the adherence to the principles of the modern democracy in its birthplace, the same way, I do.
Staying Sane
The last 3 years were the toughest for everyone. The amount of loss and anxiety is unimaginable. Both within our own lives and the lives of people we know. Nothing I say or do is going to change that. And when seems like flowers started to bloom again, wars and conflicts prolonged the suffering. Nothing ever will be as it was. Uncertainty is the new norm. It is better to be a warrior in the garden than a gardener in a war.
Staying true to who you really are, perhaps, is the best way to stay sane. Life is too short to waste it on people who you thought were your friends, on fake masks and pretending to be someone else, on doing jobs that you hate, on running away from reality and responsibilities, and on not pursuing your biggest dreams and taking august action.
It is easy to complain and expect someone else, like a government or a specific person, to do better. However, it is not easy to make a change happen yourself.
“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”
Wrote Marcus Aurelius in his famous private journal almost two thousand years ago. The most powerful man on Earth, who also was not supposed to become The Emperor, stayed in Rome during the ancient pandemic when others were leaving. Journaling, in fact, is another great way to deal with a tremendous amount of insanity, anxiety, and stress.
I personally prefer walking in the forest, or as they call it in Japan - Shinrin-yoku, then practicing Taijiquan, Qi Gong, and Meditation.
Looking for Heroes and Becoming a Hero
We always are looking for our heroes, and patrons in our lives and seek someone we admire a lot, especially during times of crisis. Probably when I was much younger, one of my first heroes for me was Jeanne d'Arc. In her final trial, she said:
“I am not afraid. For God is with me. I was born for this”.
Later in my life, I used to work with a millionaire I admired, yet it ended up a disappointment.
We live in a world full of fake keyboard warriors and fake keyboard heroes. I was shocked to discover so much fake and cowardness during COVID. I was blocked countless times only for wishing someone a great weekend or following up with the person, who accepts your connection request and message, just a few times a year. I hate when people say one thing and do exactly the opposite.
And during these times there was someone I used to admire a lot, who I was willing to work with, someone who is a CEO of a big company. Yet, for me, this person became the last “hero” and I stopped seeking heroes, and just decided to become a hero myself.
In the same way when I started my first startup years ago because I came across the answer on Quora from someone back then. I don’t remember the question, but the answer contained the part - “Be a CEO you wish you worked for yourself”
No matter what’s your title, how rich or poor you are, only action reveals the truth. People are who they are when nobody is paying them. When nobody is watching. When their results and action match their promises and words. Everyone is equal.
The Main Lesson
The main lesson I learned so far in my life, that saves me now an enormous amount of time is - success leaves clues. You can clearly see, literally see in the action if something and someone is true or not. If someone really stands for everything they say. If someone really is “very impressed” by you. If someone calls themselves a hero, they will act like one, you will see it. If someone says that true leaders protect the weak, they will act like that. If someone says that the world needs more truly alive souls, they will connect with likeminded souls, diamonds, rather than block them. If someone wants to start a business, be it a service, product, app, YouTube channel, podcast, or whatever. They will network, learn, and seek help. If someone really is interested in you and willing to talk deeper. If someone is willing to work for you and do the job. If someone really wants to change. If someone really cares about you personally or your goals or business. If someone wants to make your product better. If someone is really willing to put in work and make a relationship work. If someone really wants to build a global business. If someone really wants to get a healthier body and life. If somebody truly wants to achieve something, they will always find a way to achieve it. They will be doing it themselves already, you will clearly see it. And if somebody doesn’t, they will always find excuses. You don’t need to do anything. And no amount of power, will, investment, words, or training will change that. This is how I hired the best people I ever had. Natural selection in a sense. Many people tried to go against the Supreme Natural Law and the way nature works, yet they always failed. Follow the stream of the universe. If you don’t see those real clues, you don’t see any effort back, it’s fake. Move on.
And the way it saves you time more than anything is that you don’t need to do anything yourself. Just have transparent systems, communicate clearly, tell what you want, your challenges, goals, and your standards and see if they will come back and actually will do the job, and will be able to do it well. 99% will just stop bothering you. If you are not replying, you only will be losing time long-term because they will keep giving you more notifications and taking your focus out. Switching between tasks, messages, and any new notification takes time and energy out of your day. Often, in the end, I just reply how disappointed I was with the work produced, or that person simply wasn’t prepared even when I clearly said what I will be looking for. Not a single message after that. Just be available and have channels open. Keep your mind wide open. Otherwise, you might miss that one per million diamond. Luck is the opportunity when you are ready.
Imagine your end goal is achieved. Think backward (backcasting). Who will you need to rely on and what will you need to get there? Then backward planning and asking Why again and again. What caliber of people will you need to surround yourself with? Who is capable of being not where you are now and how you think now, but where you want to be years into the future? Look only at action and success clues. Ignore words absolutely. Initially, you won’t understand a lot and will feel very uncomfortable. Get comfortable being uncomfortable and suck it up. Growth and comfort are not possible together. Who is your perfect customer? Partner? Who is walking in the same direction where you want to be years from now? Start networking, creating systems, and pipelines, and building your future today. How do your project management system, contacts management, reply system, second brain, recharging mental energy and stress relief, personal support system, growth, and personal development system, and other systems work? Improve efficiency every day. Self-reflect and analyze yourself and your results every week. Practice basics and improve your craft every day. Talk to more people/day. Block a weekly slot in your calendar to go through older messages and reply. Provide better products or services every week. Seek feedback, and ask a lot of questions all the time. Listen to your most genuine and active champions, evangelists, and fans. Automate. Do you have a clear pricing page? Calendar booking page? Q&A? Self-serve onboarding? Self-educational guides? Inform everyone in advance. Be professional, show up, reply as quickly as you can, or say something like “Thank you, I’ll come back to you in 2 weeks”. Be prepared, do your due diligence about every person you meet, Google their name, and check their profile, posts, links, and then other links inside those links before even meeting a person for the first time. Develop exceptional work ethic. Delegate. Know your metrics and North Star. Speed is everything. Life is too short. I am not talking about hurrying up. The more we try to hurry up the less time we have.
All that alone will give you an enormous amount of free time and a reputation that will allow you to get to the next stage in your life. Then you do the same again and again. Psychology is slow. Relationships take time to nurture. There are no shortcuts. In the end, life is like a Yin and Yang. It is always balancing. Push and pull. You act a bit. They act a bit. You act in return. They act in return. Continue until the clue stops. Most people won’t be there with you later in your life, so pay attention to those who are constantly willing to be there for you and show real clues repeatedly. You can’t imagine how many people I met who were telling me big words and how they would like to be part of something great, yet, they would just end up with excuses and typing on social media.
Keep in mind that in real life you have to be open-minded and flexible. You will never get anything as you plan. It is like playing a strategy game, you have to work smart and use the limited resources you can get right now to your best advantage. And you are always fighting for getting more of them and for the best resources. Only a tiny % reaches the bottom of the funnel and gets into your customer base, customer panel, or inner circle and it takes time and effort, so you would need to talk to more and more people and get to know them and test them in person faster to find diamonds. And don’t try to talk business or sell anything. Just be a genuine human being, add value first without asking anything in return and get to know each other, share stories, and see where it goes. The more experiments you run, the faster you find something that works. The more people we learn from, the more likely we are to become the greatness itself. Now focus on the quality of your process. The end goal and end of the funnel are the same, however, in order to move more efficiently, you need to start learning to see success clues and recognize what you want to see at the end of the funnel, right at the beginning of it. For example, many people just randomly shoot for many stars or try to sell a million pens. When others achieve the same results by leveling up their game, meeting just one affluent person who is more likely to pay for a high-end product. Hence, achieving the same results thousands of times faster. Show me your friends and I will show you your future. I once literally unfriended almost anyone I knew and moved out. Many people, even your own family, and friends at a time, will be your anchor. You are not responsible for their weak decisions. You have to think about your future.
It is better to be alone than to be in bad company.
When George Washington was 14, he copied by hand this famous quote from 110 Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.
Just one hour with a person with a successful mindset might teach you or give you more than 4 years at university or hanging out with your current friends and places. Finally, believe that karma will do the job and that dots will connect later in your life. That stranger you see one day could become your best friend, client, coworker, employee, service provider, boss, partner, co-founder, investor, or someone else valuable. Or it could be your already existing loyal customer for years. I once was treated disrespectfully and incompetently by a new “leader” who was hired at a big product company that I was a customer of for years. One person can destroy the brand and reputation you were building with sweat, blood, and tears for decades. I stopped using this product, recommending it to others and sent a letter to 30 leaders at this organization.
I call myself partially Asian also because in Asia it is important to get to know each other well before doing business. I don’t care who you are and I never gonna buy from you or do anything with you, until I know who you really are and I can trust you. Your network is your net worth. Everything is created by the people and one exceptionally remarkable person can replace 100. Like when Steve Jobs announced the iPhone, a device that can do many things at once. I apply the same philosophy everywhere. Why have 10 people with only one little skill in your life when you can have people-diamonds who could do many things at once, satisfy more of your desires, and do those many things well? People who are expert-generalists. So the more exceptional people you have in your network, the more powerful you become and the more secure and safe your future becomes. But it might be hard to connect with them. Another big mistake is only chasing after famous ones and ignoring younger people who clearly show those august success clues and predict where they will be in the future. It is way easier to connect with people who will become the excellence itself when they are just getting started. And if you will become part of their lives at this early stage, you might become their best friend for life. So the best time to plant a tree is now. Just do it. Most of what you overthink never happens. I sucked hard at networking myself and never used to talk to strangers. Just do it. Develop your getting sh* done muscle. Everything I know and apply, I learned from the best of the best on the entire planet, if not history. The faster you learn and act, the faster you earn.
Success leaves clues. Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.
If you are just an honest and genuine person who is willing to help, show up, you do exactly as you say, you call things for what they really are and if something is wrong, you call it like that, this alone in the times we live in right now is already a strong and unique value proposition that will make you successful.
My Background
Before 2020 started, I used to be a digital nomad and consultant who lived across continents and was looking to move to Singapore, however, everything went down quickly. Exploring the world and meeting different people and cultures is a crucial part of the self-discovering journey, but that’s a story for another time. The business crashed. Dreams shattered. I wish I could be proud more of what I achieved over the last few years. However, I am happy enough that I came across the ADPList platform that makes mentorship accessible to all on Earth in a similar way ATHENNO democratizes entrepreneurship and commercial innovation.
I continued helping people as much as I could for free. Even if I had to wake up early Saturday morning or stay till late when I didn’t want to show up for a call or was very tired or angry. But I always was reminding myself why I started it in the first place and continued to show up, smile, listen, and pay full attention to the person before me. And I am happy to know that some of my mentees I met on ADPList got jobs. I never ask people to write any particular reviews about me. True authentic leadership is about what others want to do themselves and what value, influence, and respect they see in you. Yet, I received many great reviews. Here is a review that I liked a lot from one of my best mentees and I will let others speak about who I am in reality:
“Mev prepared an entire presentation and customized it on the spot packed with tons of amazing information. The fact that he did this for a mentee he didn't need anything from speaks volumes of his work ethic.”
The voice behind the wall asks you to hold your breath. You close your eyes. Hear a short loud noise. Feel some light. Then it quickly stops, yet felt like an hour has passed. Most of my childhood memories are around hospitals because I suffered from tuberculosis and was physically weak. I came from a poor background in a small country in the North/Eastern part of Europe. No economy and opportunities. Still, a Soviet socialistic mindset all around that always was limiting my global ambitions and passions. Never had a father. Mother without any education or career. I don’t have a traditional bachelor’s degree. Had 3 root canal dental treatments before turning 30.
Yet despite working since the age of 7, starting my first own business at the age of 13, accumulating a lot of experience and wisdom across verticals over decades, and building everything on my own, including a global personal brand - I have been rejected tens of thousands of times. Only because of birthplace discrimination, my passport, and no big metrics and names on my resume. Because I do not tolerate inefficiency, need to work in a flexible and at least sometimes remote manner, do not have a “traditional path”, am “all over the place”, and have “gaps”. Had a totally 0 network, no connections, and no understanding of business. And by fact, I was a very shy, insecure, hard introvert kid. When I started my first startup and was scammed by a fake investor, or when I wasn’t paid by a contractor, the police never did anything.
So this is why I started ATHENNO.
I have applied to and offered help to many companies in a similar space. I started ATHENNO because nobody else wanted to solve this problem very well. They are just copy-pasting one another. Because I was rejected and discriminated against countless times in my life, and because of the unimaginable amount of ignorance, injustice, and incompetence in the modern world.
Birth of ATHENNO as a Product and as a Company
Since I started my first startup in 2016 in London, I have been researching and academically studying the field of entrepreneurship and commercial innovation, especially starting new businesses, product management, as well as what makes someone more successful, psychology of why people do what they do and why they buy certain products or services.
Then I came across the milkshake story from Clayton Christensen and that resonated with me immediately because since I was a kid I always was curious, open-minded, and philosophical, I always would need to know why things are the way they are. And turns out there is what Clayton called - a jobs-to-be-done theory.
So I went and read and watched absolutely everything I could find about that from Harvard to world-class Silicon Valley product companies, leaders and influencers, to all JTBD practitioners and creators of different frameworks.
Apart from that, I learned McKinsey and top management consulting way on my own. After being discriminated against and rejected 17 times by them, I don’t need them anymore. Moreover, information is now more accessible than ever before.
Before all that I was a software engineer and product owner later, and was writing code myself for around a decade. Software architecture and designing huge systems was my favorite passion back then. I wrote hundreds of new libraries, plugins, frameworks, protocols, servers, games, and little other systems from scratch. I also used to be an artist and a sales rep. Somewhere in between, I studied law and computer science. I dropped out. Practiced different Asian martial arts. Was dancing, writing, and playing games. Learning many languages, playing guitar and piano.
Not to mention, everything else I self-taught myself from statistics, arts, UX research, product strategy, data science, psychology, marketing, sales, and business development. Heck that even fashion and photography are used a bit in designing and building ATHENNO. Composition is everywhere.
So in 2020, I started sketching initially some new ways for managing experiments and learnings.
In 2021 I conducted my own JTBD analysis with my methods and found out that 90% of professionals in my field needed something like ATHENNO. So I shifted the focus. Then I was looking for a design partner. Got scammed by one agency. Got COVID the first time myself and felt really bad for over a week. After that, I just started designing a whole new system from scratch myself, and alone. Today ATHENNO file in Figma is so huge that you can’t see a whole part even after zooming out as maximum as you can.
Finally, this year at the beginning of 2022 I started working with Gaga, who became a good friend of mine, and his amazing team. More about that in a tank you note at the end.
The new company was incorporated in Ireland. More about that in the next section.
As a product ATHENNO incorporates state-of-the-art methods in commercial innovation from Harvard Business School, top management consulting practices and mindset from McKinsey, modern discovery and product management techniques from companies like Netflix or Amazon, and global experts like Marty Cagan, Teresa Torres, Tony Ulwick, and many more. As well as my own methods. Specifically what I call Innovation Triangle and Innovation Sprint.
Another reason why I started ATHENNO is not just the product, but to build the most valuable and lovable organization on the planet that once again puts people and the service at its core.
ATHENNO will be addressing the lack of competence, service, reason, merit, and quality, as well as discrimination, and injustice in the modern corporate world. Anyone who dares to challenge the giants, and old systems, and dream beyond the impossible can become part of the ATHENNO regardless of birthplace, social-economical status, location, age, gender, or religion.
Business and commercial innovation is not luck. The future is clearly predictable.
Moving Headquarters Out of Ireland and Europe
The Irish government is the most incompetent I ever experienced. Enterprise Ireland asks you to incorporate before even initiating the process. Every normal place will ask you to incorporate only after the deal is reached. And the best ones like Techstars even help you with that. As a poor solo entrepreneur when COVID destroyed you financially, yet another time in your life, it is uncomfortable for you to afford extra expenses and paperwork. Anyway, we incorporated in Ireland because we were expecting this grant. Yet then they find another excuse after excuse not to consider you for a grant, violate supreme law and discriminate against you for 2 years.
Competition authority tells you that it is not their function to take legal action on the complainant's behalf.
Ombudsman’s Office doesn’t know the basics of administrative law and process and ignores every question you ask 100%.
Court Service doesn’t answer any questions at all and just sends you somewhere else to seek for a private help.
Minister responsible for that function, doesn’t want any help either.
Criminal Police tell you that they will contact you soon, yet they never do.
And so on. I am not surprised that Ireland has the biggest housing crisis on the continent and so many other problems.
Anyway, we are done with Ireland. 12.5% tax is still a lot. It shall be 0% because it’s all a huge scam. It’s like paying a lot for a great restaurant and not receiving any food at all.
Like Church in the medieval times lost its power gradually, incompetent governments will be replaced and won’t have much power anymore. We will see more micronations like Singapore in the future.
I will even create my own.
Anyway, going back to the present moment, ATHENNO will be moving HQ either into US or Singapore, depending on in which region we will find the lead investor, and we are in touch with them in both regions.
I believed in Europe my entire life for decades, like Lee Kuan Yew, who believed his entire life in reunification with Malaysia, which kicked Singapore out and forced it to declare independence against its will. The only time it ever happened in history by the way. Nobody discriminated against me the most than my own homeland, and Europe is the weakest it ever was. Full of ruins, wars, conflicts, incompetence, cowardness, corruption, bureaucracy, and absolute lack of ambition, respect, action, and common sense. Imagine when countries tell you what your own name shall sound like. Not respecting the laws of others. Or when an accelerator that calls itself the biggest in the region asks you how ATHENNO is a B2B. Or a “Vice President” for innovation in one member state’s government agency tells you that there is nothing to talk about and at the same time she only writes online about how Europe lacks passion, the fire of the soul, and ambition. Insert a facepalm emoji here. You got the point. After all, the brightest minds were leaving the Old World for the New World for the same reasons for centuries, as now, I am about to leave this continent, and perhaps, never look back. Even London is not what it used to be. If any modern government is reading this, I am still looking for a place I finally could call home and a normal passport, if you need a real and loyal citizen, an authentic leader, and develop the economy, not another free rider.
Our Values and Our Name
The core value of ATHENNO always will be THE excellence.
Excellence in any smallest detail. Excellence in any smallest interaction. Excellence in the way we serve. Excellence in the way we treat others. Excellence in the way we improve ourselves. Excellence in everything, everywhere, and anytime. Nothing, but excellence, is tolerated.
ATHENNO name comes from Athena, The Goddess of Wisdom, War, and “nno” from the word Innovation which comes from Latin in- + novō, to introduce something new, to renovate, to improve, to make change happen. In Ancient Greece, there were no small or capital letters. Which is why ATHENNO is always capitalized.
Athena will continue to be our avatar, personification, and character for all our products and services. The friend and the Divine, everyone can rely on. Someone who is always there to guide you to the warmth of the fire and the light of the predictable and a very clear future. Someone to give you the Olive Tree. Athens was renamed in her honor because she gave people of the ancient city-state one thing, yet that thing could be used in many ways from providing food to warmth, to shelter. It empowered the lives of every human being, and it was the first Olive Tree.
This is why our main values always will be Arete (ἀρετή) and Wisdom. In Asia, you might call it Kung Fu. It has nothing to do about martial arts. It simply means the way of excellence. Everything can be your arete or kung fu. Writing. Cooking. Dancing. Thinking. Data Science. Design. Giving first.
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Our next core values are justice, merit, equality, opportunities for the underprivileged, science, efficiency, and great administration.
Like Lady Justice wearing a blindfold, only what value everyone brings to the table and what they can achieve matters. The best ideas win. The best competence and merit wins. Discrimination on absolutely any ground, especially birthplace, location, and passport, is strictly prohibited. ATHENNO is governed by law and rights. Every member of the organization is equal, shall behave, and may use its powers only in conformity with the meaning, and purpose of any decision or situation, and ATHENNO values. We ruthlessly focus on squeezing inefficiency out of every part of the business. Work smart. We do not rise to the level of our goals. We fall down to the level of our systems and beliefs. No managers, or talkers. Only working-class people who actually move the needle. Best opportunities are given to underprivileged ones, that includes underprivileged parts of the planet Earth. We have no ego and are intelligent and analytical. Everything is a hypothesis. No HiPPOs (highest-paid person’s opinion). Empowered teams. Empowered individuals. We act fairly and proportionately, seek to understand, use common sense and get it right. We are open, available, and not busy. ATHENNO shall act in the people’s and planet's interest, communicate clearly, respond fast, and be accessible to all.
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Among other values are being human, communication, kindness, and respect.
Finally, our last but not least values are also courage, ambition, competition, curiosity, temperance, style, speed, and simplicity.
Relationships with any member or partner of the organization who violates core principles, especially justice, merit, and equality, will be terminated immediately.
Thank You
ATHENNO would not be possible without the colossal help of our Founding Partner Gaga and his team at Redberry International, as well as a friend of mine and the best client I ever had - DJ of VacayHQ.
I also want to thank my executive assistant Adam, engineers Tamar, Luka and Giorgi, and Beka for assisting them. Thank you to Tega, Chuen, Felix, Charmant, Jeffrey, Hellem, Jason, Busra, Adrienne, Dmitry, Lucy, Steve, Myra, Andrea, Yujia, Ted, Thomas, Nick, Julia, Neal, Julius, Jessica, Saba, Anna Maria, Andrei, Longxiu, Ebony, John and many other great people I met over the last years through LinkedIn, Upwork, ADPList, Techstars Rising Stars Community, Prow Conference, and now also our own community and ATHENNO.
I wish everyone Merry Christmas and a Happy New 2023 Year.
Stars will shine again. Be patient. Be strong. Be open-minded. Learn. Adapt. Network. Take action. Help those below you to rise without expecting anything in return. Give first. Let excellence be your brand. Stay humble. Stay curious. Stay awesome. Stay healthy. And don’t forget to pet a bunny 🐇
Now go there, unleash your dreams, imagination, and greatness without any limits, and don’t let any bozo stay on your way and any excuses and naysayers drag you down.
– Mev-Rael
Founder & Chief Everything
