Founded in San Francisco in 1994, we pioneered enterprise microlearning, video streaming for learning, and cloud-based SaaS delivery years before they became industry standards. We are still out front. Now with AI.
In 1994, Jon Peters founded AthenaOnline with a simple observation: the people who most needed business expertise rarely had access to it. Classroom training was inconvenient and covered more than most people could retain. Business books sat unread. The expertise existed. The delivery did not.
The early answer was CD-ROM. Athena developed compression technology for digital learning delivery at a time when streaming was not yet possible, working with Apple and Microsoft media teams as digital media took shape. Those early programs were award-winning, built on gamification principles, and grounded in real expert content.
The company launched with support from Boeing, McKesson, Chubb, NYNEX, and The Institute for Management Studies. Those early partnerships were not just clients. They were proof of concept that bite-sized, expert-backed learning could work at enterprise scale.
Athena's early award-winning programs were built on gamification principles: interactive, engaging, and grounded in real expert content. Fortune and WIRED both covered Athena during this period, recognizing the CD-ROM programs and the bold move to digital learning delivery. As the internet matured around 2000, Athena made the shift to cloud-based, SaaS delivery, streaming expert video years before the infrastructure caught up with the vision.
In 2001, the MyQuickCoach platform formalized what Athena had been building toward: a dedicated microlearning system where employees could get practical, expert-backed guidance in five minutes or less. The industry followed.
Three decades later, Athena is doing it again, this time with AI. The same principle that drove the company in 1994 still drives it today: get the right expertise to the right person at exactly the right moment.
Jon Peters launches AthenaOnline, developing CD-ROM compression technology for digital learning delivery. Working with Apple and Microsoft media teams, Athena builds award-winning interactive programs grounded in expert content and gamification principles.
Athena begins streaming expert-led video for enterprise learning, five years before YouTube. Award-winning interactive courses built on gamification principles earn industry recognition.
The first dedicated enterprise microlearning platform goes live in September 2001. The learning industry takes note.
Athena's mobile learning solution is named an Apple iPhone Staff Pick in the year the App Store launched. One of the earliest enterprise m-learning solutions available.
Athena builds and operates one of the first streaming AI coaching platforms, piloting it with early client partners. The market was not ready, but the concept worked. Athena kept the vision alive.
Named one of Training Industry's "AI in Training" companies to watch. Launches Athena and Clio, AI coaching personas grounded in 3,000+ expert lessons and 175+ vetted faculty.
Thirty years of breakthrough approaches in learning design and technology, recognized by the publications and organizations that track what matters in HR and L&D.
The learning industry has spent thirty years catching up to ideas Athena was already running in production. Microlearning is now a standard. SaaS is the default. Mobile is assumed. Video is everywhere. AI is the next frontier. Athena is already there.
Today, QuickCoach combines three decades of expert-backed content with the latest in AI to deliver coaching and microlearning that works in the flow of real work. The library has grown to over 3,000 lessons. The faculty network spans 175+ vetted authors, researchers, and consultants. The clients range from financial services and manufacturing to government agencies and universities. The mission has not changed since 1994: get the right expertise to the right person at exactly the right moment.