#StartupsEverywhere: Coupeville, Wash.
#StartupsEverywhere: Marie Gill, CEO and Co-founder, AETHEON
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
Translating Human Experience into Verifiable Skills
AETHEON, a Washington-based startup, is an AI-powered workforce platform that helps individuals turn their work, education, military, and life experiences into structured, verified skill profiles. It also helps employers identify talent based on demonstrated skills and competencies rather than traditional resumes or degree requirements. We sat down with founder Marie Gill to discuss AETHEON’s mission to reshape the broken talent marketplace, the strategic decision to prioritize trade secrets over patents, and the critical policy reforms needed to support transitioning military veterans.
Tell us about your background. What led you to AETHEON?
I’ve spent decades across corporate leadership and startups, driven by curiosity and a desire to understand how things work and how they could work better. I sometimes call it my “Forrest Gump” career: I’ve found myself in unexpected rooms, with extraordinary people, and I’ve always looked for ways to contribute.
As I thought about my next chapter, I kept coming back to a problem I had seen affect friends, family, colleagues, and even myself: a talent marketplace that reduces people to titles, credentials, and résumés, while overlooking so much of who they are and what they can actually do.
AETHEON grew from a desire to change that to build a better way for people to be seen, understood, and valued for their full potential. We’re not just trying to improve a broken system. We’re reimagining what should replace it.
What is the work you all are doing at AETHEON?
At AETHEON, we translate, validate, and activate human experience through the language of skills. We help people recognize and prove the capabilities they’ve built through work, education, and simply living life. Rather than handing someone a list of possible skills, we think of skills as multidimensional Lego blocks that can be understood, validated, and combined in powerful ways. This allows individuals to see their potential more clearly, employers to understand the capabilities within their workforce, and communities to see their collective human potential. Increasingly, we also see education and workforce development as the bridge helping people identify and build the specific skills they need next, rather than assuming a degree is always the only path forward.
How is AETHEON utilizing artificial intelligence?
AI is part of our product build and what we deliver. We use AI to build content and validate some of our modeling. However, we have never assumed that AI could replace human experience. People come into our system, and we are clear about where AI is used and where it is not. They control and own their experience and participation. We also certify people in AI skills, mapping specific abilities in using or implementing AI productively and with a human-forward approach.
Can you explain your intellectual property strategy, and why you have chosen trade secrets over patents?
We have pursued trademarks, but we have chosen not to pursue patents. Patents are often one of the most challenging parts of building a company. The process can feel counterintuitive for founders, especially because many cannot afford to pursue it and risk having information publicly disclosed until they are much further down the road—after they have established a foothold and are already deep in the work of growing the business. Instead, we treat our work as trade secrets and closely guard our algorithm.
What has your experience with federal innovation grants programs been like?
Previously, I worked with the University of Washington as part of an academic pathway to the National Institutes of Health and to federal programs such as the Small Business Innovation Research program. Through this experience, I learned how to access funding from these sources. However, as an entrepreneur now viewing these systems from the outside, my main argument is that the process is unnecessarily complex. I believe we can improve these systems by making information clearer and more direct. If you fit a certain category, it should be easy to identify which grants and funding pools are relevant to you. Currently, there is too much gamesmanship and a lack of clarity surrounding how to access these programs.
Are there any local, state, or federal startup issues that you think should receive more attention from policymakers?
I'm working on several projects with the states of California and Washington. Specifically, here in Washington state, I'm benefiting from the fact that the governor, and his staff, are very keen on transforming the state into a skills-based economy. This is a big undertaking and involves transforming the modern job description to better reflect the actual skills required.
200,000 military personnel exit service every year. More than 54 percent are unemployed or underemployed for at least two years after leaving. Our current system develops people, only to leave them with nothing once they leave service. Before military personnel leave, they should receive a summary of their skills and self-knowledge, along with guidance on sharing their stories. Instructors at West Point now realize cadets need to learn this before they begin their career development. The state of California wants me to provide a skills summary for every vet preparing to leave, because they know its value.
What are your goals for AETHEON moving forward?
In the long term, we will be the trusted translation layer for human experience and skill definition. When someone needs to validate or understand their skills, someone else’s strengths, or an organization’s capabilities, we want them to think of us—the same way people associate Kleenex with tissues or Xerox with copies. They'll say, “We need to go to AETHEON for that.”
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
Engine works to ensure that policymakers look for insight from the startup ecosystem when they are considering programs and legislation that affect entrepreneurs. Together, our voice is louder and more effective. Many of our lawmakers do not have first-hand experience with the country's thriving startup ecosystem, so it’s our job to amplify that perspective. To nominate a person, company, or organization to be featured in our #StartupsEverywhere series, email advocacy@engine.is.
