Creating something tangible out of an abstract idea comes naturally to Ian Nott, co-Founder of Aetho. After all, the idea for Aetho was born from Nott spending a year in the creative company of other entrepreneurs. 

“We had originally landed on the development of drone technologies, but through our business development and refinement, decided to leverage the best of the technologies being born from the drone space. And bring them to the masses back here on Earth,” Nott says.

That proved to be an easy transition for Nott; when he crossed paths with Harrison D. Lee, they became Aetho. Things weren’t always so easy for Nott, who, just like every visionary before him, had to face a great deal of disappointment before any success. He was involved in a startup program at SCAD, but it was short-lived. 

“The goal was to connect students who had exciting new products and services with local business mentors – to help develop the business and financial end of things,” Nott says. “Unfortunately, I am the only person to have come through the program with a success story, as they shut down the program before it could end.”

He believes there is a vast wealth to be gained from the untapped minds of those who didn’t make it out of the program with a success story. His disappointment with SCAD quickly leveraged into a fierce personal drive to help others like him. 

“There could be dozens of Aethos operating, growing jobs, and building new technologies locally. I am personally committed to trying to bring about this change, to help grow Savannah into a truly world class start-up community,” he says. 

Aetho itself is in the business of putting vision and power in people’s hands. They hope to make good things better by combining their own prototype hardware with such tech gadgets as the ever-popular GoPro and Google Glass. This helps video achieve the look of a professional Hollywood filmmaker with smooth stabilization. While the products are very scientific in nature, the focus of Aetho really is people and specifically what they want to see when they playback video.

“We are committed to a design and human-centric outlook when developing our products and services,” Nott says. “It is this combination of human friendly ideas, combined with cutting edge technologies, that give us a true market differentiation when looking at the content creation space. We are committed to not just being 10% better then what is currently available, but rather build an entire new paradigm of human computer interaction for our users.” 

Even though part of Aetho’s team is in San Francisco, Nott himself enjoys the history and friendly locals of Savannah. He first visited the area in 2009, and has since made his home in downtown. 

“Savannah offers a highly unique backdrop unlike much of the United States,” he says.

Aetho is currently in talks with Savannah Arts Academy to pilot an educational program in their film department. They hope to showcase their products to the younger generation, allowing kids training in exciting ways to shoot video.

“What we are doing here is building a foundation, not just for ourselves, but for others who want to build new companies and new ideas here in Savannah. It's my personal philosophy to always be paying it forward, because we all will win by working together to lift up our community, and our meaning in life,” Nott says.

For more information on Aetho, please visit Aetho.co

About Deena Spell

A native of Albany, Georgia, Deena is a seasoned freelance features writer. She has spent the past three years writing professionally for multiple online and print publications. She graduated from Valdosta State University with a degree in Journalism in 2009.