Fully built and launched the mobile app myself—a Built for BlackBerry Certified BB10 App.

### **The Journey Behind Creating The App:**

[How Easily We Forget Our Journey ](https://alexbass.xyz/JcT60Ge7NqGh9MEjovWW)*[(Read Article)](https://alexbass.xyz/JcT60Ge7NqGh9MEjovWW)*

### **Video Overview:**

```cv
youtube
{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrXDrCNNQCs","width":200,"height":113,"thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FrXDrCNNQCs/hqdefault.jpg"}
```

### **Results:**

30k+ downloads with 730+ 5-Star reviews ([efficient.link/wdcs](https://efficient.link/wdcs))

* One of just a few apps that completed the BlackBerry 10k Commitment and won top 10 CrackBerry BB10 App of the year award.

### **Description:**

Web Design Cheat Sheet is a reference & editing tool for HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. It consists of useful information, syntax, examples, resources, code editors, documentation, video tutorials, site feeds, and more. If you are looking to learn how to build websites or simply looking for a quick reference source and coding editor then this is the App for you!

This App is made by web designers, for web designers. Because of this, you can be sure that it has everything necessary to become an expert in this ever-changing industry. With a free HTML5 and Site Feeds section in the App, you get to try it out and decide later if you want to unlock the additional content.

Built into the App is a very useful reader mode which allows you to put content first and customize your own personal reading experience for articles. Intelligently organized with productivity in mind, you can filter each section of the App between sub categories, such as CSS3, CSS2, and CSS1. With hundreds of syntax and properties, it makes finding exactly what you are looking for just that much easier.

Web Design Cheat Sheet is the only App of it's kind on all of BlackBerry 10. It is the Built for BlackBerry Certified and highly requested on Android and iOS. The developer is committed on keeping it exclusive to the platform and bringing the best experience possible to you. Using the Native Cascades experience of BB10, this is an App that will fit seamlessly on your device and you will be glad that you downloaded it.

Web Design Cheast Sheet (WDCS)

```cv
youtube
{"url":"https://youtu.be/Wi60rujbPdA","width":200,"height":113,"thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Wi60rujbPdA/hqdefault.jpg"}
```

My special guest in today’s episode of If Not Now Wen is Alex Bass. Alex is a founder and investor who is obsessed with product, automation, and integration. Over a decade ago, Alex Bass founded Efficient App with the goal of helping teams find and integrate their perfect software stack.

From seeing first-hand the time savings these tools resulted in, he knew he wanted to get involved on a deeper level. What started as a healthy obsession in product feedback, evolved into a budding career in angel investing.

In July 2021, his first investment was put into Motion. Over the 12 months that followed, an additional 18 startups were added to his portfolio, all with a primary focus in efficiency B2B SaaS.

Alex is passionate about creating relationships, and he creates impact through a desire to help and provide support. Alex has a transparency and authenticity that is so refreshing. He is such an inspiration, and I know you will love this episode as much as I do.

### We talk about:

* The power of transparency to create connections and opportunities

* Focusing on supporting and building relationships

* How providing product feedback led to angel investing

* Getting comfortable with the unknown

* Alex’s unique investing strategy

My Angel Investing Journey - Building Relationships with Transparency and Intention

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FfBhZnIwzghWxhHUMFm6jp3KJTd22%2FJcT60Ge7NqGh9MEjovWW%2Fa324486c-57b4-4f71-8b4b-5e295034b2e3.png?alt=media&token=fec19f68-c7e1-447c-8429-b3b16ae2dda2","id":"a324486c-57b4-4f71-8b4b-5e295034b2e3","width":752,"height":401,"filename":"1634175240759.png","type":"image/png","caption":"(Me being interviewed at BlackBerry World)","border":false}]}
```

*[Originally Posted on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-easily-we-forget-our-journey-alex-bass/?trackingId=X+SvaPUlR8SAqJfhN3XVRw%3D%3D)*

## **Backstory 📜**

I just recently moved into the SF [Outsite](https://efficient.link/b/outsite) location (professional co-living/co-working house), and while here, I found myself going through a bit of nostalgia after a recent conversation. While I'm writing this post to the public, I'm doing this more for myself as a reminder to regularly reflect back on life because it's shockingly easy to forget. 💭

I was chatting with someone at the house, going through the normal background "what do you do" answer, diving into my love for software and product (UI/UX). I was then asked "do you think you could launch a product on your own?" and I paused to take a few seconds to actually think about it "hmm, could I?" ...I then smacked myself over the head with my mouth wide open, absolutely dumbfounded, realizing "wait... I have... how in the hell did I forget such a huge part of my journey?!" 🤯

Something that I was once so proud of and identified deeply with, that engulfed my day-to-day for more than 2 years and thousands of hours, was barely even a thought 6/7 years later.

## **Story Time (The Opportunity) 📖**

Back in **2013** *(I was 20 at the time)*, BlackBerry was launching a new phone and operating system (called BB10) to combat iOS and Android. It was entirely new, built from the ground up, and it was incredible... The one thing lacking: developers.

To get developers onboard, they had a killer opportunity. *Willing to develop for BB10? We'll send you a free BB10 Dev Alpha device (worth something like $700) more than 6 months before the phone would even be publicly released!* You just had to prove that you're a developer and submit an idea for the app that you're going to build.

### **The App Idea 💡**

I wasn't an app developer, I didn't have an app idea, but I so badly wanted the device. My friend Jeremy was doing it, but he was a developer... So I asked him how tough it was to build an app and his response was "just give it a shot, you'll figure it out".

With no idea of what to build and a looming deadline, I thought of the one thing I knew how to do (build websites), and thus came my first (and only) idea: "Web Design Cheat Sheet". I submitted the idea with the rough ethos of teaching people how to learn web design. Fingers crossed 🤞 and a few short weeks later, they somehow approved it and shipped me an alpha device!

It was just then that I realized I actually had to start building an app... I genuinely didn't know what mess I got myself into.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FfBhZnIwzghWxhHUMFm6jp3KJTd22%2FJcT60Ge7NqGh9MEjovWW%2F98345998-49c5-47a9-964c-5a48b2aa354b.jpg?alt=media&token=a62d2a99-2b47-4a2e-918b-d892d561ba00","id":"98345998-49c5-47a9-964c-5a48b2aa354b","width":620,"height":413,"filename":"1634176410935.jpeg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"(BB10 Dev Alpha B Device)","border":false}]}
```

I downloaded the IDE on my computer, I read the developer docs, I looked at the example apps, and I spent weeks and months trying to learn QML and C++.

I will admit, I leaned heavily on that friend: "Hey Jeremy, so I'm trying to pull web design blog RSS feeds and display it within my app as a list. Any idea how I'd even begin solving that problem?" And he helped. He always helped, taking a break from the app he was building to help me get unstuck, time and time again. *(Seriously, thank you [Jeremy](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyvduke/)* - *only you know how truly helpful you were.)*

### **The Conference 🛫**

I got an early version out just as BlackBerry's annual developer conference was starting, and with that, I got invited to attend their BlackBerry Jam Developer Conference in Orlando, Florida as a developer, all for free! *(Again, pretty sure Jeremy helped pull these strings a bit).*

It was my first ever conference, I was introverted, shy, and nervous. I didn't really know anyone, but I saw other app developers there recording interviews by all of the big BlackBerry blogs, and I knew that I had to take advantage of being there and do something because very few people knew about my app. It was super niche, and had somehow gotten about 30 reviews and a couple hundred downloads, likely due to people being curious and the market not being being very crowded *(I was maybe one of just a couple hundred apps that existed at the time?)*

### **Time To Get Some PR 📢**

I was sweating and shaking, trying to muster up the courage to finally say *"hey, any chance you could do a blog post about my new app?"* ...waiting in anticipation... *"Yeah man, of course! What'd you build?"* and then the cameras started to roll:

```cv
youtube
{"url":"https://youtu.be/W20ecFrYvOI","width":200,"height":113,"thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/W20ecFrYvOI/hqdefault.jpg"}
```

I was nervous, my voice was shaking, I didn't feel like I deserved to be there "I'm not a true developer" I thought to myself, but I mean "fake it until you make it" was what I repeated to myself over and over.

In a moment of feeling a mixture of pride and adrenaline, I mustered up some temporary courage to go over to the two largest BlackBerry blogs in the space to ask for a similar interview ([CrackBerry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e18g7yvdGqI) & [N4BB](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwhzh00ZZrw)).

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FfBhZnIwzghWxhHUMFm6jp3KJTd22%2FJcT60Ge7NqGh9MEjovWW%2Faf2ac601-0475-43c5-bc2f-6a3bbd2f52bc.jpg?alt=media&token=cf11cdc0-a22c-4c44-9774-5b3190981d63","id":"af2ac601-0475-43c5-bc2f-6a3bbd2f52bc","width":1488,"height":837,"filename":"1634178515704.jpeg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"(That's me geeking out in the background in the middle of the screen)","border":false}]}
```

I remember leaving the event and going back to the hotel room and just refreshing the blogs over and over, anxiously waiting for the article to post. *[It finally did](https://crackberry.com/web-design-cheat-sheet-blackberry)*, and the comments started rolling in. I just laid in there, refreshing the page and responding to each and every message from my phone. People actually cared about what I made... Wait, am I a developer?

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FfBhZnIwzghWxhHUMFm6jp3KJTd22%2FJcT60Ge7NqGh9MEjovWW%2F39ed4faf-9255-4f03-821e-d9f3920f926d.png?alt=media&token=aba61354-2b84-4b12-9fd9-64c1e61099e6","id":"39ed4faf-9255-4f03-821e-d9f3920f926d","width":479,"height":129,"filename":"1634178756648.png","type":"image/png","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

### **What Happened Next? 🤔**

I didn't really know. I was having fun and enjoying the ride, but it wasn't the most sensible venture as I had made all of $0 for the hundreds of hours that I had put into building the app to this point. I went the "freemium" path with HTML5 & Site Feeds sections set to free with future plans to create paid unlocks for learning CSS3 ($1.99) and JavaScript ($1.99).

I had gotten to the point of having a few thousand downloads and just around 100 reviews (with a 5-star average rating). I was on to something, but the market was so niche that even at an exceptionally high conversion rate, it wasn't enough to justify building additional sections. In addition, I had the constant opportunity cost of time in the air as I was also trying to build a web design agency and going to school during this time.

### **The BlackBerry 10k Commitment 💸**

It was at this time that BlackBerry upped the ante and introduced the "Built for BlackBerry 10k Commitment" program. If your app was built in native Cascades (QML & C++) and you sell at-least $1,000 worth of the app within 6 months of the program launch, then they would pay the difference between $10k and what you sold.

The clock was ticking down, I qualified for the program, I just needed to build a paid section to the app and sell. $1,000 seemed accessible based on my current user-base with $4 in in-app purchases available.

I spent the next 4 months building out the paid CSS3 section and released it, selling $600 in the first week. Sales started slowing down after that and I had just under 2 months left. Things weren't looking good. I figured I had come so far that I shouldn't give up now. I then put my school and work on the backburner for 3 weeks and built out the entire JavaScript section to the app, released it, and crossed my fingers 🤞

With just 4 weeks left, I hit $1,000 in sales! I was ecstatic, that meant I made $10k, right? Wrong. It was $1,000 minus taxes/fees/and BlackBerry's 20% cut, so that actual goal was closer to $1,400. I was mortified. What a waste, I couldn't believe it.

I had less than a month left and had to make another $400, while averaging about $20-30 per week from the current in-app purchases. I decided to take the code editor functionality that I had built which allowed you to test out the HTML/CSS/JavaScript and view a live preview within the app and broke it out into a core feature, turning it into a more fully-functional code editor that allowed for save/export functionality. I set the price tag at $0.99 and pushed out the update with a week to spare. It sold $400 and I had a grand total of $1,500 in sales, just enough to hit the goal. BlackBerry confirmed that I succeeded and sent me a check for $8,500.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FfBhZnIwzghWxhHUMFm6jp3KJTd22%2FJcT60Ge7NqGh9MEjovWW%2Fda972657-e785-4143-acd4-169cf6a255f7.jpg?alt=media&token=c3423e31-e7ec-4bb7-adb5-a9a876b8e8fd","id":"da972657-e785-4143-acd4-169cf6a255f7","width":660,"height":440,"filename":"1634191835600.jpeg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"(Limited Edition Red Numbered Z10)","border":false}]}
```

In addition to that, they sent me a limited edition red numbered Z10 for building a Built for BlackBerry certified app and for accomplishing the 10k commitment. A device that I still have in my room in a box (and was selling for around $1,500 at the time).

All-in-all, Web Design Cheat Sheet had hundreds of 5-star reviews, tens of thousands of downloads, and I had finally felt that all the hard work paid off. I was an app developer. I launched a product. I did it all myself.

And that brings me back to where this all originally started:

> *Do you think you could launch a product on your own?*

***I mean yes***. Though how could I have forgotten the wild ride?

## Where Are Things Now? 🚀

Well, BlackBerry officially killed off BB10 in 2017, deprecated the BlackBerry App Store (no new apps could be added), and they killed off the in-app payment system. Thus, my app was in a state of purgatory. If you had previously bought the app, you would have access to all the features but no future purchases could ever be made.

With **30,000+ downloads** and **730+ 5-star reviews**, and seeing the writing on the wall with BB10 in 2015, I asked my good friend (and old [podcast co-host](https://efficient.link/upstream) of 2.5 years) to do a final video overview of Web Design Cheat Sheet to show off what the app evolved into:

```cv
youtube
{"url":"https://youtu.be/FrXDrCNNQCs","width":200,"height":113,"thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FrXDrCNNQCs/hqdefault.jpg"}
```

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FfBhZnIwzghWxhHUMFm6jp3KJTd22%2FJcT60Ge7NqGh9MEjovWW%2F944d25fa-03bd-40ef-8306-e4d24d80af27.png?alt=media&token=61c8b581-884a-49df-9783-291025bde967","id":"944d25fa-03bd-40ef-8306-e4d24d80af27","width":972,"height":1000,"filename":"1634180821888.png","type":"image/png","caption":"(Managed to grab a screenshot of the reviews section before BlackBerry took down their App Store)","border":false}]}
```

And that's my story. I encourage you to think back on your own journey and re-appreciate some of the moments that were once meaningful, but now forgotten.

How Easily We Forget Our Journey (Building An App)

I use [Canary](https://github.com/Apsu/Canary) as my default keyboard layout (alternative to QWERTY/Dvorak/Colemak)

## History (Time & WPM)

20+ years of QWERTY (120WPM)

↳ 1 Month of Dvorak (50WPM)

↳ 1 Week of Colemak (30WPM)

↳ 1 Month of Colemak-DH (80WPM)

↳ 1 Month of Canary (80WPM)

*([MonkeyType](https://monkeytype.com/) Test: 60 Second English 200)*

## Current Stats (Feb 2nd 2023—2.5 Months In):

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FfBhZnIwzghWxhHUMFm6jp3KJTd22%2FOY6EQcpGGIQsTxFJGzw3%2F402a4566-874a-4522-ad6a-13a34b4e7813.png?alt=media&token=88e2eba1-f84c-4207-b2a9-2928250157dd","id":"402a4566-874a-4522-ad6a-13a34b4e7813","width":2450,"height":1118,"filename":"CleanShot 2023-02-02 at 23.33.59@2x.png","type":"image/png","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

10 Word Test on [MonkeyType](https://efficient.link/monkeytype):

```cv
youtube
{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY59lHl4NHg","width":200,"height":113,"thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hY59lHl4NHg/hqdefault.jpg"}
```

30 Second Test on [MonkeyType](https://efficient.link/monkeytype):

```cv
youtube
{"url":"https://youtu.be/ud9pyu8Ta2s","width":200,"height":113,"thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ud9pyu8Ta2s/hqdefault.jpg"}
```

## Canary Keyboard Layout

Here is the default layout as-designed to be used with Angle Mod on a Row Stagger (standard) keyboard:

```
w l y p k z x o u ; [ ] \
 c r s t b f n e i a '
  j v d g q m h / , .
```

And here is a version that can be used on Ortho keyboards *(you probably aren't using this type of keyboard)*:

```
w l y p b z f o u '
c r s t g m n e i a
q j v d k x h / , .
```

## Guide For Setting It Up

[github.com/abass/karabiner-canary](https://github.com/abass/karabiner-canary)

Learning An Alternative Keyboard Layout (Canary & Colemak & Dvorak)

I've been running a solo business for over a decade (2010). Here are some stats...

## Revenue Growth:

* Y2: Low 4-Figure Rev

* Y5: Low 5-Figure Rev

* Y7: High 5-Figure Rev

* Y8: Low 6-Figure Rev

* Y10: Low 6-Figure Rev (Recurring)

* Y12: Medium 6-Figure Rev (60% Recurring)

> *My wife ([@AndraVomir](https://twitter.com/AndraVomir)) joined me Y12*

## How I Spent My Time:

I tracked my time daily. Here's what Y6 (2016) vs Y12 (2022) looks like:

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FfBhZnIwzghWxhHUMFm6jp3KJTd22%2F193NSY1SxwkfMBSmuh5k%2F3ec1f276-6001-4105-a87c-c8568976f553.jpg?alt=media&token=0efac401-3115-4ec4-a070-c27c37c412eb","id":"3ec1f276-6001-4105-a87c-c8568976f553","width":1798,"height":2514,"filename":"Year 2016.jpeg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"Year 2016 Time Tracked","border":false},{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FfBhZnIwzghWxhHUMFm6jp3KJTd22%2F193NSY1SxwkfMBSmuh5k%2F7e8e6afc-02ab-4d8c-8cfc-125aeb2003bc.jpg?alt=media&token=82f22db4-ca80-443d-86b2-bb7c54723876","id":"7e8e6afc-02ab-4d8c-8cfc-125aeb2003bc","width":1782,"height":2232,"filename":"Year 2022.jpeg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"Year 2022 Time Tracked","border":false}]}
```

You can see how much of my time transitioned from Sales (Y6) to Support/Consulting/Automation (Y12). These are focused hours supplemented w/ automation. (2 focused hrs → an average person's 8-hour workday)

## Pivots (Service Offering Evolution):

1. Y1-2: Web Design Y3-4: Web Design & Search Engine Marketing

2. Y5: IT Services (Hourly Break/Fix)

3. Y6-7: Managed IT Services (MSP)

4. Y8-9: Business Process Automation + Software Integration (BPA+SI) & MSP

5. Y10-11: Same As Prior, Just Dropped Legacy Customers

6. Y12: Dropped the MSP component, focusing exclusively on BPA+SI

Growth Stats From My First Decade In Business

What about angel investing would you like to know more about?

Founder & Product

Behind The Scenes: My Conviction in The Investments I Make

People often ask how I decide what companies to invest in, and where I get the conviction to actually put money in.

In thinking about it, most of my investments have come from decades of thoughts about a specific problem that a company is solving.

This is the story of how and why I believe The Browser Company (Arc) is the operating system for the future of the internet.

Subscribe for new posts:
digest.efficientvc.com

My Angel Investments & What To Expect

What's frustrating about the Angel & VC space is that people only talk about their wins.

Yet only the full picture tells you what being an angel investor is actually like.

Here's a list of all my investments (which I'll be regularly updating w/ results).

Subscribe for new posts:
digest.efficientvc.com

How Easily We Forget Our Journey (The Time I Built A Successful App)

A little something I wrote reflecting on an important but forgotten part of my journey. 🤔

For me, growth has come from constantly learning, pivoting, and morphing the person that I see myself as, and want others to see me as. 🌱

Throughout the constant pivots though, there are little stories, moments of proudness and growth, that often go unforgotten. Moments that I never want to forget, but find myself doing just that. 💭

This pivot and journey is about Alex the App Developer. An identity that I held onto deeply for 3-4 years. I wrote this in a way to remember, and yet some of you may still see me as Alex the app developer. 📱

This is my story of how I built one of BlackBerry's most popular BB10 apps, at a time that BlackBerry was trying to reinvent themselves and take on the likes of Apple (iPhone) and Google (Android). ✨

I've been running a solo business for over a decade (since 2010). Here's how revenue grew from year-to-year, and how I spent my time, and the many pivots that happened.

How I Made My First Angel Investment

This is the story about how I got started in the angel investing space, and how I made my first ever angel investment into a company called Motion (usemotion.com).

And no, it's not as straightforward as you might think 😅

Subscribe for new posts:
digest.efficientvc.com

5 Answers to Questions You Have About Starting to Angel Invest

1. How do you decide to invest in early-stage startups, and how do you access opportunities in that space?
2. What are the investment minimums for early-stage angel investing?
3. Should I invest in a fund?
4. How do you know you’re signing an agreement that is “safe”? Do you have a lawyer review?
5. How do you transfer money to complete the investment?

Subscribe for new posts:
digest.efficientvc.com

What I Learned From Teaching Myself 4 Keyboard Layouts In 2 Months (QWERTY Alternatives)

Learning How To Learn In Teaching Myself 4 Alt-Keyboard Layouts

Is The End Goal Starting A Fund Of My Own?

Shortly after learning more about the venture capital space and (making my first angel investment), I thought for sure that I’d want to start my own fund. I was practicing patience though. I just started my journey, so I’d have to be out of my mind to think I’ve earned the right to manage other people’s money. Patience is something that I am good at though: I am a long-term-focused person in everything I do. So all I have to do right now is focus on deriving happiness from my own angel investments.

Subscribe for new posts:
digest.efficientvc.com

Community MVP 2020

Knowing our customer needs is key to being a successful partner. Efficient App's solutions have emerged out of recurring customer requests. Our Community MVP Alex Bass knows Copper inside-out and effortlessly anticipates customer needs.

Copper Partner

Copper Certified Admin

Zapier Certified Expert

GPA: 3.6/4
Triple Major in Business (Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship)

Activities and societies: CEAG (Canisius Entrepreneurship Alumni Group), Speaking Engagements with Business Majors, VP of Design for CCAMA (Canisius College American Marketing Association), VP of New Venture for CEO (Canisius Entrepreneurship Organization)

We discuss the pivots it took to get into the space that we're in now, and what it’s like being a business owner in this rapidly evolving, semi-enigmatic niche of workflow design.

Guest Podcast: Workflow Design Discussion

Talking about the journey and many pivots in business, how Efficient App was started (what got me into automation & integration), the failed partnerships along the way, and how to avoid burnout with boundaries when wearing all the hats in your business.

blog.mailmanhq.com/alex-bass/

Guest Podcast: Leveraging Automation to Set Better Boundaries & Increase Productivity

We talked about Automation (Zapier, Asana, automation, delegation, data leak...)

Guest Podcast: Discussion About Automation With Asana Certified Pro Alex Bass

My special guest in today’s episode of If Not Now Wen is Alex Bass. Alex is a founder and investor who is obsessed with product, automation, and integration. Over a decade ago, Alex Bass founded Efficient App with the goal of helping teams find and integrate their perfect software stack.

Started my "at-home" Barista Journey on April 21st. Here's where I'm at in just under 3 short months of making two single-shot 8oz latte's per day (comes out to about 150 attempts). ☕

At-Home Barista

And how I accidentally learned Dvorak, Colemak, and Colemak-DH along the way before finally settling on Canary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY59lHl4NHg

Learning An Alternative Keyboard Layout (Canary)

Fully built and launched WDCS myself, a Built for BlackBerry Certified BB10 App.

The Journey Behind Creating The App: https://alexbass.xyz/JcT60Ge7NqGh9MEjovWW

Video Overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrXDrCNNQCs

30k+ downloads with 730+ 5-Star reviews (https://efficient.link/wdcs)

One of just a few apps that completed the BlackBerry 10k Commitment and won top 10 CrackBerry BB10 App of the year award.

Web Design Cheat Sheet

Over 250,000 downloads (Across 142 episodes) + $400/mo via Patreon Support

I was one of the main hosts in a weekly BlackBerry-focused technology podcasts (Upstream)

efficient.link/upstream (Watch Episode Archive)
youtube.com/watch?v=Ql1buYr25u8 (Behind The Stream)

Upstream Podcast

Business process design, one of the most important aspects of scaling a business yet so often overlooked in the SMB space. On this podcast, we talk about all things process, specifically around CRM, automation, and efficiency. We will be speaking with industry experts and automation experts in various fields, discussing the cutting-edge software and best practices that you can leverage to grow your business. This is Analysis Paralysis where we analyze so you don't have to be paralyzed.

Analysis Paralysis

My angel investments:
efficientvc.com/investments

Angel Investments (List)

Angel Investor (GP)

We help ease the pain that comes with growing your business. (formerly CyberBytes Inc.)