What Happened:

It’s been a minute… but it’s been a very valuable minute to say the least. So what has been going on? Let me fill you in.

Last we checked-in, I was heading off to work for Esper, doing what I love to do. I got a chance to learn more about their projects, help them expand hardware support and fix a few issues. I even got the chance to learn how businesses have been working with Android and AOSP. Overall, before becoming part of their recent round of layoffs in January, I felt I had a solid impact on Esper’s future, and hope that some of the plans laid out together allow them a successful future in the market.

When one door closes, another one opens:

I have always been the optimistic type, to a fault at times. So the week I was laid off, I was already being contacted by companies looking to get some work done for bringing Android to their x86 based devices. So I took that as a sign for what’s next, and started to plan out the business plan for Bliss Co-Labs (take 2). This time, not only as a software development company, but as a contract development and consulting company too. Since it seems the niche is Android-x86 work, might as well try and fill the need I see, right?

So I’ve filed Bliss Co-Labs as an S-Corp, so the company can take on these contracts, and divide up the work based on each team-members specialties. My goal is to still be involved in every project, but I am planning on helping everyone learn the magic of Android-x86 in the process. This will also extend to the customers too, as the company is offering a collaborative contract development service, where we will work with their engineers to help them learn how to work with Android on x86 or Android on Linux, and also license the use of our shiny new tools (shameless plug for the new version of Android-Generic Project coming out soon).

Back to my Blissful roots:

Overall, I see what has happened over the last two months to be a godsend, allowing me to follow my passions, and not in a way that is geared towards making the largest possible profit, but in a more Blissful way, planning the exemplary route that would benefit the most users at the same time. So when customers need their proprietary bits to stay private, we can do that, while allowing the structure we build to support those proprietary bits, the ability to benefit the next customer behind them.

What about BlissLabs:

The plan for BlissLabs is to stay running as a 501(c)3, and continue as the non-profit it has been, since that company has seen growth and reach spread further each year, we don’t want to spoil things for that momentum. This was another reason I decided to start the S-Corp as a separate entity from BlissLabs, using my own funds. So what we do through Bliss Co-Labs does not conflict with that organization at all.

Our intention is to provide the customers with a way to work with our open-source projects, while creating in-house solutions that the customers can use themselves to help automate the process further. So yes, if the plan works out in the end, we would have created the robot that replaces our jobs. But we would have also created the solution that allows us to move on to bigger and better ideas for the community, and implement those much faster.