In an exclusive interview, the 23-year-old entrepreneur shares his vision for a mission-driven ecosystem that could reshape how we think about personal growth and technology.
A new breed of tech company is taking root; one that promises to merge the worlds of self-improvement, artificial intelligence, and content creation into a single, cohesive ecosystem. At the helm of this ambitious venture is Blake Anderson, a 23-year-old entrepreneur whose journey from app developer to visionary founder offers a glimpse into the future of tech startups.
Anderson’s latest project, Apex, isn’t just another app or platform—it’s a philosophy, a mission, and potentially, a new paradigm for how we approach personal growth in the digital age. “The way I describe Apex is as an all-in-one self-improvement ecosystem,” Anderson explains, his eyes lighting up as he outlines his vision. “We are going to build free mobile applications, so all of our technology is 100% free. We just got a house out here in San Diego, where we’re going to be creating content full-time.”
The founding team consists Blake Anderson, Matthew Klinghoffer, and Jesse Abed, pictured above.
But Apex isn’t just about digital offerings. Anderson plans to complement the tech side with “high quality, very low to zero margin, physical products – including supplements and cosmetics” It’s an ambitious plan, one that Anderson is funding entirely from the profits of his previous successful apps.
The Genesis of a Vision
Anderson’s path to founding Apex is as unconventional as the company itself. Born and raised in Philadelphia, he attended Tulane University in New Orleans before returning to his hometown to start building mobile apps. “I began doing it originally because I was like, I need to figure out a way to make money,” Anderson recalls with a chuckle.
His apps quickly gained traction, leading him to San Diego and then to San Francisco, where he participated in HF Zero, a startup accelerator. It was during this time that Anderson began to formulate the idea for Apex, drawing inspiration from his personal experiences and observations of the tech industry.
“My father deals with a particularly bad case of SPMS,” Anderson shares, his tone now serious. “Before the condition set in, he was the hardest working person I knew. Everyday he ran, lifted weights, and put his heart and soul into his businesses. The importance of physical and professional excellence was instilled in me from a young age. I want to share this with the world.”
This drive, coupled with his disillusionment with the current state of self-improvement content on social media, led Anderson to conceive of Apex as a more holistic, altruistic approach to personal growth.
A New Model for Tech Startups
What sets Apex apart isn’t just its mission, but how Anderson plans to build and scale the company. In an era where venture capital funding is often seen as the default path for tech startups, Anderson is taking a decidedly different approach.
“I’ve made several millions now from the applications that I’ve built,” Anderson explains. “And I am someone who thrives on risk. I find that I think more clearly, make better decisions, and operate more productively when I take on the risk myself.”
This perspective has led Anderson to eschew traditional VC funding, instead opting to bootstrap Apex with his own capital. It’s a move that aligns with a broader trend he’s observed in the consumer app space.
“Building these sort of few-function products is easier than ever and requires less capital investment,” Anderson notes. “AI enables massive productivity increases. Sam Altman, I think, has said he expects there to be a billion-dollar company run by one person, with their productivity increased by AI.”
The Power of Distribution
Central to Anderson’s strategy for Apex is a focus on organic growth and influencer marketing. Drawing parallels to successful brands like Prime (co-founded by Logan Paul) and MrBeast’s various ventures, Anderson believes that living the lifestyle and demonstrating the mission of Apex will be key to its success.
“There does not exist a brand or mission in the self-improvement space that is synonymous with the term self-improvement,” Anderson argues. “I think that there’s a massive opportunity here and it’s important that it be built by the right person.”
But Anderson’s vision extends beyond just building a successful brand. He sees a fundamental shift occurring in how tech companies approach growth and user acquisition.
“Soon, everybody will be doing distribution in-house,” Anderson predicts. “In-house distribution will become as important as in-house engineering for startups. People will value a 10x content creator or storyteller the same way that they will value a 10x engineer.”
This focus on distribution and content creation is part of what Anderson describes as a “media-first tech company” approach. It’s a strategy that he believes will “spark a new wave of how tech companies think about distribution, storytelling.”
The Role of AI in Apex’s Future
Artificial intelligence isn’t just a buzzword for Anderson—it’s a core component of Apex’s future offerings. While the company’s first application, Mindset by Apex, will focus on providing daily learnings in the self-improvement domain, future apps will leverage AI to provide personalized recommendations.
“In the future, what we’re going to build are AI applications that can help you determine what sort of exercises to do, what sort of foods you should be eating based on what you are trying to achieve and improve in your life,” Anderson explains. He sees AI as the key to creating sophisticated systems that can take into account multiple factors and provide truly personalized self-improvement protocols.
Concerns of Startups and Internet Money
Anderson’s observations extend beyond his own venture, offering a perspective on the evolving landscape of tech entrepreneurship. He identifies a shift in the startup ecosystem, one that he sees as merging traditional tech innovation with what he terms “internet money culture.”
This trend, according to Anderson, is partially a result of the growing influence of internet money culture on the tech startup scene. He elaborates, “If we think of this startup scene as like technology, innovation, and building what the world needs, then internet money is like dropshippers, e-com, social media, and doing whatever it takes to make money” Anderson adds, “The new wave of consumer software, specifically mobile apps, takes a technological approach to the internet money playbook. I’m concerned it’ll push many intelligent people in the wrong direction.”
The convergence of these two worlds – traditional tech startups and internet money ventures – creates what Anderson describes as an “awkward overlap.” This intersection, he suggests, brings both opportunities and challenges. While it may lead to a more profit-driven approach to tech, potentially at the expense of meaningful innovation, Anderson also sees potential benefits.
“The counterpoint here would be gaming, for example. If we look at gaming throughout history, a prevailing thought was ‘a lot of tech investment is going towards gaming. This isn’t good,’ but it has actually produced a lot of innovation. Most notably, through the GPUs now used to train AI.”
Anderson’s view highlights the complexity of this trend. “I think that in its current form it doesn’t move the needle much in either direction, but hopefully there will be some positive outcomes,” he adds, expressing a mix of concern and cautious optimism about the future of tech entrepreneurship.
For Anderson, Apex represents an attempt to navigate this new landscape while maintaining a mission-driven approach. By focusing on impact in the self-improvement space, he aims to demonstrate that it’s possible to build a successful tech company without solely prioritizing profit.
“I view us as a tech company. A media-first tech company,” Anderson explains, outlining his vision for Apex. This approach, he believes, could “spark a new wave of how tech companies think about distribution, storytelling” – potentially offering a middle ground between the idealism of traditional tech startups and the growth-hacking mentality of internet money culture.
As the boundaries between different entrepreneurial approaches continue to shift, Anderson’s insights provide a perspective on how future founders might balance innovation, impact, and profitability. The success of Apex in charting this new course remains to be seen, but Anderson’s awareness of these industry dynamics positions him as a notable voice in the evolving tech landscape.
Looking to the Future
As our interview draws to a close, Anderson’s excitement about Apex’s potential is palpable. He sees the company not just as a business venture, but as a catalyst for change in how we approach personal growth and technology.
“I think that we are in an interesting period right now where AI has increased the number of tools that can be built substantially,” Anderson muses. “Within a few years, I think we’ll see a commoditization of the software itself. Distribution will be the true moat.”
It’s this focus on distribution, coupled with a genuine desire to help people, that Anderson believes will set Apex apart in an increasingly crowded tech landscape. “My plan is to push a genuinely helpful message that is less materialistic in nature than most of the content on social media,” he states. “If we’re able to do this and truly help our audience, then we will become the distribution network of self-improvement.”
Whether Apex will succeed in its lofty ambitions remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: Blake Anderson is a name to watch in the evolving landscape of technology and personal growth.
With over 15 million users across his previous apps and a clear vision for the future, Anderson is poised to make waves in the tech industry. As Apex launches its first products in the coming months, the tech world will be watching closely to see if this new model of mission-driven, distribution-focused entrepreneurship can truly reshape the landscape of self-improvement and beyond.
