When we ask Bria Sullivan where she got the idea to make the hero of Focus Friend a bean, she’s very matter-of-fact.

“The Bean? The Bean itself is random—very random,” Sullivan says of her App Store Award–winning focus timer. “There’s no reason for it other than Hank likes beans.”

The Hank she’s referring to is Hank Green—YouTuber, best-selling author, and professional curiosity enthusiast, who’s just as quick to share credit for their app.

“It’s hard to say exactly what feature or inspiration came from where,” Green says. “Though Bria did show me the text messages where I insisted the Bean should have a li’l butt.”

Focus Friend takes an adorable approach to staying present. Its mascot—a lovable legume—knits feverishly whenever you leave your phone alone. The longer you avoid distraction, the more socks and scarves your Bean knits.

You can trade those socks for cozy decor, furniture, and art—or use them to transform your standard Bean into Edamame Bean or Hank Bean (he wears glasses and a flannel shirt).

“We’re both very embarrassed by our screen time,” Sullivan says. So the duo set out to build a gentler way to take back their attention.

“I’m loving that we figured out how to do it in a way that isn’t about virtue or judgment but is just cute and fun,” Green says.

Sullivan started coding in college. “I had a class on app development, and I just completely fell in love with it. I knew it was my calling.”

After Sullivan landed a full-time gig in the industry, she dedicated herself to helping other Black developers break into tech. She reviewed résumés, prepped candidates for interviews, and advocated for startups run by underrepresented founders.

All the while, she continued dreaming up the next app she might develop. “I just always had the itch. I was always working on apps on the side,” she says.

Eventually, she took a leap and founded Honey B Games to go full time into mobile-game development.

“I wanted to show that as a developer you don’t have to exist within the corporate world,” she says.

Of course, Focus Friend owes its success to more than just the adorable Bean. Sullivan conducted in-depth research with Green’s fans before beginning development.

“I learned what people were using productivity timers for—studying, working, and doing chores—and a lot of those things ended up being the animations the Bean does.”

Sullivan also applied insights gleaned while creating her earlier apps. “I learned while making Boba Story and Milk Tea Mania that really, really cute stuff attracts people,” she says.

When Focus Friend reached number one on the U.S. Top Free Apps chart just weeks after its launch, Sullivan was shocked.

“Hitting number one was not even on our radar of possibility,” Sullivan says. “You don’t even dream that big because that just doesn’t happen.”