Puff Count
The #1 Quit Vaping App
TL;DR: The #1 Quit Vaping App. Reached $40,000+ MRR with 1M+ lifetime users, 300K+ downloads users.
Key Metrics
Milestones
Pricing
Sources
Timeline
2015
Steven Cravotta starts building mobile apps at age 15, ships Grid puzzle game while learning Swift
2016
Builds Wordle! word puzzle game at age 18, gets ~100K downloads before stalling
2016-09
Enters Pepperdine University to study Advertising/Marketing
2018
Notices rapid increase in vaping among Pepperdine students, identifies gap in quit-vaping tools
2019-01
Begins designing Puff Count during junior year at Pepperdine, creating paper sketches of UI
2019-02
Runs 99designs contest receiving 50-70+ professional designer submissions for app UI
2019-03
Hires Eastern European developer on Upwork with project-based pricing to build MVP
2019-04
MVP completed in under 1 month for under $5,000 total cost
2019-11
Puff Count launches on iOS App Store (App ID: 1488580640)
2020-01
App generates minimal revenue and downloads in first months post-launch
2020-05
Graduates from Pepperdine University (Class of 2020) with Advertising/Marketing degree
2020-06
Tries paid ads and influencer marketing without success, struggles with distribution
2020-09
Begins experimenting with TikTok organic content, studying viral vaping-related videos
2021-01
Creates systematic TikTok content approach: spreadsheet of winning formats, daily posting, entertainment-first style
2021-03
First viral TikTok video hits millions of views, driving surge of app downloads
2021-06
TikTok account grows steadily, multiple videos go viral including 8.3M view video
2021-12
Wordle! app explodes to 500K downloads in 3 days due to Josh Wardle's web game going viral - unrelated windfall
2022-02
Sells Wordle! app to AppLovin/Lion Studios Plus after 10M+ downloads; donates $50K to charity with Josh Wardle
2022-03
Featured in Wall Street Journal, Forbes India, ABC7, Rolling Stone, BBC for Wordle! story
2022-06
Puff Count reaches 300K+ downloads primarily through organic TikTok, ranked #1 in quit vaping category
2022-09
TikTok account reaches 120K followers with 75M+ cumulative organic views
2023-01
Implements hard paywall using Superwall for A/B testing, tests pricing from $4 to $12
2023-03
Hard paywall achieves 20-25% conversion rate, revenue begins scaling significantly
2023-06
Begins repurposing top-performing organic TikTok videos as Facebook and TikTok paid ads
2023-09
Reaches $40K+ MRR milestone with optimized paywall and scaled paid acquisition
2023-12
Puff Count surpasses 1M lifetime users
2024-01
Lists Puff Count for sale through broker OEB Digital, first two deals fall through
2024-06
Begins building Posted, a creator-brand marketplace with co-founder Samay Devraj
2024-10
Third buyer Quiet (app studio pivoting from gaming to utility) identified by OEB Digital
2024-11
Puff Count acquired by Quiet at premium multiple, deal closes in weeks
2024-12
Posted reaches $60K/mo [unverified]nth [unverified] revenue within 3 months of launch
Distribution
Launches
Growth Story
Target Audience
Vapers who want to quit or reduce nicotine consumption, primarily Gen Z and millennials aged 18-30
Problem Solved
No dedicated tools existed to help people quit vaping specifically. Smoking cessation apps didn't address the unique patterns and culture around vaping. Users needed a way to track, visualize, and gradually reduce their vaping habits.