How Steven Cravotta Scaled His App to $44K MRR and Sold It Using This Lean Tech Stack

✨Hey there, tech stackers! 🚀

🧠 Builder Stack Spotlight: Steven Cravotta’s App Growth Playbook

Steven Cravotta isn’t just another indie app developer. He built Puff Count, a mobile app to help people quit vaping, scaled it to $44K MRR, and successfully exited—all without a big team.

He recently broke down the exact tools he used across every stage of the journey. Whether you’re dreaming up your first app or scaling one to serious revenue, this is a masterclass in scrappy, smart building.

Here’s the breakdown. 👇

🛠️ Phase 1: Research

Before a single line of code, Steven focused on validating the idea.

SensorTower:

• Research app market trends

• See how competitors are performing

Google Trends:

• Identify growing search demand ("quit vaping" was his goldmine)

🔑 Key takeaway: Obsess over research early—it’s how you find sticky ideas.

🎨 Phase 2: Building

Once the idea clicked, it was time to sketch, design, and ship.

Paper & Pen:

• Brain-dump features, sketches, user flows

99designs:

• Run design contests

• Only pay for UI designs you actually use

Upwork:

• Hire developers, marketers, designers

• Free to post; pay only for the talent you hire

Mobbin:

• Explore onboarding flows and app designs from top apps

• Get UI inspiration that converts

Paywall Screens:

• Research how the best apps design their paywalls

💬 Tip: Sketch ugly, polish later. Great onboarding = higher LTV.

📈 Phase 3: Optimization

This is where Steven massively scaled revenue.

Superwall:

• Remote paywall split-testing without pushing app updates

• Took Puffcount from $3K → $30K MRR

RevenueCat:

• Monitor LTV, churn, and subscription metrics

AppsFlyer:

• Attribution tool—essential for tracking TikTok and Meta paid ads

Mixpanel + Amplitude:

• Analyze user behavior

• Optimize push notifications and funnel conversions

🔑 Key lesson: Micro-optimizations compound. A 0.5% conversion lift = real dollars.

📣 Phase 4: Marketing

You can build the best app in the world, but you still need to drive installs.

Posted (Steven’s own product!):

• Crowdsourced ad creatives

• Pay only for winning content that drives installs

Why it works:

• Creators compete to make the best ads

• You only pay for what performs

🎯 Smart marketing = lower CAC + scalable growth.

🧰 TL;DR – Steven’s App Growth Stack

Steven's journey is a masterclass in scrappy, high-leverage building. Idea validation, lean execution, relentless optimization, and smart marketing—that’s the real playbook.

If you’re thinking about launching an app, you don't need a huge team. You need the right tools, the right process, and a commitment to keep testing.

Go study what Steven built at Puffcount and check out his new venture Posted too.

Always remember,

Explore broadly

Not just SaaS or tech, but multiple disciplines.

Share ideas selflessly

Be willing to share your knowledge. Keep giving and it will come back to you.

Your stack is not going to save you.

You are. So just build.

Go crush it,

Mark

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