The Washington Post - USA (2022-03-06)

SUNDAY, MARCH 6 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ EE E13

much more interested in build-

ing products that help people

live better lives. And, that’s not to

say I won’t build games in the

future, but I t hink right now, that

is my main mission. I think that’s

what I’m here to do.”

live healthier lives,” he said.

Looking ahead, Cravotta

would like to create and develop

apps that speak to this larger

goal of helping people.

“I think creating games is

cool,” he said. “But I’m definitely

app reached 30,000 downloads

within the first month.

“If I w as building games that

were getting hundreds of thou-

sands of downloads, I knew I

could build a product that could

help the same amount of people

His latest project, Puff Count,

which is also free on the App

Store, helps people manage their

vaping habits to quit. Cravotta

built the app after watching

several of his close friends strug-

gle with vaping addictions. The

were connected,” Cravotta said.

“What’s great about our genera-

tion is we are not here to go after

each other, but uplift each other’s

ideas and make the world a

better place while doing it.”

But besides developing apps,

working a day job at an advertis-

ing agency, and running his own

TikTok ad agency, Cr avotta —

dressed in a plain white T-shirt —

said he’s not too different from

other 24-year-olds. Beyond being

an entrepreneur and a big gamer,

he loves Italian pasta, going to

the beach and hyping up his

friends to create unique projects

of their own.

“This is what I love to do —

creating cool stuff,” Cravotta

said.

Cravotta’s career was inspired

by his role model of a dad, who

has a background in sales. Hav-

ing grown up with social media,

it wasn’t long before he found

himself promoting products and

showing companies how to gain

traction online. But still, he felt

something was missing.

“I wanted to promote some-

thing that I built — something

that was my own,” he said. “And

so that’s kind of how I came to

start developing my own prod-

ucts. And that led to me building

websites that I could put ads on,

and then eventually building

apps that I could promote and,

you know, earn revenue from.”

Cravotta learned how to code,

build websites and, eventually,

create apps by watching YouTube

videos — all part of his side

hustle at the time.

“It was the coolest feeling in

the world to build something

that other people were using,” he

said.

Though there’s much uncer-

tainty in the world of entrepre-

neurship and content develop-

ment, Cravotta said taking risks

is part of the experience.

“I think a h uge part of being

successful is just taking bets on

yourself. It’s kind of what I live

by,” he said. “And that’s de finitely

one of my main goals — to

inspire other young entrepre-

neurs to start doing this. Even if

you don’t see the long-term ben-

efit yet, just start doing stuff that

you’re passionate about.”

When he finally checked the
app’s stats that week, he saw a
single vertical line that shot
upward, indicating a major up-
tick in downloads. Cravotta ini-
tially though fake accounts or
spammers were responsible —
after all, what app gets half a
million downloads in less than a
week seemingly out of no-
where?
“I thought someone had sent
robot downloads to my app, or
whatever,” he said. “But I did a
quick Google search, and obvi-
ously, Josh Wardle’s game came
up — ‘Wordle.’ ”
He rushed downstairs to tell
his parents the news.
“I freaked out,” Cravotta, who’s
now based in Santa Monica,
Calif., said. “I was like, ‘This is
insane. This guy made this great
game, and people are confusing
it for mine.’ ”
While the “Wordle!” app
doesn’t cost anything to down-
load, developers of free apps can
still earn revenue via in-app
advertising, in-app purchases or
affiliated marketing. After notic-
ing his app’s spike in revenue,
Cravotta immediately messaged
Wardle, from one developer to
another, about the mix-up.
“I read how [Wardle initially]
didn’t want to put ads on it or
make any revenue off of his game
— and I respected that,” he said.
Despite the similarities be-
tween the games, down to the
titles, Cravotta said that it never
crossed his mind to take legal
action.
“Absolutely never ever crossed
my mind,” he said. “Josh and I
teamed up instead to make a
positive impact on the world. We
uplifted each other.”
With Wardle’s support, Cra-
votta decided to donate $50,000
of the app’s revenue to Boost
West Oakland. Boost provides
free tutoring and mentorship for
children in Oakland, Calif. — t he
city where Wardle, who now lives
in Brooklyn, used to be based.
Seeing as both games centered
on word puzzles, Cravotta felt the
money should go to a literacy-fo-
cused nonprofit. Wardle agreed.
“It’s almost fate that Josh and I

WORDLE FROM E12

video games

LIVE IN L IVING COLOR!

ORDER TODAY! ARENASTAGE.ORG | 202-488-3300

WORLD-PREMIERE MUSICAL

AMERICAN PROPHET:

FREDERICK DOUGLASS IN HIS OWN WORDS

CO-WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY CHARLES RANDOLPH-WRIGHT

CO-WRITTEN AND MUSIC BY MARCUS HUMMON

BEGINS JULY 15

POWERHOUSE TRADITIONS

DRUMFOLK

BY STEP AFRIKA!

BEGINS MAY 31

Illustration by James Ransome. Illustration by James Ransome.

DIRECTED BY

MOLLY SMITH

CHOREOGRAPHED BY

PARKER ESSE

MUSIC DIRECTION BY

LAURA BERGQUIST

BOOK BY

TERRENCE MCNALLY

MUSIC BY

MARC SHAIMAN

LYRICS BY

SCOTT WITTMAN

MARC SHAIMAN

HIGH-FLYING MUSICAL ROLLER COASTER

CATCH ME

IF Y OU CAN

BASED ON THE DREAMWORKS MOTION PICTURE

Photo of Christian Thompson and Hayley Podschun for Catch Me If You Can by Tony Powell

NOW PLAYING!

Artwork by Justine Swindell

STRATHMORE.ORG/PARABLE

CREATED BY TOSHI REAGON &

BERNICE JOHNSON REAGON

DIRECTED BY ERIC TING

OCTAVIA E. BUTLER’S

PARABLE

OF THE

SOWER

APRIL 28 & 29, 2022

Great Seats for $32! | http://www.fords.org | (888) 616- 0270

Pictured: Nolan Williams, Jr., and the company of Grace.

Music and Lyrics by Nolan Williams, Jr.

Book by Nolan Williams, Jr., and Nikkole Salter

Directed and Choreographed by Robert Barry Fleming

Playing March 19-May 14

An electrifying new musical

celebrating African-American

food, family and tradition.

Picasso

Painting the

Blue Period

On view through June 12, 2022

Tickets at PhillipsCollection.org

Picasso: Painting the Blue Period(Toronto, Canada) with the exceptional support of the Musée national Picasso-Paris. is co-organized by The Phillips Collection and the Art Gallery of Ontario

The exhibition and its publication are generously supported by the Frauke de Looper Trust, the Ednah Root Foundation, Share Fund, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Additional support provided by Lee M. Yarbro, Ken and Dottie Woodcock, DrTushnet and Elizabeth Alexander, Diana Reuter-Twining and Edmund S. Twining III, and Patricia Squires. Heather McPherson, Mark

and Patrick Spann

Made possible The Phillips Collection’s Exhibitions Endowment Fund, which is generously supported by the Sherman Fairchild Foundation, Michelle and Glenn Engelmann, Robert and Debra Drumheller, and The Marion

F. Goldin Charitable Fund

The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

In-kind contributions provided by Farrow & Ball

Pablo Picasso, The Blue Room, 1901, Oil on canvas, 19 7/8 x 24 1/4 in. The Phillips Collection, Acquired 1927 © 2022 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York