Pieter Levels (aka levelsio on X) is a self-taught developer and entrepreneur who has designed, programmed, launched over 40 startups, many of which are highly successful.
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*Transcript:*
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*EPISODE LINKS:*
Pieter’s X: https://x.com/levelsio
Pieter’s Techno Optimist Shop: https://levelsio.com/
Indie Maker Handbook: https://readmake.com/
Nomad List: https://nomadlist.com
Remote OK: https://remoteok.com
Hoodmaps: https://hoodmaps.com
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*OUTLINE:*
0:00 – Introduction
2:03 – Startup philosophy
9:34 – Low points
13:03 – 12 startups in 12 months
19:55 – Traveling and depression
32:34 – Indie hacking
36:37 – Photo AI
1:12:53 – How to learn AI
1:21:30 – Robots
1:29:47 – Hoodmaps
1:53:52 – Learning new programming languages
2:03:24 – Monetize your website
2:09:59 – Fighting SPAM
2:13:33 – Automation
2:24:58 – When to sell startup
2:27:52 – Coding solo
2:33:54 – Ship fast
2:42:38 – Best IDE for programming
2:52:09 – Andrej Karpathy
3:01:34 – Productivity
3:15:21 – Minimalism
3:24:07 – Emails
3:31:20 – Coffee
3:39:05 – E/acc
3:41:21 – Advice for young people
*PODCAST LINKS:*
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20:00 Fridman feels like a loser (sometimes)? That's pretty surprising. Probably good sleep is all you need. I write a song, and if 1 person likes it, I feel fulfilled 🙂 … with 4. 8M subscribers, you should feel needed. Or is it overwhelming? … It must be insufficient sleep! 🙂
(ah yes, I am listening to this lying in a dark room, but this piece feels pretty joyous!)
Лекс, спасибо! Не грусти)
This is the type of techbro that "making the world a worse place" is just a competition for him
Nice to meet Levels after reading him for years on twitter/x
I just love both of these men for their humility and honesty. Pieter never, ever tries to convince you of anything but his ignorance (in the good sense) and his willingness to do the work needed to overcome deficits in his knowledge and skills, but only where needed — he remains ever aware of the shortness of his days. I was delighted to be surprised by how good this interview was. I've been surprised by a number of Lex's podcasts that I thought wouldn't really be my cup of tea, but turned out to be mesmerizing listening. The interview with Peter Wang (#250) was another that surprised me — I mean I like Python (strictly as a hobbyist) but nearly three hours with a Python guy? But there was so much more than just programming stuff. Hikaru Nakamura (#330) had my complete attention, too. And my knowledge of chess is limited to the basic rules and a history of pretty much losing every game I've ever played. But Hikaru, though very different from Pieter, showed the same openness, vulnerability, and humility that Pieter did. Both have achieved so much. And that drew me in. There's a lesson in there somewhere.
Great at every aspect. Thank you Lex and Peter for sharing this. Good Luck with your projects 🙏