Pieter Levels is one of those solopreneurs who prove that you can live life on your own terms without following traditional employment or entrepreneurial paths. Just to give you more context, he has multiple companies that earn him about $3M per year, with no employees. 

To give you more context, Pieter works completely remotely and has worked on 70+ ventures, only 4 of which became profitable and successful. 

This is also someone who taught himself how to code, studied in multiple business schools, and did a “12 business in 12 months” challenge. Before we dive into his journey more deeply, let’s clear some foundational gaps that we may have. 

The Journey of Pieter Levels and What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From It

Understanding Indie Hacking

We all have heard of traditional ways of starting up, in which the founder(s) get together to execute a unique idea, run a pilot test, gather proof of concept, or seek to establish a Product Market Fit and raise money from investors, whether angel or venture, to scale up, and keep raising multiple rounds, and in between become bigger and profitable.

Indie hacking, on the other hand, works a bit differently. Imagine creating your own business from scratch, armed with your laptop and brilliant ideas. 

That's what indie hackers do! They're the creative geniuses who build and launch businesses independently without needing a big team or tons of resources.

Think of it as the DIY spirit of entrepreneurship. Whether it's developing a new app, launching an online store, or crafting a niche service, indie hackers are the ultimate DIYers of the startup world.

For example, let's say you love pets and want to start a business. Instead of waiting for a big company to hire you, you could become an indie hacker and create your own pet-sitting app or design unique pet accessories to sell online.

Digital Nomad Philosophy 

A digital nomad is a person who works remotely, often using technology and the internet, allowing them to lead a location-independent lifestyle. These individuals have the flexibility to work from anywhere in the world, whether it's a coffee shop, a beach, or a co-working space.

Digital nomads typically leverage communication tools, project management software, and other online platforms to stay connected with their teams and clients while traveling.

They embrace a lifestyle that prioritizes freedom, adventure, and work-life balance, often traveling to different destinations while earning a living.

Pieter Levels does exactly that! He doesn’t consider physical location as a limitation and creates digital products and businesses that he can distribute to the world from anywhere in the world. 

Pieter Level’s Early Days As An Entrepreneur & Explorer

Pieter Levels, hailing from the Netherlands, discovered his passion for technology at an early age. While still a teenager, he delved into coding using MS-DOS Batch, exploring his interest in programming. 

Although initially drawn to graphic design in his late teens, he eventually realized it wasn't his true calling. 

University Days and Travelling

During this time, Levels was all over the map, quite literally, as he pursued his business degree. He kicked things off at Hogeschool Utrecht, then hopped over to Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and even took a detour to South Korea for three months to check out Korea University Business School.

This is what Pieter’s educational journey looked like:

• In 2010, he pursued a three-year International Business Administration program at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
• In 2009, Levels spent three enriching months studying abroad at Korea University Business School. 
• Following that, in 2012, he completed a one-year Business Administration program at Rotterdam School of Management. 

Despite these fancy degrees, here’s what Pieter has to say about whether or not you should pursue an MBA:

“I’d strongly say no. Also, it’s highly disputable if you should study business. Business courses are sold as leading people to a career in upper management. But that’s bullshit. The real top positions in big corporations are generally reserved for high-skilled engineers.

Big business consultancies like McKinsey don’t even hire business graduates anymore; they hire from technology universities like MIT or TU Delft. Business graduates have a severe lack of hard skills like math and programming. On the other hand, engineers are generally the worst at marketing and selling their inventions. But I’d say focus on getting that hard skill first, then add some business juice to it, which nowadays you can easily find on the internet!”

But it was those few months in South Korea that really left a mark on him. It was his first taste of life outside of Europe. Seeing what the other side of the world had to offer got him hooked on adventure, and there was no turning back after that!

First Business: A YouTube Music Channel 

It was in May 2007 when Pieter Levels took his passion for Drum & Bass and electronic music production and started uploading tutorial videos of music production on a Digital Audio Workstation called Reason 3. 

On this channel, Pieter taught how to create Drum & Bass music and also uploaded Drum & Bass mixes. Some of these videos have millions of views, and the channel subscriber count went to 139K by 2012. 

Upon graduating from business college, Levels found himself earning $2,000 to $3,000 monthly by uploading music to YouTube, effectively bypassing traditional employment. While this income was substantial, he grew restless, spending his days at home glued to his computer screen.

Despite the financial gain, he felt a sense of monotony in profiting off others' music, which also posed legal and ethical uncertainties, potentially taking a toll on his mental well-being.

• Lesson #1: Considering the Long-Term stability of your business and addressing your lifestyle concerns with it. 

It’s important to ask yourself: “This is working for me right now, but can I do this for the rest of my life? Does this lifestyle suit me, or do I want something different from my life?”

Changing Paths

Prompted by a friend's suggestion, he opted for a radical change – selling his possessions and embarking on a nomadic journey, primarily through Asia, relying solely on his laptop for work. However, his earnings gradually dwindled, leading to financial strain.

Finding the nomadic lifestyle unsustainable, he eventually retreated to his parent's home in the Netherlands to contemplate his future. Comparing himself to peers who secured prestigious jobs, he felt stagnated and financially insecure.

In this introspective period, Peter Revels decided to embark on a daring venture – launching 12 startups in 12 months. Seeking novelty and opportunity, he documented his journey on his blog, inviting others to follow along for further insights.

• Lesson #2: Taking on challenges and documenting your journey. In today’s world, where content is so important, documentation is a way to introspect on your successes and failures and also make them public for other people to learn from them.
  That works not just as content and builds a community and distribution channel for you but also gives people more insight into your personality, ideas, and journey. So even if you’re starting out, like Pieter was, during this time, start documenting your journey. Pieter actually started blogging in 2011, and you can even read his early blog posts about his drum and bass mixes on his blog.
  Kanye West is also a great example of it, whose documentary on Netflix shows his early days pitching his music to different record labels. He got everything documented and became a great piece of content later.
  Similarly, Garry Vee documented his first Wine business on YouTube and consistently grew his audience and personal brand from there. 

12 Startups in 12 Months

Levels adopted a self-taught approach to coding, eschewing formal education in favor of practical experience and troubleshooting on real projects. Despite criticism for his unconventional methods, he believed in using whatever tools were necessary to achieve results quickly and efficiently rather than fixating on mastering modern frameworks. 

Pieter Levels embarked on a daring challenge inspired by Jennifer Dewalt's innovative project, "180 websites in 180 days." Unlike Dewalt, who learned web development from scratch, Revels was already proficient in building digital products.

• Lesson #3: Don’t wait for the right time! Stop chasing perfection or waiting to be “Ready!” Just start right away.
  He identified two common challenges among creatives: the struggle to finish projects and the fear of failure when launching them. These tendencies often led to stagnation and wasted potential.

He likened his approach to a personal hyper-fast incubator, aiming to rapidly iterate through ideas and learn from real-world feedback. Some argued that his endeavors didn't meet the traditional definition of a startup, but he contended that the essence lay in delivering a new product and fostering rapid growth.

• Lesson #4: Test different products, receive real-time feedback, keep executing ideas, and you will eventually find your MVP (Minimum Viable Product). Level’s philosophy challenged the conventional wisdom that startups must pursue grand visions from inception. Instead, he advocated for starting small, iterating quickly, and allowing market forces to shape and refine ideas over time.
  By embracing uncertainty and taking action, even on a modest scale, he believed entrepreneurs could position themselves ahead of the curve and ultimately uncover the path to success.
  Recognizing this, he committed himself to a radical experiment: launching one startup every month for the next year. This aggressive timeline forced him to confront his perfectionism and fear head-on.

During this year, he launched various products. One project, Play My Inbox, consolidates music from your email inbox into a unified playlist. 

Another, Go Fucking Do It, introduces a unique approach to setting personal goals, where failure to achieve results in a financial penalty to Levels. 

Then, there was Tubelytics, which gives real-time statistics for YouTube. He has documented a “Progress Report” for all his 12 startups here. 

Finding Success

Out of all endeavors, one venture, called Nomad List, did the job for Levels! NomadList offers real-time rankings of top cities for remote living and work. It evaluates locations using various factors like living expenses, climate, and internet connectivity sourced from the community. 

Additionally, NomadList provides tailored guidebooks for each city, aiding digital nomads in swift setup upon arrival. Moreover, it offers nomad kits comprising essentials like coworking access, SIM cards, and accommodation, facilitating seamless transitions for travelers.

However, Pieter started with just a Tweet:

Then there was also RemoteOK, a job portal for remote jobs, launched in his seventh month and now earns him around $1.6M/year. On the other hand, with NomadsList, Pieter makes $1.2M/year. 

He received promising results and a solid PR for his other ventures, too. For example, PlayMyInbox received coverage from MTV and Lifehacker, major media companies swiftly embraced Tubelytics, and GoFuckingDoIt went viral, gaining exposure on prominent platforms like TheNextWeb, AppSumo, and WIRED.

Further, Pieter went on to create and build many other products, testing them and even discarding them. He’s created 70 products to date, out of which he considers only four successful. 

Some of these also include AI products like PhotoAI and InteriorAI. You can also listen to Pieter’s views on Indie Hacking and AI, the revolution, in the following insightful podcast. 

Conclusion & Takeaways: What We Can Learn

Pieter Levels, a consistent and unorthodox solo founder, offers valuable lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.

1. Firstly, prioritize shipping imperfection over perfection. It's crucial to get your product out quickly and refine it based on real customer feedback rather than striving for perfection from the start.
2. Next, build upon what you know. Start by addressing familiar problems before expanding your focus, ensuring you create solutions that resonate with people's needs.
3. Learning by doing is another key principle emphasized by Levels. Rather than solely relying on courses, dive into real projects to rapidly pick up coding skills.
4. Furthermore, leverage existing platforms and tools to streamline your product development process. Utilize resources like Bubble or AI APIs to create powerful products efficiently.
5. Embrace change and adapt to market shifts, reinventing yourself periodically to stay relevant in a dynamic landscape.
6. Resist the urge to follow trends blindly and stay true to what works for you, even if it's not the current fashion.
7. Express your authentic self, and don't shy away from sharing polarizing opinions constructively. This approach attracts the right audience and fosters meaningful engagement.
8. Start generating revenue from day one to validate your business model and obtain valuable feedback early on.
9. If your venture doesn’t earn you profit, it may earn you PR, maybe a good network, and experience. 
10. Lastly, recognize when momentum stalls and be prepared to sell or pivot your project to avoid stagnation. We can all draw inspiration from Levels' unconventional journey to success in the world of indie hacking. Just remember: ship it!

‍