#440 – Pieter Levels: Programming, Viral AI Startups, and Digital Nomad Life

Lex Fridman Podcast

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:
https://lexfridman.com/pieter-levels-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:
(00:00) – Introduction
(11:38) – Startup philosophy
(19:09) – Low points
(22:37) – 12 startups in 12 months
(29:29) – Traveling and depression
(42:08) – Indie hacking
(46:11) – Photo AI
(1:22:28) – How to learn AI
(1:31:04) – Robots
(1:39:21) – Hoodmaps
(2:03:26) – Learning new programming languages
(2:12:58) – Monetize your website
(2:19:34) – Fighting SPAM
(2:23:07) – Automation
(2:34:33) – When to sell startup
(2:37:26) – Coding solo
(2:43:28) – Ship fast
(2:52:13) – Best IDE for programming
(3:01:43) – Andrej Karpathy
(3:11:09) – Productivity
(3:24:56) – Minimalism
(3:33:41) – Emails
(3:40:54) – Coffee
(3:48:40) – E/acc
(3:50:56) – Advice for young people

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