# @levelsio (Pieter Levels)

> Bootstrapping startups while traveling the world. Personal blog of Pieter Levels (@levelsio): 828 published posts on building bootstrapped internet startups solo, AI, travel and living as a digital nomad since 2013.

All content here is public. Posts are @levelsio's own writing — please link back if you quote them.

Last updated: 2026-08-18 (most recent post). This file is generated live, so it always reflects what is published right now.

## The story so far

Pieter Levels is a Dutch indie maker who builds and runs profitable internet startups alone — no funding, no employees, no office. The archive here runs from 1996 to today and is largely autobiographical: it is the same story told as it happened.

- **1996–2008, Netherlands.** Made his first homepage at 10. Later produced drum & bass as PandaDNB, ran club nights, and built the Panda Mix Show music channel into his first real online income.
- **2009–2012, studying.** Exchange year in Seoul that he credits with everything after it. Bachelor's thesis (VU Amsterdam, 2010) on whether small firms really out-innovate large ones; master's thesis (RSM Erasmus, 2012) on how technology changed the music industry. Both are on the blog.
- **April 2013, the reset.** After a panic attack at 26 he sold everything, got down to about 100 possessions, and flew one-way to Bangkok. The post "Reset your life" is where the blog as people know it begins.
- **2014–2015, the nomad years.** Built Nomad List (now Nomads.com) and Remote OK while travelling on one backpack, during a public "12 startups in 12 months" run. Robbed of every possession in January 2014, which is also a post.
- **2018, MAKE.** Wrote the book on bootstrapping internet companies solo; 30,000+ copies sold.
- **2022–2023, the AI turn.** Shipped Avatar AI, Interior AI and Photo AI in quick succession as generative models became usable, and started angel investing (levels.vc).
- **2024–now, settled but still shipping.** Based in Portugal, bought a house, still launching (Vibe Jam, fly.pieter.com) and posting near-daily.

Recurring themes: bootstrapping over fundraising, shipping fast and in public, remote work and visas, AI as a tool for solo builders, Europe vs Asia and the US, air conditioning and degrowth politics, health and training, and living deliberately with few possessions. He posts opinions bluntly and publishes revenue numbers openly.

## Machine-readable access

- [JSON API index](https://levels.io/api): what the API offers
- [All posts](https://levels.io/api/posts): every post as JSON, newest first. Filters: `?tag=`, `?since=YYYY-MM-DD`, `?q=` (title search), `?limit=` & `?offset=`
- [One post](https://levels.io/api/posts/{slug}): metadata plus markdown, html and text
- Plain formats: `/api/posts/{slug}.md`, `.txt`, `.html`
- [Tags](https://levels.io/api/tags): every tag with a post count
- [MCP server](https://levels.io/mcp): Model Context Protocol over HTTP (JSON-RPC 2.0). Read-only tools: `search_posts`, `get_post`, `list_tags`
- [RSS](https://levels.io/rss) and [long-form RSS](https://levels.io/rss/longform)

Please be gentle: the API is rate limited and uncached. Prefer `/api/posts` once over fetching every slug individually.

## Pages

- [Home — every post, newest first](https://levels.io/)
- [Projects — everything @levelsio has built since 1996](https://levels.io/projects)
- [Stats — posting history, tags, followers, subscribers](https://levels.io/stats)
- [All tags](https://levels.io/tags)
- [Ask me anything — AI chat over the blog](https://levels.io/ama)
- [levels.vc — angel investments and AI fund](https://levels.vc)

## Main topics

Tech, Society, Entrepreneurship, Travel, Analysis, Stuff I made, Europe, eu/acc, Future, AI, Asia, Remote working

## Recent posts

- [Helicopters are a fundamentally unstable design](https://levels.io/helicopters-fundamentally-unstable-design) — 2026-08-18
- [Day trading and technical analysis are proven to be bullshit](https://levels.io/day-trading-technical-analysis-bullshit) — 2026-08-17
- [I remade a chart of the best and worst value cities based on Nomads.com data](https://levels.io/best-worst-value-cities-nomads) — 2026-08-16
- [I learnt that blueberries are pesticide bombs and thicker fruit is better](https://levels.io/blueberries-are-pesticide-bombs) — 2026-08-16
- [Your priority as a man is to avoid the padel body at all costs](https://levels.io/avoid-the-padel-body) — 2026-08-15
- [My X revenue hit a new record of about $25,000 this month](https://levels.io/x-revenue-new-record-this-month) — 2026-08-15
- [One of the best coffee machines in the world is the Moccamaster but it's fully plastic](https://levels.io/moccamaster-fully-plastic-coffee-machine) — 2026-08-14
- [Someone made a Moccamaster clone but without plastic](https://levels.io/plastic-free-moccamaster-clone) — 2026-08-14
- [We flew into Beijing from Japan, then went to Chengdu, Chongqing, Shanghai and Hangzhou](https://levels.io/china-trip-beijing-to-hangzhou) — 2026-08-13
- [DHH shared a cool tip to hook Claude Code up to your Ubiquiti router and improve your WiFi](https://levels.io/dhh-tip-claude-ubiquiti-wifi) — 2026-08-13
- [I'm not a paid CCP shill but China is having its moment for tourists now](https://levels.io/china-is-having-its-moment-for-tourists) — 2026-08-11
- [China is one of the highest value countries to travel to now](https://levels.io/china-highest-value-country-to-travel-to) — 2026-08-09
- [The Dead Internet Theory could become real if AI replaces all human content creation](https://levels.io/dead-internet-theory-ai-training-data) — 2026-08-08
- [I'm deleting Claude](https://levels.io/deleting-claude) — 2026-08-08
- [This prompt finally stopped Claude from getting more and more unintelligible every day](https://levels.io/stop-claude-from-getting-unintelligible) — 2026-08-08