Pieter Levels: Programming, Viral AI Startups, and Digital Nomad Life | Lex Fridman Podcast #440

This man ships so fast that he speaks at 1.5x speed by default.

He is a great inspiration for all makers and has also helped us to begin Thinkbuddy. He is one of the first people who created AI hype among individual makers, and the world has many products that owe their existence to Pieter, who took the first step and inspired others. Thank you! ✨

Wowwww this is the most unexpected guest in the best way possible!

In a parallel universe Pieter used JS instead of PHP and couldn't ship because he kept changing the framework. Great interview!

I followed Pieter in to the digital nomad lifestyle ~mid 2015. I joined his private slack community, found a remote software engineering role @ a Norwegian software company, and worked remotely for them for a year and a half, travelling through parts of Europe & Asia. It's nice to hear from the man himself that this lifestyle wasn't always sunshine and rainbows. The guilt I often felt when someone told me I was "living the dream" when in fact I was not (always) happy, was very confronting for me (at the time). This had me in tears, I've never been able to express this to anyone without feeling like a privileged idiot. Thanks for this conversation.

How did Lex know we wanted Pieter on the pod before we knew we wanted him on the pd?

As someone who works at a small startup right now as a self-taught developer, this podcast is gold. Thanks!

Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep440-sa See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. 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 *Transcript:* https://lexfridman.com/pieter-levels-transcript *CONTACT LEX:* *Feedback* - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey *AMA* - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama *Hiring* - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring *Other* - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact *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 *SPONSORS:* To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: *Shopify:* Sell stuff online. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/shopify-ep440-sa *Motific:* Generative ai deployment. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/motific-ep440-sa *AG1:* All-in-one daily nutrition drinks. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/ag1-ep440-sa *MasterClass:* Online classes from world-class experts. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/masterclass-ep440-sa *BetterHelp:* Online therapy and counseling. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/betterhelp-ep440-sa *Eight Sleep:* Temp-controlled smart mattress. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/eight_sleep-ep440-sa

didn't expect levelsio to be on the pod

Thank you for having me! ❤