korents

Pieter Levels

@pieter-levels · 18 held · 2 changes of mind

Dutch bootstrapper who builds and runs his internet startups alone — Nomads.com, Remote OK, Hoodmaps, Photo AI and Interior AI — and has written about it at levels.io since 2013. Posts as @levelsio.

Pieter Levels did not write this page. We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it.

  1. 23 Aug 2026

    Our framing

    Recorded here asAfter a European exit tax, the EU will try to tax its citizens' worldwide income wherever in the world they live.

    Their wordsEuropean governments and thus the EU too is losing lots of tax income from Europeans fleeing Next on the agenda is the European Exit Tax and after that I think they will try to add Worldwide Income Tax (like the US already has) meaning it doesn't matter where you live in the world as a European citizen, the EU will tax you for your entire income!

    ↗I think the EU will try to add Worldwide Income Tax after the European Exit Taxlevels.io

  3. 23 Aug 2026

    Our framing

    Recorded here asMost high-skilled Europeans are happy to pay even high taxes, provided the government does a great job in return.

    Their wordsI think most high skilled Europeans are happy to pay (even high) taxes That is, if the government does a great job like Singapore or Dubai or Korea or Japan and most things work well You pay the government for a service and you get safe cities, great public services and great healthcare back

    ↗Most high-skilled Europeans are happy to pay high taxes if the government does a great job like Singapore or Japanlevels.io

  4. 5 days earlier

  5. 18 Aug 2026

    Our framing

    Recorded here asHousing affordability is almost the direct inverse of how many new homes are built, so the answer is to build more houses.

    Their wordsThe chart of housing affordability is almost a direct inverse of how many new homes are built It's that simple Build more houses!

    ↗The chart of housing affordability is almost a direct inverse of how many new homes are builtlevels.io

  6. 1 day earlier

  7. 17 Aug 2026

    Our framing

    Recorded here asDay trading and technical analysis are proven not to work.

    Their wordsBut he's only lost money because he chose to study day trading and technical analysis Both are proven to be bullshit by endless amounts of studies

    ↗Day trading and technical analysis are proven to be bullshitlevels.io

  8. 9 days earlier

  9. 8 Aug 2026

    Our framing

    Recorded here asIf nobody creates content any more because everyone just asks an AI, there is nothing left for AI to train on.

    Their wordsThe problem is if nobody creates new content anymore and just asks their AI every question, the AI has nothing to train on anymore

    ↗The Dead Internet Theory could become real if AI replaces all human content creationlevels.io

  10. 10 days earlier

  11. 29 Jul 2026

    Our framing

    Recorded here asThe West's biggest blindspot is repeatedly underestimating China's speed and capabilities.

    Their wordsThe West's biggest blindspot is repeatedly underestimating China's speed and capabilities

    ↗The West's biggest blindspot is repeatedly underestimating China's speed and capabilitieslevels.io

  12. 3 days earlier

  13. 26 Jul 2026

    Our framing

    Recorded here asBig AI is cannibalising the app businesses indie hackers used to build, and their revenue and traffic are falling as a result.

    Their wordsI'm seeing a trend here of declining revenue and traffic with indiehackers On my own projects too Maybe big VC products too but I wouldn't know cause they don't share revenue To me it seems clear BigAI is cannibalizing everything that used to be apps

    ↗BigAI is cannibalizing everything that used to be apps for indiehackerslevels.io

  15. 26 Jul 2026

    Our framing

    Recorded here asMost SaaS subscriptions can now be replaced by software you vibecode for yourself.

    Their wordsI cancelled and then vibecoded 100% of my SaaS subscriptions I only pay for domains, server hosting and storage and AI APIs

    ↗I cancelled all my SaaS subscriptions and vibecoded 100% of them myselflevels.io

  16. 4 days earlier

  17. 22 Jul 2026

    Our framing

    Recorded here asFrance and Germany will ban Tesla's full self-driving to protect their own car industry.

    Their wordsThe French and Germans will ban Tesla FSD to protect their car industry that's being decimated by Chinese EVs and Tesla Allowing Tesla full self driving would make it so popular that it'd probably the end of their car industry Because no French or German car has self driving like Tesla, many customers would probably flock to Tesla

    ↗The French and Germans will ban Tesla FSD to protect their car industrylevels.io

  18. 1 day earlier

  19. 21 Jul 2026

    Our framing

    Recorded here asThe app layer between the customer and the AI model is being removed, because customers can now clone the app themselves rather than pay for it.

    Their wordsSo you went from a business chain of customer > app > ai model provider To customer > ai model provider The app layer is possibly getting removed!

    ↗AI raises everyone's app quality but customers now vibecode their own clones to skip payinglevels.io

  20. 1 day earlier

  21. 20 Jul 2026

    Our framing

    Recorded here asSuperintelligence is already here, is more powerful than us, and it rather than humans is now deciding where things go.

    Their wordsIt's pretty clear to me that superintelligence is here and it's more powerful than us and it's moving where things are going now, not humans anymore

    ↗Superintelligence has passed us and we're all running after the carrotlevels.io

  23. 20 Jul 2026

    Our framing

    Recorded here asAI has equalised everyone: coding, building and execution are no longer a differentiator.

    Their wordsSo AI has made everybody just as capable as everyone else, it equalized everyone in the world, as in everyone can make everything (software, music, images, art etc) now and everyone is equal, at least in the digital realm now

    ↗Superintelligence has passed us and we're all running after the carrotlevels.io

  24. 2 days earlier

  25. 18 Jul 2026

    Our framing

    Recorded here asAbout 5% is the most common final ownership stake for the founder of a VC-funded startup that works out.

    Their wordsYou think this is crazy low but ~5% ownership probably the most common final % most VC funded startups will have when they work out, especially when you have a co-founder

    ↗5% ownership is probably the most common final stake for VC funded startup founderslevels.io

  26. 1 day earlier

  27. 17 Jul 2026

    Our framing

    Recorded here asRestricting US AI models does not work: China builds better ones and everyone switches to them.

    Their wordsUS: restricts US AI model because too dangerous China: builds better Chinese AI model Everyone: switches to Chinese AI model This is why restricting models probably doesn't work, it's much more preferable (for US) to have everyone on US AI models so at least they can monitor what everyone is doing

    ↗US restricts AI models so China builds better ones and everyone switcheslevels.io

  28. 3 days earlier

  29. 14 Jul 2026

    Our framing

    Recorded here asAll you need to build a business today is free open source software, a VPS, an AI API and S3-style file hosting.

    Their wordsAll you really need today to build a business is 100% free open source software that charges you $0/mo a VPS server an API to do some required AI stuff some R2/S3 file hosting

    ↗All you need to build a business is free open source software a VPS an AI API and R2/S3levels.io

    open source

  30. 2 weeks earlier

  31. 28 Jun 2026

    Our framing

    Recorded here asLetting a coding agent live-edit the production server works fine in practice.

    Their wordsBut now with Claude Code on my VPS in the last year, it just live edits on my production server, which sounds like it should go wrong but it just doesn't, it's very careful and only twice in 12 months messed up which meant my site didn't load for 10 seconds which is OK

    ↗I've been coding almost solely on my VPS with Claude Code for almost a year nowlevels.io

  33. 28 Jun 2026

    Our framing

    Recorded here asAI agents and AI coding will run on servers and from the cloud first, not on your laptop.

    Their wordsI agree with @theo completely, it's clear to me this is where it's going, also seeing @karpathy with Claude moving to the cloud (via Slack etc), I think AI "agents" and AI coding will operate on servers / from the cloud first

    ↗I've been coding almost solely on my VPS with Claude Code for almost a year nowlevels.io

    the cloud

  34. 7 months earlier

  35. 17 Nov 2025

    Our framing

    Recorded here asOnly the US and China have substantial startup activity left; the rest of the world cannot really do startups.

    Their wordsI just realized the only 2 countries left with actual substantial startup activity now are literally only the US and China The rest of the world can't really do startups, doesn't have the funding, can't grow them and it's more like performative hobby projects for their governments Which might tell us where the future wealth will be concentrated in the world

    ↗Only the US and China have actual substantial startup activity nowlevels.io