Person
1 episodes · 22 quoted claims
Pieter Levels says Stripe arrived in the Netherlands around 2014, which let him start making money online that year.
“When Stripe came to Holland, back then I lived in Holland, it was 2014, I think. then I was like oh shit now I can start making money”
As a child, Pieter Levels signed up for a WorldPay merchant account whose contract was with an American company, though he lived in the Netherlands.
“I remember signing up to world pay I think it was world pay and it was a giant contract was in America and I live in Holland”
Levels says the WorldPay contract his father read made the signer liable for damages of up to $100 million.
“you're liable for damage up to $100 million I mean it's like what am I signing for”
Pieter Levels says he was among the first people monetizing videos on YouTube, uploading his music, and ranked as one of the top channels in Holland.
“So when YouTube started monetizing videos, I was uploading my music already. So I was one of the first YouTube monetizing people”
Levels says his YouTube earnings grew from $1,000 to $2,000 to $8,000 per month while he was a university student.
“I started making money, like $1 ,000, then $2 ,000, then $8 ,000 per month, a lot of money, and I was in university.”
Levels says that when he entered the startup world in 2014, indie hacking and bootstrapping barely existed, with Patrick McKenzie a notable exception.
“In 2014, when I entered the startup world, there was barely any indie, there was no indie hacking, there was no bootstrapping almost, except Patrick McKenzie”
Levels argues that VC-backed founders must aim to become a unicorn, a company worth over $1 billion, rather than settle for a $10 million a year business.
“You can't make $10 million a year. You kind of need to make $100 million a year. You kind of need to become a unicorn.”
Levels says one of his projects, a commitment-contract site that charges users' cards if they fail a goal such as quitting smoking, still runs on Stripe.
“One project that still runs on Stripe is go effing do it.”
Levels says the Go Fucking Do It site still earns about $50 a month and its PHP code has not changed in about 10 years.
“And it still makes, I think, like $50 a month. And I didn't change the code in 10 years. Yeah, yeah, yeah. PHP, you know?”
Levels says he went on a university study exchange to Korea around 2010, his first time outside Europe.
“I did a study exchange program. I went to Korea in 2010, I think, from university.”
Levels says that around 2013 Hacker News was full of posts about startups raising large venture rounds.
“I read, we're raising $40 million for our startup. Back then, Hacker News was full of raising.”
Levels recalls Patrick McKenzie writing that he made $60,000 in a year with Appointment Reminder, a service sending SMS reminders for appointments, and that this inspired him.
“Patrick McKenzie, I made $60 ,000 this year with Appointment Reminder, this site, which is like, he would go to hair salons, I think, and then sell his Appointment Reminder website.”
Levels says he has tweeted about 125,000 times over 10 years, roughly 40 tweets a day.
“I tweeted, like, I think 125 ,000 times over 10 years. so it's like 40 tweets a day.”
Levels says ChatGPT's share of referrals to his websites rose from about 4% to 20% within a month.
“ChatGPG was like four, so 4%, and now it's 20%.”
Levels says moderating the Nomad List community chat group was very difficult before he automated it.
“This chat group was like hell to maintain. It was, I mean, you know from communities, so much drama.”
Levels uses GPT to moderate a 40,000-person chat group by following written rules, muting people for 10 minutes or a day rather than banning them.
“I write down the rules of my chat group. And it's 40 ,000 people. And it doesn't ban anymore. It just mutes people for like a day or 10 minutes.”
Levels says his parents prefer to hold Royal Dutch Shell stock rather than buy an S&P 500 index fund.
“No, and I'm like, you need to buy S &P. They're like, no, we're not going to buy in America. We're going to buy Royal Dutch Shell.”
Levels cites a Vanguard exchange-traded fund with a 0.07% annual fee as an example of how low-cost index products are hard to resell profitably.
“Like if you resell a Vanguard ETF that has 0 .07 fee per year.”
Levels says he ran a crowdsourced idea board for fixing Europe, to which tens of thousands of people submitted ideas, with removing regulatory burden on new businesses ranked first.
“i crowdsourced this like bug board where everybody could submit their idea how to save europe how to fix europe and like tens of thousands of people submitted ideas”
Levels says that after COVID, Stripe's API grew more complicated and users complained, though he thinks it has since improved.
“There was a few years where things were getting, the API was getting more and more complicated. We all complained about it.”
Levels says Stripe's original appeal was that Stripe.js needed only one line of code to add a payment button to a page.
“Stripe js it was one line of code you would add to your page and you had a payment button you know”
Levels says he has begun investing in startups, and gives Cursor as an example of a company he could invest in.
“But I can invest in Cursor, for example. Like, very nice.”