How One Man Built $3M/year in Startups Without Hiring a Single Person

Freedom, automation, and $3M/year: dissecting Pieter Levels’ journey.

Author

Sahil Khan
August 05, 2025

💡 Why You Should Care

Most founders dream of the unicorn exit.
Pieter Levels did the opposite.
No investors. No employees. No office.

Yet his solo portfolio earns $3M/year — and he works from anywhere in the world.

If you want to build something that funds your life without owning your soul, this is the playbook.

1. The Backstory – How Freedom Became the Goal

Pieter wasn’t a “startup guy” at first.
He was making YouTube music tutorials — 139K subscribers, a few thousand dollars a month.

But here’s the problem:

  • The platform owned the audience.

  • The work didn’t compound — new month, new grind.

Lesson: If your income stops when you stop working, you don’t own your time.

2. The Leap – Burn the Boats

2013: Pieter sold everything he owned.
One backpack. One laptop.

While traveling across Asia, he noticed two big trends:

  • Remote work was about to explode.

  • Digital nomads had zero good tools to live and work globally.

So he set himself a public challenge:
“12 startups in 12 months.”
Each month, a new build. No perfection. Just launch.

3. Breakthrough Products

Nomad List

  • Started as a simple Google Sheet ranking cities for nomads.

  • Went viral.

  • Today: Paid community + travel data tool making ~$20K/month.

💡 Actionable takeaway: Start with a spreadsheet. Test the value before writing a single line of code.

Remote OK

  • Job board for remote workers.

  • Slow start, exploded during COVID.

  • Peaks at ~$40K/month.

💡 Actionable takeaway: Ride macro trends — but position yourself before they blow up.

AI Tools (Photo AI, Interior AI, Avatar AI)

  • Launched in days, some made $150K in week one.

  • Now ~70% of Pieter’s total income.

💡 Actionable takeaway: Be early in emerging tech. Don’t wait for perfection — the first mover gets the buzz.

4. The Pieter Method – How He Wins

Step

How You Can Apply It

Ship Fast

Launch MVPs in days, not months. Test value before scaling.

Automate Ruthlessly

Replace yourself with scripts, APIs, and no-code tools.

Monetize Early

Add payments from day one. Free users rarely become paying ones.

Build in Public

Share progress, numbers, and failures. Build trust + free marketing.

Stay Lean

Avoid teams, offices, and overhead unless absolutely necessary.

5. Mistakes to Avoid (From Pieter’s Own Words)

  • Too many projects too early – 70+ builds, only 4 real successes.

  • Isolation – Solo building can be lonely. Build a network early.

  • Over-automation – Saves time, but can hurt user experience if there’s zero human touch.

Lesson: Keep experimenting, but know when to focus.

6. What Drives Him Now

Pieter’s not chasing “scale.”
He’s chasing freedom + fun.

He works on products he loves, automates the boring stuff, and uses profits to live life on his terms.

📌 Your Action Plan

If you take one thing from Pieter’s journey, it’s this:

You don’t need permission, a team, or funding. You need speed, focus, and the courage to hit ‘publish.’

Pieter Le

Start this week:

  1. Write down 5 problems you’ve personally faced.

  2. Pick one. Build the simplest solution you can in 7 days.

  3. Launch it publicly.

  4. Get feedback. Iterate.

  5. Repeat.

📚 Bonus Resource – MAKE: The Indie Maker Blueprint

Pieter also wrote MAKE: The Indie Maker Blueprint — a step‑by‑step guide to building profitable startups the indie way.

  • 30,675 copies sold → $883,621 in revenue (and counting).

  • Awarded 🏆 Product Hunt Book of the Year and #1 Startup Book.

  • Applied by 30,000+ indie makers worldwide.

  • Now updated with AI‑focused chapters.

  • Available in PDF, ePub, and MOBI formats.

💡 Why you should read it: It’s not theory. It’s Pieter’s exact playbook — the same one he used to build Nomad List, Remote OK, Hoodmaps, Interior AI, and Photo AI.

If you’re serious about learning to launch and scale solo, this is a must‑read.

📍 Follow Pieter Levels