How Pieter Levels Built a $3M/Year Business with Zero Employees
The real story of how a self-taught developer built Nomad List, Photo AI, and Remote OK as a solo founder. No fancy tech stack. No team. $3M annual revenue.
100% Human Written ContentThe Unconventional Solo Founder
Pieter Levels makes $3 million per year.
He has zero employees.
His tech stack? Vanilla PHP, jQuery, and SQLite.
This contradicts everything modern developers are told.
No React. No microservices. No engineering team.
Just one person, a laptop, and simple tools.
Yet he's built multiple successful products that generate seven-figure annual revenue.
Here's the real story.
Who is Pieter Levels?
Pieter Levels (@levelsio on X/Twitter) is a Dutch programmer and digital nomad.
He's self-taught, started coding in his late twenties, and has launched over 40 projects.
Most notable projects:
- Photo AI - AI headshot generator ($138K/month)
- Interior AI - AI interior design ($38K/month)
- Remote OK - Remote job board ($35K/month)
All built and operated solo.
No co-founders. No employees. No venture capital.
The 12 Startups in 12 Months Challenge
In 2014, Levels set himself a challenge: launch 12 startups in 12 months.
One new product every month.
The goal wasn't to build perfect products.
It was to ship fast and learn what works.
Most projects failed. A few got traction.
The lesson: Volume matters. Ship more, learn faster.
The Tech Stack Everyone Criticizes
Here's what Levels uses to build million-dollar products:
- Backend: Vanilla PHP (no frameworks)
- Frontend: HTML, CSS, jQuery
- Database: SQLite
- Hosting: Simple VPS servers
No React. No Next.js. No Docker. No Kubernetes.
Why this stack?
Levels explains his reasoning:
- He knows it well (learned PHP first)
- It's simple to maintain alone
- Fast to build and deploy
- Scales fine for his needs
- No dependency hell
Modern developers mock this stack.
But it generates $3M/year.
Photo AI: The Viral Success
In late 2022, Stable Diffusion came out.
Levels downloaded it and started experimenting.
First attempt: Avatar AI
He built a service to generate AI avatars from user photos. Launched in late 2022.
$150K in the first week. It went viral.
A few weeks later, Lensa AI launched with the same idea. They had a team, better marketing, and raised millions. They dominated the market.
Avatar AI revenue crashed.
Instead of giving up, Levels pivoted. He noticed people wanted realistic professional photos, not cartoon avatars. So he rebuilt the product.
Photo AI launched in early 2023:
- Upload 15-20 photos of yourself
- AI trains a custom model of your face
- Generate unlimited professional headshots
- Different styles: business, casual, LinkedIn, dating profiles
Current revenue: $138K/month (as of november 2025). It's now his biggest revenue source, 70% of his total income.
How He Actually Works
Levels is transparent about his process. He tweets revenue numbers, shares code snippets, and does podcasts.
Daily routine:
- Works from a laptop in coffee shops around the world
- No office, no fixed schedule
- Codes when he feels like it
- Responds to support emails directly
Development process:
- Build MVP in a few days
- Launch publicly
- Get feedback from users
- Iterate based on what people actually use
- Add features only if people pay for them
No planning. No roadmaps. Just ship and adapt.
Philosophy: Perfectionism is the Enemy
Levels says his competitive advantage is shipping before things are ready.
His approach:
- Launch when it's 70% done
- Bugs are fine if core functionality works
- Design doesn't have to be pretty at first
- Speed beats perfection
Example: The first version of Photo AI had terrible output quality. "So bad," he admits. But people paid anyway.
He improved it over time based on real usage, not hypothetical requirements.
The Anti-Best-Practices Approach
Modern software development has "best practices." Levels ignores most of them.
What Makes This Sustainable?
$3M/year with zero employees sounds great. But can it last?
Low overhead:
- No salaries to pay
- Simple infrastructure (VPS hosting)
- Minimal operating costs
- Most revenue is profit
No dependencies:
- Doesn't rely on a team
- No complex deploy pipelines
- Can maintain everything himself
- Works from anywhere
Lessons for Solo Founders
1. Use What You Know
Levels uses PHP because he learned it first. Not because it's trendy.
The principle: Your productivity matters more than using the "best" technology. Master one stack deeply.
2. Ship Ugly MVPs
Photo AI's first version had terrible quality. He shipped anyway.
Why: You can't validate an idea without real users. Perfect is the enemy of shipped.
3. Build for a Community You Understand
Levels is a digital nomad. He built Nomad List for people like himself.
Why it works: Deep understanding of the problem leads to better solutions.
4. Charge Money Early
All his products have paid tiers from day one. No "build an audience then figure out monetization."
The benefit: Paying customers give better feedback. Revenue validates you're solving real problems.
5. Stay Small on Purpose
Levels could hire a team. He chooses not to.
The reasoning:
- More people = more complexity
- Meetings, management, coordination
- Lower profit margins
- Less freedom
His rule: Only add complexity when absolutely necessary.
The Controversial Takes
Levels is outspoken. Some of his views upset traditional startup culture.
On fundraising: "Taking VC money is like selling your soul."
On scaling: "Most startups don't need to scale. They need to be profitable."
On modern tools: "A lot of new technology is just people justifying their jobs."
On hiring: "Every employee makes your company slower."
Whether you agree or not, his results prove his approach works for him.
Should Every Founder Copy This?
This isn't a blueprint everyone should follow. Levels' approach works for him because:
- He's comfortable being solo
- His products fit his lifestyle
- He values freedom over scale
This won't work if you:
- Need a team for your product type
- Want to build a billion-dollar company
- Prefer structure and process
- Are building enterprise software
The Real Lesson
The most important takeaway isn't "use PHP" or "stay solo forever."
It's this: You can break the rules if you understand why they exist.
Levels knows modern best practices. He chooses to ignore them for specific reasons:
- Maintains solo simplicity
- Ships faster
- Stays profitable
- Keeps freedom
The question isn't "should I copy Pieter Levels?" It's "what constraints matter for my goals?"
If you want rapid growth and VC funding, you need a different approach.
If you want profitable sustainability and freedom, his path might inspire you.
Resources to Learn More
Pieter Levels is extremely transparent. You can follow his journey:
- Twitter/X: @levelsio - shares revenue numbers, ideas, and process
- Podcast: Lex Fridman Podcast #440 - 3-hour conversation about his approach
- Products: nomadlist.com, photoai.com, remoteok.com
He answers questions publicly and shares his code and strategies openly.
Build Your Own SaaS
If you're building a SaaS as a solo founder and prefer modern Python to Levels' PHP approach, FastSaaS might help. It includes:
- Pre-built authentication and user management
- Stripe billing integration
- Production deployment setup
- All the boring infrastructure handled
Not for everyone. But if you want to ship fast and focus on your product idea, it's there.
Questions about going solo? Email salim@fast-saas.com.