Pieter Levels — The Indie Hacker’s Guide to AI Startups

The Bootstrapped Founder
25 Oct 202371:12

Summary

TLDR在这段对话中,独立创业者Pieter Levels和主持人探讨了独立黑客文化的现状,以及AI初创公司所面临的挑战。Pieter分享了他对于独立黑客运动已死的看法,认为尽管独立黑客文化已经变得主流,竞争更加激烈,但机会仍然存在。他讨论了自己如何通过Twitter建立观众群体,以及在AI领域创业的经历,包括如何处理平台风险和与大型科技公司的竞争。此外,Pieter还提到了他对于远程工作和数字游民生活方式的看法,以及他如何在不断变化的技术和社交媒体环境中适应和创新。整个对话提供了对于独立创业、AI技术发展和社交媒体影响力构建的深刻见解。

Takeaways

  • 🌐 独立黑客并未消亡,只是与过去有所不同,现在更加竞争激烈和饱和。
  • 💡 AI 初创公司的兴起带来了新的挑战,如缺乏独特性和高成本。
  • 🚀 利用现有技术进行创新仍然是可行的,即使在 AI 时代。
  • 🛠️ 技术的选择并不比使用它们解决问题更重要,简单和快速的执行往往比使用最佳工具更关键。
  • 🔄 创业初期,重要的是快速验证想法,而不是过分关注代码的完美。
  • 📈 创业项目的成功往往取决于市场需求和验证,而不仅仅是产品的外观。
  • 🌐 社交媒体平台的变化对内容创作者提出了新的挑战,需要适应新的传播方式。
  • 🤖 AI 作为工具,可以帮助人们更有效地完成任务,但也可能取代某些工作。
  • 🌍 数字游民生活方式依然活跃,但可能逐渐转向在特定季节前往特定地区。
  • 💭 社交媒体上的争议性言论可以吸引关注,但也可能导致负面反应。
  • 🔄 经济和社会文化周期的变化带来了新的机遇和挑战,重要的是适应和重塑自己。

Q & A

  • 独立黑客(Indie hacking)的概念在Pieter Levels看来已经发生了怎样的变化?

    -Pieter Levels认为独立黑客的概念已经从2014年左右开始流行,当时很多人通过Product Hunt这样的平台进行创业。但现在,这个概念已经被大型科技公司所关注,变得主流化,竞争也变得更加激烈。因此,他认为独立黑客不再是一个边缘的、亚文化的事物,而是变成了一种标准的创业方式。

  • 为什么Pieter Levels认为在当前环境下,独立黑客的创业方式变得更加困难?

    -Levels指出,现在不仅是独立黑客之间的竞争,还要面对大型科技公司的竞争。这些大公司有资源快速复制独立开发者的创意。此外,随着AI技术的兴起,即使是小规模的独立AI创业公司也需要面对那些已经筹集了数亿美元资金的大型AI创业公司的竞争。

  • Pieter Levels提到了哪些因素导致了AI创业公司面临的挑战?

    -Levels提到了多个因素,包括高成本的GPU服务器、平台依赖性、技术缺乏独占性(如使用相同的AI模型和框架)、以及AI创业公司的高流失率和缺乏防御性。他还提到了经济衰退对融资的影响,以及AI技术发展迅速导致的快速饱和市场。

  • 在讨论中,Levels提到了他如何通过手动工作来验证他的AI创业想法,这是怎样的一个过程?

    -Levels描述了他最初是如何手动处理订单的,包括下载客户的照片、使用AI平台进行图像处理,然后将结果照片发送回客户。这个过程非常耗时,但他通过这种方式验证了市场需求,并在一周内实现了流程的自动化。

  • Levels如何看待社交媒体平台,如Twitter,对于独立黑客和AI创业公司的作用?

    -Levels认为Twitter是一个重要的平台,可以用来建立观众群体和社交证明。他提到了自己如何通过Twitter来推广他的产品,并且观察到有机营销和SEO对于初创公司的重要性。他还提到了TikTok作为一个新兴平台,可能对年轻一代的AI创业公司更具吸引力。

  • 在讨论中,Levels提到了他对于AI技术未来的乐观态度,他的理由是什么?

    -Levels认为AI技术将带来积极的变化,他强调了AI的益处,并认为应该关注如何利用AI技术使人类未来更好。他还提到了政府应该提供基本收入,以保护人们不受技术发展带来的负面影响。

  • Levels在讨论中提到了他对于使用老旧技术的看法,他是如何看待技术的Lindy效应的?

    -Levels提到了Nassim Taleb的Lindy效应,即技术之所以经得起时间的考验,是因为它老旧且可靠。他认为,尽管新技术可能看起来很吸引人,但它们往往更复杂,而且不够稳定。他倾向于使用那些经过时间考验的技术,因为它们简单、有效且可靠。

  • Levels在讨论中提到了他对于独立黑客和AI创业公司的看法,那么他对于想要进入这个领域的人有什么建议?

    -Levels建议新入行的独立黑客应该尝试使用新技术,并且要快速行动以抓住技术浪潮。他还建议创业者应该寻找市场上未被充分服务的领域,避免与大众随波逐流,并且要准备好长期投入和不断学习。

  • 在讨论中,Levels提到了他对于社交媒体平台变化的适应,他是如何调整自己的策略的?

    -Levels观察到Twitter的算法变化使得某些类型的内容更容易获得关注,比如长篇文章和视频。因此,他开始在Twitter上发布更长的文章,以此来适应平台的变化,并保持与观众的互动。

  • Levels在讨论中提到了他对于AI创业公司的盈利模式和成本控制的看法,他如何看待AI创业公司的盈利前景?

    -Levels认为AI创业公司的盈利前景与其能够多快地削减成本有关。他提到了AI创业公司的估值通常很高,但是如果不能有效控制成本,那么高估值就没有意义。他还提到了需要在达到一定盈利水平后考虑出售公司。

  • Levels在讨论中提到了他对于远程工作和数字游民生活方式的看法,他如何看待这种生活方式的未来?

    -Levels认为远程工作和数字游民生活方式将继续存在,但他也提到了这种生活方式可能对个人心理健康的挑战。他预测人们可能会选择在几个固定的地方之间移动,而不是不断地更换地点,特别是当他们有家庭和孩子的时候。

  • Levels在讨论中提到了他对于社交媒体上争议性话题的处理方式,他是如何应对社交媒体上的批评和争议的?

    -Levels认为社交媒体上的争议性话题是一种游戏,他选择保持真实和诚实,即使这可能导致争议。他提到了如何处理社交媒体上的批评,包括不让人们的意见影响自己的真实想法,并从反馈中学习和调整自己的观点。

Outlines

00:00

😀 独立黑客的兴衰与AI创业的挑战

Pieter Levels作为嘉宾,讨论了独立黑客文化的现状,以及AI创业的挑战。他提到独立黑客已经从小众文化变成了主流,竞争更加激烈,也更加困难。同时,他分享了自己在AI领域的创业经历,包括如何面对大科技公司的竞争,以及处理平台风险的策略。

05:02

🚀 AI创业的商业现实与成本挑战

Pieter讨论了AI创业的商业现实,特别是成本问题。他指出,尽管AI技术的普及使得进入门槛降低,但同时也导致了利润率的下降。他还提到了GPU成本的上升对AI创业的影响,以及如何通过更换供应商来应对成本上升的问题。

10:05

🤔 独立创业者的技术与市场适应

在这一段落中,Pieter反思了自己作为独立创业者的局限性,特别是在技术领域。他讨论了如何通过外包和雇佣AI开发者来弥补自己在技术方面的不足,并强调了快速执行和市场适应能力的重要性。

15:07

🌐 社交媒体营销与影响力的力量

Pieter分享了他在社交媒体营销方面的经验,特别是如何通过TikTok影响者来推广自己的AI照片创业项目。他讨论了传统新闻媒体与社交媒体影响力在产品推广上的差异,并强调了建立团队和利用数据驱动方法的重要性。

20:09

💡 技术选择与创业精神的哲学

Pieter探讨了技术选择对创业成功的影响,他用自己使用PHP和jQuery作为技术栈的例子,来说明技术的选择并不是创业成功的唯一决定因素。他强调了创业精神中的实用主义,以及如何避免过度工程化,专注于快速上市和客户获取。

25:10

🛠️ 创业初期的实践与自动化

Pieter分享了他在创业初期的做法,包括如何通过手动处理订单来验证业务模式,然后逐步自动化流程。他讨论了自动化的时机和成本效益,以及如何通过快速迭代来适应市场变化。

30:14

🌟 创业项目的社会证明与市场接受度

在这部分,Pieter讨论了创业项目如何获得社会证明和市场接受度。他提到了作为独立创业者如何通过建立公众形象和信任来推广产品,以及如何通过社交媒体平台来建立这种信任。

35:16

🧳 数字游民文化与远程工作的兴起

Pieter分享了他对数字游民文化的看法,以及远程工作的兴起如何改变了人们的生活方式。他讨论了数字游民在不同国家和地区的分布情况,以及这种生活方式对个人和社会的影响。

40:19

🤝 合作与竞争中的创业精神

Pieter讨论了他与其他创业者的合作关系,以及如何在竞争激烈的市场中保持创新和独特性。他分享了自己如何通过与他人合作来互补技能,并利用各自的优势来推动业务发展。

45:19

📈 AI技术的未来发展与创业机会

在这部分,Pieter对AI技术的未来发展进行了展望,并讨论了它为创业者带来的新机会。他分享了自己如何利用AI技术来创造新产品,并探讨了AI如何改变传统行业和工作方式。

50:22

🌍 长期项目与持续创新的重要性

Pieter强调了长期项目的重要性,并分享了他如何持续改进自己的项目,如Nomad List。他讨论了长期持有项目的价值,并分享了他对项目未来的看法,以及如何保持创新和适应市场变化。

55:23

📱 社交媒体平台的变化与内容创造者的适应

Pieter讨论了社交媒体平台,特别是Twitter的变化,以及这些变化如何影响内容创造者。他分享了自己如何在新的算法和平台规则下调整内容策略,并保持与观众的互动。

00:26

🔄 经济周期与创业机会的循环

Pieter探讨了经济周期的概念,并讨论了不同经济周期如何影响创业机会。他分享了自己对当前经济周期的看法,以及创业者如何适应这些变化来寻找新的商业机会。

05:28

🎙️ 社交媒体的真实性与个人品牌的建立

在这部分,Pieter讨论了在社交媒体上保持真实性的重要性,以及如何通过分享真实想法和经历来建立个人品牌。他分享了自己如何处理争议和批评,并保持与观众的诚实对话。

10:31

📞 社交媒体互动的挑战与应对策略

Pieter分享了他在社交媒体上与观众互动的经验,包括如何处理负面反馈和批评。他讨论了社交媒体对个人心态的影响,并提供了一些应对社交媒体压力的策略。

📝 内容创造与多平台分发的策略

Pieter讨论了他在不同平台上创造和分发内容的策略,强调了根据每个平台的特点来调整内容形式的重要性。他分享了自己如何在Twitter、YouTube和播客等不同平台上分享内容,并建立观众群。

📈 AI技术的影响与未来的工作

Pieter分享了他对AI技术对工作影响的看法,讨论了AI如何改变某些职业,如摄影和室内设计。他探讨了AI技术的进步如何使某些工作变得更加高效,同时也可能导致某些工作的减少。

🌟 社交媒体的表演性与个人表达

Pieter讨论了社交媒体的表演性质,以及如何在保持个人表达的同时,适应社交媒体的特点。他分享了自己如何在Twitter上保持真实性,同时吸引和保持观众的兴趣。

🔄 社交媒体平台的变化与创业者的适应

Pieter讨论了社交媒体平台,尤其是Twitter的变化,以及这些变化对创业者的影响。他分享了自己如何适应这些变化,并继续在平台上有效地分享自己的想法和产品。

🎉 结语与对听众的感谢

在节目的最后,主持人感谢Pieter的参与,并总结了他们讨论的要点。同时,主持人也感谢了听众的收听,并鼓励听众在社交媒体上关注他,以及对他的播客进行评价和订阅。

Mindmap

Keywords

💡独立黑客(Indie Hacking)

独立黑客是指个人或小团队在没有大量外部资金支持的情况下,通过创造性和技术性的工作来开发和运营自己的产品或服务。在视频中,Pieter Levels讨论了独立黑客的兴起、变化以及为何它不再是过去的样子。

💡AI创业公司(AI Startups)

AI创业公司是指那些专注于开发和利用人工智能技术来提供创新产品和服务的初创企业。在视频中,Pieter提到了他自己的AI创业公司,以及如何在竞争激烈的市场中与大型科技公司竞争。

💡平台风险(Platform Risks)

平台风险是指依赖于第三方平台(如社交媒体、操作系统或其他技术基础设施)进行业务运营时所面临的风险。这些风险可能包括平台政策变化、技术更新或服务中断等。在对话中,Pieter谈到了作为AI创业公司,他们如何面对和处理这些风险。

💡推特(Twitter)

推特是一个流行的社交媒体平台,用户可以发布和互动简短的消息。在视频中,Pieter讨论了他如何使用推特来建立观众群体,并通过推特来推广他的产品和服务。

💡远程工作(Remote Work)

远程工作是指不需要在办公室或特定地点工作,而是通过互联网在家或任何地方工作的方式。Pieter提到了远程工作如何成为新的常态,并且与独立黑客文化相结合。

💡内容创作(Content Creation)

内容创作涉及制作和发布各种形式的内容,如博客文章、视频、播客等,以吸引和保持观众的兴趣。在视频中,Pieter提到了他如何通过内容创作来建立自己的品牌和业务。

💡经济衰退(Economic Recession)

经济衰退是指经济活动减少,通常表现为高失业率、低投资和消费下降。在视频中,Pieter和主持人讨论了经济衰退如何影响创业和投资环境。

💡产品开发(Product Development)

产品开发是指设计、构建和测试新产品的过程。在视频中,Pieter分享了他如何快速开发产品,并通过手动工作来验证市场需求,然后再自动化这些流程。

💡多平台运营(Multi-Platform Operation)

多平台运营是指在多个社交媒体或在线平台上运营业务,以扩大受众和市场覆盖。Pieter提到了他如何在不同的平台上运营,包括推特和TikTok,以及如何根据不同平台的特点调整内容策略。

💡基本收入(Basic Income)

基本收入是指政府或组织为每个公民提供的基本、无条件的定期支付,以保障基本生活需求。在视频中,Pieter讨论了基本收入对于应对技术失业和提供经济安全感的重要性。

💡社会证明(Social Proof)

社会证明是指人们在不确定的情况下,通过观察他人的行为来决定自己的行为。在视频中,Pieter谈到了社会证明对于新创业公司和产品的重要性,以及他如何通过公开构建和分享自己的创业旅程来建立这种证明。

Highlights

独立黑客(Indie hacking)并非消亡,而是随着时间发展而变化。

Pieter Levels认为,独立黑客的概念在2014年左右随着Product Hunt的兴起而流行起来。

大科技公司开始关注独立制造者,使得独立黑客变得更加主流和竞争激烈。

AI初创公司面临的挑战包括与大型科技公司竞争和缺乏技术壁垒。

Pieter Levels通过Twitter建立观众群体,利用影响力营销提高产品知名度。

独立黑客现在更像是一种创业方式,而不仅仅是黑客文化。

经济衰退时期,精益创业和独立黑客成为必要,因为资金变得难以获得。

Pieter Levels讨论了AI初创公司的平台依赖性问题,如GPU成本和API服务的不稳定性。

他分享了自己如何通过快速迭代和手动工作来验证创业想法,然后再自动化流程。

Pieter强调了在技术选择上不必过分追求最新技术,应更注重实际效果和快速上市。

他提倡使用PHP和jQuery等成熟技术栈,而不是追求最新的框架。

Pieter认为,开发者应该关注解决问题和满足客户需求,而不是过分沉迷于工具和技术。

他分享了自己的产品Nomad List的成功经验,强调了长期坚持和逐步改进的重要性。

Pieter讨论了TikTok作为新兴社交媒体平台对年轻一代的影响力,以及它在创业中的应用潜力。

他提出了关于AI对人类未来的积极看法,并批评了对AI的无端恐惧和悲观态度。

Pieter分享了他对远程工作和数字游民生活方式的看法,以及这对个人和社会的潜在影响。

他讨论了社交媒体平台变化对内容创作者的影响,以及如何在这些平台上保持影响力。

Pieter提到了他对于Twitter新算法的看法,以及它是如何改变用户互动和内容传播的。

Transcripts

play00:00

Indie hacking is dead. At least that's something that my guest

play00:04

today, Pieter Levels once tweeted about. Of course, it's

play00:06

not dead but it is different now. And just how different and

play00:11

why it's different, that we will figure out today on The

play00:14

Bootstrapped Founder. Pieter and I chat about AI startups,

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dealing with platform risks, and why indie hacking isn't even

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hacking anymore, and how to build audiences on Twitter in

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2023. A big shout out to the sponsor of today's episode:

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acquire.com. More on that later. Now, here's Pieter.

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Pieter, thanks so much for being on the show. I only have one

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question here. Why is indie hacking dead? Can you tell me

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more about that?

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Man, so I tweeted that indie hacking was dead. But my point

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was more like I think, because it's like a long tweet and the

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first message is like indie hacking is dead. And then I

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tried to explain, but nobody reads the second line. Like

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TikTok, you know, people only watch 10 seconds. So what I

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meant was, like indie hacking started I think, like 2016

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because the kind of big, maybe 2014 with Product Hunt. Because

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before a lot of people would do the VC route of doing startups,

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right? Everybody knows this story. So I feel like this year

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kind of like became very popular and a lot of people are indie

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hacking. And I think also now, what you see, what I see on my

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Twitter is that big companies, big tech companies, they follow

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me and they follow other indie makers, to see what indie makers

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are doing. Like it's become finally on the radar of tech,

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you know, a lot of people in San Francisco. I saw a tweet by

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Louis, he's making AI startup in San Francisco and he lives in

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some parts of sleeping path. And he said, I'm in the sleeping

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path, like a hostel in San Francisco for $600 per month,

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full of indie hackers trying to ship AI startups. And I'm like,

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why? Is this because it's San Francisco? It's usually the

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place where you raise VC and these indie hackers. So it feels

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like it's a mainstream term now. And that's what it means. So it

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means it has become more competitive, more saturated and

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more difficult because you're competing not just with a lot of

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indie hackers. Now a lot of people are doing, it's becoming

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like the standard route. You're also competing with big tech

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companies now. And I see this with AI startups I do. I'm

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competing with companies that raised $500 million, you know,

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like these big AI startups and they follow me on Twitter, you

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know and they see what I'm doing. So if I launch a feature,

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they ask their developers to make the same feature. And maybe

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vice versa, of course, but that's what it means. So it's

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dead in a way that like, if remote work was called remote

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hacking, you know and then COVID happens and remote work became

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normal. It would also be dead because it's not hacking

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anymore, just normal now. So it's more like

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Yeah, that is exactly the difference. Right? Like it used

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to be hacking. It used to be hacking. It used to be kind of a

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subculture thing.

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Yeah

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And now it's just the way people approach entrepreneurship.

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Yeah

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Indie hacking is just indie business or entrepreneurship,

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I think so. And people reply to me like, oh, you're in a bubble

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right?

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because you're like in the indie hacker bubble, it's not

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mainstream at all. But I do think startups, it's very

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present on the radar for a lot of people. And a lot of people

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prefer like, man, I have a lot of VC funded founder friends.

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And they say their next startup is preferably indie. And they

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will do it because they can have a lot of people are burned out

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from the VCs, you know?

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Yeah. Well, good. I think that's a good thing because there's a

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lot of speculation happening there that maybe coupled with an

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economic recession is not the best idea.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah

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For people to put their whole life energy into something very

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That's a very good point. Like the economic recession is a very

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good point because you want to do more lean. Lean startup indie

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hacking becomes a necessity because there is no money. It's

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hard to get funding. It's hard to get seriously be funding, you

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Yeah, that's right. That series A or even seed funding, just

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know, maybe

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money has dried up in many ways and people are much more

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selective in what they fund. It's funny that you mentioned

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like AI startups because there's a lot of them going on. And you

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recently tweeted something about your own recently, just a couple

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hours ago

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Yeah

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You did about like how you found something that you haven't felt

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before with other startups now that you are doing AI startups.

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It's kind of the lack of a moat.

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It's a big problem. Yeah, I said the F word. But this is a big

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problem. Everybody talks about it even like other AI founders,

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VC funded AI founders. We DM and everybody does separate

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retention, which is the churn is very high. And defensibility,

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like you make something and immediately you have a lot of

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clones because everybody's working with the same stuff.

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Everybody's using GPT-4 for tech stuff almost or the Facebook LM

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but or people use stable efficient for image stuff.

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Everybody uses the same so it's not proprietary tech, like the

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stuff you do around is proprietary, like the way you

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combine all the models and everything in your website. But

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everybody can figure this out. I would say if you're smart within

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three months, if you're less smart, maybe six months to a

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year. So it's very difficult to make a startup AI startup now

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Right?

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Yeah. Yeah, that's an issue. I guess it's both a benefit and a

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curse, right?

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Yeah

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The curse is everybody can do it. The benefit is everybody can

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It's really good for customers, right? If you have a lot of

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do it. There is a lot of variety and you can build a lot of things.

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people making these apps and you get a big pressure on the price

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to go down but difficult for business owners because if the

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price goes down like this pure economics the profit margin goes

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to zero. And man, my profit margins for these AI start ups

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is not high like this week I've been charting it and it's like,

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you know, with the cost of GPU the profit margin gets really

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really low very quickly. So

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Yeah, I was wondering about this like I was looking into your

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your startups, the whole list of them and you have several,

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right? Some are going on, Nomad List is still around, Remote OK

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is still there. And then you have these two AI startups that

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have pretty significant MRR. They have a lot of costs

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compared to the others, right?

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Yeah, that's the problem. That's the big problem. And man,

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honestly, GPU costs go down. It's a difficult business and we

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were thinking GPU costs would go down. But then Nvidia said,

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like, there's a kind of bottleneck, they cannot produce

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enough chips, it's so popular now AI. They cannot produce

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enough chips. And the stock of Nvidia, of course, went through

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the roof because of this. So people are fighting over GPUs,

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it's insane. It's like you need a GPU for it's like a processor

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for people who don't know, it's like a CPU, like a computer

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processor, but it's for graphics. And somehow it's it's

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very, let's not go too deep. But it's very useful, very fast for

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AI stuff, you need a GPU for AI pretty much. Otherwise, it's

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very slow. So there's not enough GPUs being built like Nvidia

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makes almost all of them. So that makes the cost of these

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servers very high.

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It's crazy to think about just how much platform dependencies

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back there, right? You have the processor that needs to be done.

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And you need those for machine learning systems that also are

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run by somebody else. And then there's an API that is run by a

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company and you build on top of that.

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Yeah

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So you depend on all these layers.

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Yeah

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How do you deal with this? Because I don't think Nomad List

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is that much dependent.

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No, not at all. No, it's like, Nomad List use API to collect

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data for about cities, right. So I use a lot of different

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sources. But it's like 100 robots that collect that scrape

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kind of information. And some is paid API's, but it's not

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dependent at all. But with GPUs, man, this is a great story. Like

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I cannot name too many names. But for example, when so like,

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last year, I started with avatars AI avatar AI because I

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was making in theory AI because I started doing AI stuff. And I

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was typing stuff like everybody in these prompts like to

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generate images. And I found out that I could build like, houses

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very beautiful design houses. So I made a site called

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thishousedoesnotexist.org, I think and it generates random

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houses random design, like house born kind of beautiful. And then

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I saw it also made very beautiful interior. So I started

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making interior AI, where you can generate interiors. And then

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afterwards, you can upload your own home interior with image to

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image technology. And it's kind of modified and it worked. And I

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made in theory AI and then I tried to see if I could fine

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tune and fine tuning is where you take the AI model and you

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make it more focused towards a specific goal. So for example,

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you want to make interiors because they believe fusion,

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this image model can make any image, right? You can make

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houses but also plans, people, anything. So if you want to

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focus in interior and get better results. So I trained with

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interior photos and it gets better results. And then I tried

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training with my own photos because see what happens and it

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works. And you get like these photos of yourself in every

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style. And I was like, wow, this is very cool. So I tweeted it.

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And it went viral. Then the next day, I was like I need to really

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quickly make a start up for this. So I made avatar AI. And

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it was I think the first big AI avatar startup. And then these

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big companies were following me. So they quickly within a month,

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they did the same and they got way bigger, say VC funded and

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they made I think $40 million. I think I made like, maybe half a

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million dollars or $400,000, lots within a month or so I'm

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getting two months is insane. But the funny part, what I want

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to say is that the service I used to do this fine tuning. The

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cost of funding was $3. And then when they saw my tweets, where I

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was sharing my revenue, that it was making so much money with

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this. They said sorry, we need to increase the price to $20 for

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training. And I was selling them for like $25 or $3. So for like

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a month, they got all the money. And I couldn't switch and they

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said as difficult. Maybe they were telling the truth. They had

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problems with like getting GPUs also. But they increased the

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price and I felt kind of like scammed, you know. And so this

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is a good example. You're dependent on a supplier who can

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when they see you're successful, they increase the price. This

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happens to people who have co workers phase too. There's a co

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working space famous who was very successful, very cheap

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brands and then when they were successful after the one year

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lease and say oh, now it's like five times the rent and 10 times

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the rent is what landlords do. So these dependencies are not

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nice. So I switched out to a new provider. They're much like,

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replicate.com They're very nice. They're super helpful. They

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don't change price, they don't increase price, they only

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decrease prices. It's amazing. So how do you deal with this?

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Man, it's a real problem.

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Well, if there's one thing that you can learn from this

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experience is just to think about alternatives from the

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start, right? If you have a service that you're building on,

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like, you have to find a way to abstract it enough so you can

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have another service to plug into your system.

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Exactly. So you have to go one level higher. So you have to get

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your own feet virtual private server with GPUs, you know, but

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then you need to learn to code Python and do all this stuff.

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And man, this Python is too much for me. These GPUs it's too

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difficult. So I hired an AI developer for this to help me

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with these models because it's just too difficult for me. I

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cannot like Danny Postma is my friend and he makes

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headshotpro.com. And he did it himself first. I think now he

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hired more people, but he's smarter than me. And he can do

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like Python stuff. And yeah, I tried so much, but it's like my

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heads, you know.

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Well, it's kind of one of these things that is so specific that

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you know, as a solopreneur, kinda dev who just wants to

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build stuff. Like you don't want to dive into something that

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takes you three years of university to understand, right?

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Man, I think it would take me six months of understanding this

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package manager does not be five, just too much. I can't get

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it working. It's so difficult. But it shows my limits. This

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year, I see my limits. I'm not so good at this stuff, you know.

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Did you have a hard time hiring for that? Because that's my

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experience when I founded my business and I kind of ran it,

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ran it, ran it. I thought I could do it all, right? Like,

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you know, the solo tech kind of person. Is that the same for

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Yeah, cuz I thought I could do everything until this year. I

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I had Danny on the show a couple episodes ago. And it was really

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you?

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thought I could. Man, I was like, complacent. And I was

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arrogant. And I thought because Nomad List and all these start

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ups just work, almost everything myself, except customer support

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and like jet moderators and stuff. And I have a server guy.

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If the server was on, but that's the opposite. And I thought I

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can do everything myself. I can do front end, backends,

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everything and I could. And the sides always look a little

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interesting. Like his focus on SEO, that's just something that

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clunky because I do everything myself. But that's like

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something you take for granted. It's just where you accept and

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not so bad. But this year, I was like, man, there's so many

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things I cannot do like marketing. I always rely on

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organic marketing, organic SEO stuff. And you get I think,

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Danny Postma made me very fresh because man, he's insane SEO

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guy. He's like insane. He makes startups just based on the

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keywords like he discovered his LinkedIn hashtags worked so

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well. That was most of the searches. So he makes this

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service, specifically this niche. Because he was also

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making like, advertisers, very smart. So I learned about SEO

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more. Now I'm learning about TikTok marketing. So I hired a

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guy to help me with man, because TikTok is insane. I talked to

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one influencer, he posted about photoai.com, my AI photo startup

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and MRR went from 12k to like 40 or 50k. Insane, right? And it

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stayed that way. And of course, it was sharing. And so I also

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worked in but this shows you have a really big effect of

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these influence. And it's way bigger effect than press. Like I

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also got a lot of press for these AI startups. And this

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press does almost nothing, you can put the logos on your site,

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but nobody links and clicks on these links. It's insane.

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I personally have never done. Like it's just something, I had

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word of mouth marketing and my things and that was fine. But he

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just diving into the data and like pulling out the things and

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building businesses on top of that. That's like domaining,

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right? Like finding a domain, building a domain on top of or

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business on top of that domain name. That's just such a smart

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data driven approach, really like that. And Danny too, is

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building a team. He's building a studio, right?

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Yeah, yeah

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Building something out there. So I guess you're kind of in

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parallel with that, trying to expand your capacity beyond just

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yourself.

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100%. And like we always do like tech swap because he sees my

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photos that suddenly look much better on Twitter, my AI photos

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and he asked me man, what are you doing now? And we give each

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other hands. So they say like, man, maybe look at this feature

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and try this, you know, but we're not competing because he's

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doing head shots and I don't want to do headshots. It says

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like niche. I'm doing more general photo studio kind of

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thing.

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Have you ever considered actually working together like

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building a business together?

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Yeah, Ithink we both would because I think I respect him a

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lot. He respects me a lot. I think it's good in the future.

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The man found his technology because my code, he doesn't

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trust my code because they'll PHP. And he writes I think

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proper, like JavaScript, you know, but in general, like, man,

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most of the code is Python in the background anyway. Like

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that's where the real stuff happens. It's just front end. So

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I think could happen in the future. I think it will be fun.

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For example, to if I ever sell to try sell, like together or

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something would be good because it's something like that. But I

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have a lot of respect. And I think it's very cool what he's

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doing. And he shake me up a lot because he showed me that

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because first I was making more money with avatars. And then I

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think at some point, he was making more money with his

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profile pictures and then headshots. I was like, damn! And

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I was like, what's going on? Like, I don't like this, you

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know, because you want to win, you know? And then it was very

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good for me. It was like, okay, you need to do a lot of stuff

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like SEO, like marketing, like, look at what keywords people

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searching, makes up pages, all this stuff I wasn't doing and

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yeah, it's very cool. Yeah.

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Sounds like you have a little mastermind group going on there

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with Danny. Nice.

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Yeah. Well, man not every day. But like, once every few weeks

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we message. Yeah

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That's awesome. Yeah. I love that you just talked about your

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code because to me, like your PHP code and all the stuff

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around it and your use of jQuery instead of like fancy frameworks

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and all that, that has become almost a meme in the community.

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And I mean, it's in the best sense, right? Like people think

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it's really funny that somebody is still coding, like, it's the

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90s. But also, people think, oh, wow, crazy, you can still do

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this and still be successful. I love that about how you approach

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technology. Because if I think about your tech stack, it's just

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PHP and a little bit of JavaScript. That's it.

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Yeah

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Yeah

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Right? Do you do you ever consider like actually changing

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Like, if you ever sell your business, have you ever thought

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that up? Because you just said that, like, if you work with

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somebody else, they don't trust your code.

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about that? Like, how complicated that might actually

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make selling the business?

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Yeah. Look, the thing with this meme is I exaggerated the meme

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for viral effects. So I'd make it look like my code is really

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bad. But it's much better, like people really think it's really

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bad. And I'm not saying it's great. But it's, I mean, it's

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pretty good. It's, it's like very clear. Now, it's highly

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commented. It's very, like I write in multiple files now, you

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know, this index of PHP was in the beginning, you know. I use

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GitHub. There's a very structural pattern that I made

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myself, like folder structure and files. And like, as workers,

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this, like scheduled work is as robust as new stuff. There's

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app. There's a data file with a database and stuff. And it all

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uses like SQLite. So it's very structured. So I think PHP

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developer can get into and they have, like, I had developers for

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small things come on. It's pretty, they can find what they

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want to find. So it does work, but at least more about a meme.

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It's more it's not about PHP jQuery, it's more about the

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point that it doesn't matter that you have these developers

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who work in enterprise in agencies. And there's this

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agency, MLM I feel like where you have a company who doesn't

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know anything about tech. They come to the web agency and they

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want like a website or app and stuff. And these web agencies

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need to sell like the best stuff. So they say we use the

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newest technology, like we use some big framework and they need

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to, they use as a sales thing. And then these developers need

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to update the skills to use this technology. And this is like a

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cycle. And it's a whole economy because you have this ecosystem

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of like frameworks now gets funded. And they have

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evangelists and like, become like versal. I like versal but

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they are very, that's a big example. They have evangelist

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who make developers promote the stuff all the time and the work

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for them. That's the whole thing. And they're VC funde, and

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they need growth and all good. But this makes new developers

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think that they need all this technology to make stuff. And

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this technology is nice, but in many ways, a lot of the new

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technology makes things more complicated often. And there's a

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thing called I think Taleb, Nassim Taleb always talks about

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Lindy effect, where all technology is proven because it

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just works because it's old, right? Like PHP is very old just

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works. New technology, you need to be a little bit distrustful

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of because it's often breaks like, man, I have this when you

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buy like smart home stuff. Like I go into Airbnb and there's

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some smart TV or something, you know and it's so difficult to

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watch TV now. This kind of Lindy effect, like old TV just works.

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It shows it to me and it's tested, you know?

play19:09

Yeah

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So I think that's my whole point of this, like, doesn't matter

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what you use. There's no need for this cultism with

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developers. If you are entrepreneur, you know, it's all

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about like if you're developer, easy share. But if you're an

play19:23

entrepreneur and the problem is a lot of these developers that

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work as freelancers they want to be an entrepreneur. So they

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bring this whole bogash, this baggage of having to use this

play19:32

stack and over engineering. And while this code is so elegant

play19:37

and stuff, to something where the priority should be getting

play19:41

customers and getting people to pay money because then you

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survive. You know, you pay your rent.

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Yeah, developers and I think we both kind of are developers,

play19:49

right? We're so tool focused, we so we look at the things and we

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want it to be optimal. We want it to be the best thing for that

play19:55

solution. I'm kind of glad that you're showing that you can just

play19:58

stick to one tool and just make it happen, right? There probably

play20:01

is some framework out there that is like 2.7% faster in some

play20:06

regard. But it doesn't matter, right? If you're fast enough to

play20:09

bring a thing to market, that's when you monetize, not when you

play20:12

use the best tool possible. And I think you talked about this in

play20:15

the beginning, too, it's like or that's kind of the tweet that I

play20:18

was referring to when you were talking about having to deal

play20:21

with the lack of moat. And just as an AI startup, right? When

play20:24

you kind of have to imagine that the competitors, just a couple

play20:28

of months around the corner, like your execution speed is so

play20:31

much more important than the request speed of the web

play20:35

framework that you use, right?

play20:37

Yeah, 100%. And man, most developers pretty slow to be

play20:41

honest. Like, man, I'm not good developer. But I'm really fast.

play20:46

One skill I have because I don't make things too complicated.

play20:50

Man, I repeat myself all the time. And then I repeat myself

play20:53

10 times like, you know, don't repeat yourself as the mentor

play20:55

then I write a function, but I don't. Like people try

play20:59

immediately write a function for something you repeat twice. It's

play21:01

like, man, you know, like this kind of stuff. And I think

play21:07

especially in beginning when you make a startup or when you make

play21:08

something new, it's very important to not obsess over

play21:11

this because you're trying to validate something, you have an

play21:14

idea, right? Like, when I was on this avatar AI. And this was

play21:18

man, it wasn't even code. It was just a index of HTML, like it

play21:22

was just a page. We have examples of the avatars you

play21:25

could generate and the input photos and then a link to type

play21:28

form, Stripe checkout, Stripe payment link, that was it, went

play21:31

to get your avatars Stripe payment link and there was

play21:35

nothing else. And then I would go to Stripe and check the

play21:38

email. And on Stripe checkout, I had the link after payments is a

play21:42

type form. So I went to a type form where it collected all the

play21:45

photos with file uploads and then I would manually so I

play21:49

immediately had like, 100 orders. So manually I did the

play21:51

thing is 100 or 200 orders myself. So I would download the

play21:54

photos and then I would go to this platform to do this fine

play21:58

tuning. I would upload their photos. And then I would

play22:00

download the resulting photos. Man, it was horrible work,

play22:02

manual work. I'd spent like all night doing this. And then I

play22:06

started automated the second day. And after a week, it was a

play22:09

lot of work. After a week, it finally was automatic.

play22:11

Wow.

play22:12

So that's an example where there wasn't even code, it was just a

play22:16

landing page and a tweet.

play22:18

That's so cool

play22:18

And a payment link. And thenwhen it work, you can make the codes,

play22:22

you know.

play22:22

Right. Yeah, you have a process that you can actually implement.

play22:25

Right? You have steps that you can then automate.

play22:27

Yeah, because you prove that it works, that there's a business

play22:30

maybe and then you can invest the time to code something. But

play22:34

coding takes a lot of time. There's this, you know, the

play22:36

cartoon, the XSCD or something.

play22:39

XKCD. Yeah

play22:40

Yeah. Yeah, you know they have this cartoon like, how much does

play22:44

a chart like how much time it takes to automate something and

play22:47

how much time the thing itself takes? And often the time it

play22:50

takes to automate something is hired and the time everything

play22:52

takes. So if that's true, just do it yourself manually until,

play22:56

you know, obviously, if you spent all night uploading

play22:58

downloading photos, it takes too much time. You can automate it

play23:00

faster, right?

play23:02

Yeah, for sure. I mean, if that was one night's work and how

play23:05

much did you charge per photo at that point?

play23:08

$30

play23:09

You know, that's like that's $3,000 for a night's work.

play23:12

That's not too bad, right?

play23:13

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's great!

play23:16

I mean, some people would do that for life if they could

play23:18

just, you know, it's so pretty cool to do this. I really,

play23:24

really enjoy that this particular way of doing this.

play23:26

Particularly with AI, right? A tool that is probably hard to

play23:29

automate when there is a lot of manual figuring things out,

play23:33

right? As well with the whole fine tuning kind of stuff. So

play23:37

it's really cool that you did this for a day or a week, until

play23:40

you had it all figured out. I think that's an indie hacking

play23:43

approach to kind of what Paul Graham calls the concierge

play23:46

approach, right? The idea of doing stuff with the white glove

play23:49

treatment. I do this for you instead of having everything

play23:51

automated. A lot of people want to build software from day one.

play23:54

They want to build a tool, they want login, they want to stripe

play23:57

integration, they want all kinds of things. And then they want to

play23:59

make money. But you made money by just doing the thing, which

play24:03

is really

play24:04

Yeah, I think it's also because I did it so much wrong. I did it

play24:07

I spent man, it took so much about I spent like a year on

play24:10

some YouTube Analytics startup in like 2014 or something. 14, I

play24:15

think and nobody paid for it. Nobody wanted to be customer.

play24:19

And it was just everything was amazing, interface was amazing.

play24:22

But nobody, you know, so I'm so traumatized by this. It's just,

play24:27

I'm not going to build anything until there's customers, you

play24:30

know, generally.

play24:32

Whenever I go to Product Hunt and I see all these tools there,

play24:36

you know, you have the top five that are really interesting. And

play24:38

I have a couple more that have been on, you know, a few

play24:40

upvotes. And then you have the 400 things that are launched

play24:43

that day that have no upvotes between all these 400. Behind

play24:47

every single one of them is a developer who spent six months

play24:50

building the perfect product.

play24:51

Man, exactly!

play24:51

That's what I always think about. It's so sad.

play24:53

Like it's so sad. And like they all look really good like the

play24:56

landing page is, like beautiful design is like a red flag for

play25:00

me, you know. This beautiful gradients and these borders that

play25:05

move.

play25:06

It's fancy.

play25:07

It's so fancy. If it's too fancy, means you spent too much

play25:10

time on design or it's some VC startup that spent too much

play25:13

money on designers. If it's the beginning, if it's not validated

play25:15

yet, you know and I prefer a very ugly webpage in the

play25:19

beginning, that just. Man, look at Google, look at the beginning

play25:22

it was very ugly. Look at Facebook first page was very

play25:25

ugly. You need to have a very ugly, basic beginning page, I

play25:30

think to validate something first.

play25:33

Yeah. That's kind of also what the whole discussion about indie

play25:36

hacking being dead or different. I think different is just a

play25:39

better phrase, right? It's not dead. It's still there. But it's

play25:42

not the same as what it used to be like seven years ago, right?

play25:45

Seven years ago, it was a movement. Today, it's just how

play25:48

things are done. It has arrived, right? It's kind of what it is.

play25:52

But I think that's what indie hacking is also doing. And I

play25:55

think Danny posted about this, like indie hacking is the new

play25:58

drop shipping. That's what he kind of called it or there were

play26:01

people that in the replies to your tweet saying, well, yeah,

play26:04

people have just higher expectations of products now. So

play26:07

indie hacking now looks different and all that. And I

play26:10

think that's important too, right? Like for us hackers, we

play26:13

can deal with a, you know, with a really shitty page that has

play26:16

barely any CSS in there. No automation, you know, exactly

play26:19

that there is a manual component, doesn't matter, you

play26:21

still want to use it because you're an early adopter. But

play26:24

with indie hacking going into mainstream, I think you crossed

play26:27

the chasm as well. And you now have all these normal people,

play26:31

let's just call them that. That one products that are kind of

play26:34

proven that have that need social proof already. And you

play26:37

did this pretty well because you are your own social proof, like

play26:40

your history of products and you're building in public, like

play26:43

whatever you launch, you have social proof already. Right?

play26:46

Like, that's something that stands out in particular, in

play26:49

your case, now that you're reaching like 340,000 followers

play26:52

on Twitter, you bring this with you, but how would you? If

play26:55

somebody were to start any hacking today, what would you

play26:58

tell them to get to this point? What would you tell them to have

play27:01

the social proof that they need to launch products?

play27:04

Man, honestly, this is like very controversial. I think you

play27:07

should always do the opposite everybody else is doing. So now

play27:11

if enacting is mentioned, you should probably like do

play27:13

something completely different. You know, I mean, like, you

play27:15

should go where nobody's going because when I started, man, it

play27:19

was almost nobody. It was only patio11 Patrick McKenzie was

play27:23

bootstrapping startups. And everybody else was raising VC,

play27:27

it was not normal to bootstrap start ups. It was very, very,

play27:30

very not normal. And now it's normal. So I don't know I always

play27:35

feel you need to run away from the herd you know, the sheep.

play27:38

You need to go somewhere else where no, like, look for part of

play27:41

the grass where nobody is and go there. If you believe in this,

play27:44

you know and then spend a lot of time spend years on this. But

play27:48

about social proof, I don't know. I think maybe it's not

play27:51

important. Maybe it's just it's important you make something

play27:54

that's like a problem that's out there like you know, look at all

play27:58

the sub Reddits. There's a lot of problems there like every sub

play28:01

Reddit has like a goal and you can go see this app or startup

play28:04

you can make around that. Like somebody does this mean but

play28:08

Craigslist, right? Every category has become a startup.

play28:11

You can do same with subreddits. Again now maybe the reddit of

play28:14

the day is TikTok, right? Go to TikTok, see what's going on on

play28:16

TikTok and see what people want and make startups around there.

play28:20

Maybe this answer start doing TikTok. I tell everybody this

play28:24

for a year. I don't even do it myself a lot myself but it

play28:27

should. But do go to TikTok and see what's going on there and

play28:33

document your journey not on Twitter, maybe but on TikTok and

play28:36

so hey, I'm Pieter. I just starting out, I want to serve,

play28:39

want to make some money and pay my rent. And everyday I'm going

play28:43

to make a video about this and what I'm doing and this new

play28:45

feature. That would be how I would approach it in 2023. I

play28:49

wouldn't probably be on Twitter X at all.

play28:53

Interesting. Yeah, that definitely a building in public

play28:55

where those people that you want to serve actually are, right?

play29:00

That is something that I really wanted to ask you because we

play29:03

talked a lot about AI startups and that kind of stuff. And it

play29:05

feels to me that the demographic for them is a younger crowd,

play29:09

right? And then like people who they have no problem with AI. I

play29:14

don't know if you've seen the same but in our community, a lot

play29:17

of people are very afraid of AI. Right? So there seems to be a

play29:21

generational divide there and saying TikTok is the new place

play29:24

to do this in front of people who are willing to accept that

play29:26

this is the way to go. Probably a good idea. What do you think

play29:29

about this whole like AI is the end of humanity kind of

play29:33

conversation? What's your stand?

play29:34

First of all, this generation thing is right like Gen Z

play29:37

doesn't care. They just use it like man, I work now with I know

play29:43

the guy from Jenni AI David Park, I think and he uses TikTok

play29:47

and all these students use this app Jenni AI and I think it

play29:51

writes papers for you or it helps you with writing papers

play29:54

and everybody uses this like 150k MRR, it's insane. Man,

play29:59

you're right. Nobody says like, is this good or bad? Man is this

play30:03

good or bad thing comes I think from millennials, like we're

play30:06

millennials, right?

play30:07

Yeah

play30:08

And journalists are also millennials. And people that

play30:13

want to, you know, maybe it's our culture to like challenge

play30:17

everything, which kind of good and make a problem out of

play30:20

everything. And there is, of course, fundamental

play30:23

philosophical things you can talk about. But I don't think

play30:26

it's very useful to constantly complain in every reply, you

play30:29

know, about the problems with AI and how it's going to destroy

play30:32

humanity. I don't know, I think look at the good sides. And look

play30:38

how it can benefit everybody. Of course, our great leader, Elon

play30:43

Musk, you know, is also complaining about AI. Right?

play30:45

He's like, it's gotta be the end of humanity. So what am I

play30:48

saying, you know?

play30:49

But he's also like, from a much older generation, right?

play30:52

Yeah, you're right. You're right. You're right. No, but of

play30:55

course, there's risk. But man, I get kind of tired of his whole

play31:01

like, negative scene on Twitter that started like 2016. And I

play31:05

feel died off like when Elon Musk bought Twitter and it's a

play31:09

very politically engaged scene and they're very, like, angry.

play31:12

And I don't see them a lot anymore. I think they moved to

play31:15

Macedon. But this is New Zealand, Twitter. I don't know

play31:18

you've saw the E/ACC. Like it's like, about acceleration. Like

play31:24

people are kind of philosophical. And they also

play31:27

want to they are positive about the future of humanity and

play31:29

technology, how we can use technology to make the future of

play31:33

humanity better. And it's E/ACC and people have this in their

play31:37

nickname and I follow up few people like Beth Jezos, like

play31:40

Jeff Bezos, he's like the leader or something. It's a very

play31:44

distinct group of people, very positive. And I feel that's man,

play31:48

I think positive in general works better, you know. I mean,

play31:52

I say this after complaining about Sony headphones for three

play31:54

days straight. But no, but I still believe in the future of

play31:58

Sony headphones if they fix some stuff, but I think positivity

play32:01

works better than complaining. I feel okay, let's be honest. I

play32:04

think there's some powerlessness if you cannot code and you see

play32:07

this AI stuff happening and you're not making money with it.

play32:10

And your income is not increasing because incomes are

play32:13

stagnant now and the government is not providing basic income,

play32:16

which is like free money for people because technology

play32:18

replacing a lot of stuff. I understand completely that you

play32:21

feel bad about this and you're gonna complain, like people

play32:25

complain about foreigners in Portugal, you know or people

play32:29

complain about AI. You know, in journalism, we are the writer

play32:33

strike in America, right? It's a big thing. Like the people who

play32:36

write the TV shows and the movies, they're on strike all

play32:39

the time because they think GPT-4 replaced them. Man, maybe

play32:42

will so I understand the problem. As always, I think the

play32:47

government should provide basic income to most people. And I

play32:50

think, I don't know if there will be a lot of new jobs

play32:53

created actually. I generally people believe in that. I don't

play32:56

really believe in that.

play32:58

It's a whole philosophical or societal conversation about

play33:02

like, should we even want everybody to have to work to

play33:05

feel that they're participating in society. Right? That's a

play33:08

thing. Like the whole, like, full employment of a country, is

play33:13

that even something we need as humans? Or could we just?

play33:16

I don't think so.

play33:17

Yeah, I agree with you there. And I think I'm a big Star Trek

play33:20

fan. I've always been a very optimistic sci fi future kind of

play33:24

person. But it's just recently I watched the Terminator movies

play33:27

because for some reason, I needed to go back to the 80s and

play33:30

90s and watch some really, really interesting movies. And I

play33:34

honestly, I do understand that the fear in the 80s and 90s of

play33:38

what technology is going to do, which is what Terminator is all

play33:40

about, right? What if AI computers take over? That fear

play33:43

is very present in those movies. And I think if you're socialized

play33:47

with this, if this is how you approach a technology, then

play33:50

everything you look at is potentially something that

play33:53

destroys everything around you, right? So the fear that it just

play33:56

destroys society, that destroys your habitat and all that and we

play33:59

do see some of this, right? What you just said is extremely,

play34:03

wonderfully phrased like the people who are not able to code,

play34:06

who are not able to control the machine, they are afraid of the

play34:09

machine. That is very, very

play34:11

And we are on like podcasts, we have AI started with like, wow,

play34:14

it's so good. Let's make money with it, you know.

play34:17

Of course, I'm positive about it. No, I 100% agree. But I feel

play34:17

That's right

play34:22

like, as always, I feel like people shouldn't blame the

play34:25

scapegoat, like, every technology has the same amount

play34:30

of bad and good it brings, you know an AI too, internet too,

play34:34

right? It's brought a lot of scams and man people died, you

play34:37

know, because of internet and people were born because of

play34:39

internet. So it's both. AI is the same thing. And but I think

play34:43

governments should somehow and governments are not so

play34:48

efficient, you know, in general, but they should. They should. I

play34:52

think again, they should provide basic income. And I think people

play34:56

can do voluntary work, for example. There's a lot of social

play34:58

stuff that has to be done like kids need to be raised in more

play35:01

like communities, I feel like there's a lot of stuff that can

play35:07

be voluntary work and

play35:09

In all paid work too, right? Like just having a basic income

play35:12

doesn't mean that people don't make money from work. It just

play35:16

means that they don't have to work to survive. That's the only

play35:19

difference, right?

play35:19

Yeah, exactly. So I think it should be protected, people

play35:22

should be protected so that technology doesn't destroy their

play35:24

income, the basic, you know, level of like, having a nice

play35:28

house, being able to just buy nice, good food and live. I

play35:33

think live a good life should be the goal for everybody in

play35:37

humanity. And but I'm Dutch, you know, I'm a little bit

play35:40

socialist.

play35:41

I'm also a little bit socialist because I'm from East Germany,

play35:43

man. I'm like socialist by birth.

play35:46

Marxian communists.

play35:47

That's exactly what it is. But yeah, I do see a need for this.

play35:51

I see a need for people feeling safe from this kind of

play35:55

technology because they have no agency over making it work for

play35:59

them. It works at them, it doesn't work for them. It kind

play36:03

of it's attacking them, aggressing them in the way. And

play36:05

in a funny way, this kind of fear of not knowing what's going

play36:10

to happen with the technology it also exists for us as founders,

play36:13

right? As entrepreneurs, this is what you said this tweet of

play36:16

yours from earlier. I'm just gonna get back to it and back to

play36:18

it. Like there is no way for us to protect our technology

play36:23

because it's not our technology to protect, like we only built

play36:26

on top of these things. So is building an AI startup,

play36:30

something you would suggest to somebody who just starting out

play36:33

as an indie hacker?

play36:34

Man, it's so difficult question. Right? I think so. I think you

play36:40

should always try stuff with technology because you can

play36:42

combine technology in new ways, unique ways that work for you. I

play36:47

think you should always like try like you could always say that

play36:50

you're always too late with everything, right? You're always

play36:52

too late. Like people said in 2013-14, I'm too late to do

play36:55

startups now because already Dropbox, Airbnb became big and

play37:00

it's too late now. Of course, not too late. It's never too

play37:02

late. You just start and you never know what's next. Like now

play37:05

it's AI. There'll be always something next and jump away.

play37:10

But man, but this is the reason last year when this AI stuff

play37:15

started booming, like around like I think ChatGPT launched

play37:19

and then Stable Diffusion launched or vice versa. It's a

play37:22

month and it's suddenly people like oh shit, this really works

play37:25

now. And then I started like scrambling. I'm like, man, now's

play37:28

the time to build a lot of stuff and see what sticks because if I

play37:33

wait six months, I'm not going to, you know, it's not going to

play37:37

stick. Like everybody already did everything. So I spent

play37:40

insane time making a lot of stuff to just catch this wave.

play37:45

Now we're like, what? One years in, one half years in or

play37:47

something. I mean, now it's quite late in that sense. It's

play37:52

never too late, right? But I think you have some kind of

play37:57

first mover advantage doesn't always work but you have some

play37:59

kind of advantage if you catch a wave you know. A new technology

play38:02

logical wave because people want to use technology and the

play38:04

technology is always very brutal like it's very hard to use for

play38:09

people's if you add a front end to a new technology, you can

play38:12

start using it. I mean nomadism was the same, people were

play38:15

already nomadic but it was very hard to find out where to go,

play38:20

what the internet was, what these basic things. It was all

play38:23

separated on different blogs, blog posts, like oh, you should

play38:25

come to Thailand. No, you should come to Mexico. It was like

play38:29

travel bloggers. So collecting all that together made it, you

play38:33

know, user friendly to become a nomad, same thing. You catch a

play38:38

wave, make technology easier to use and make money.

play38:41

Do you still invest a lot of time in your old businesses, you

play38:45

know, the ones that are pre AI?

play38:47

Yeah, Nomad List is still a lot like I'm improving it like every

play38:51

week and I think soon once the other AI startup kind of all the

play38:57

stuff I wanted to do still on the my to do list with AI stuff

play39:00

is finished, I will probably go back to Nomad list and improve

play39:05

it. Like I've been working on 3d globe like Nomad List for the

play39:08

last two months like because this globe was a map before and

play39:12

I was like this 3d globe with like lines of like, I went to

play39:15

Thailand and to Qatar and Holland and Brazil, for example.

play39:20

And that kind of stuff. So that's my most favorite project

play39:25

I think in terms of like, I feel it's really like my baby and

play39:28

it's you can work on this project forever. Like I said,

play39:31

just so you can work on this until you're 80 because there's

play39:34

always a different way to figure out what's the best place to

play39:37

live like for you personally, it's such a difficult problem.

play39:40

So you know.

play39:42

It's funny how this reminds me of what you said earlier with

play39:45

the Lindy effect, right? Things that have been around for a long

play39:48

time they will be around for an equally long time. It's kind of

play39:51

what that means to me. Nomad List is something like this too.

play39:53

You've been doing this for a while and it's still around and

play39:56

you're still improving it and it's still finding customers.

play39:59

That's very interesting. And particularly

play40:00

It's very stable

play40:01

Contrasted against your AI startup set, like up and down

play40:04

and super expensive and complicated platform risk, an

play40:08

interesting lesson to be drawn from that, I think, right? The

play40:11

long term kind of

play40:13

Yeah, I'd never expect to stay so long. It's like nine years

play40:15

now. And I always expect this because I had a YouTube channel

play40:18

before, electronic music mixes and they went up really fast,

play40:22

like 8k per month and then it went down also very fast. So I

play40:26

thought every business like probably hype, so I was always

play40:29

traumatized, like, okay, this is just for one or two years, need

play40:33

to make a lot of money. But it keeps going. And it makes man,

play40:36

it's average, usually, like 40 or 50 or 60k per month, a lot of

play40:41

money. So, just Nomad List, so not a lot of costs. So it's very

play40:44

nice business.

play40:45

Yeah, definitely. It definitely sounds calmer, right? Like less

play40:50

crazy than the AI stuff.

play40:52

Man! Yeah, I tweet about today, like this AI stuff is so

play40:55

stressful because you always need to stay ahead of the game

play40:59

and of competitors. And when a new technology comes out, like

play41:01

now, it's a little bit slower. But last year, every week, it

play41:03

was some new thing, new breakthrough and you need to

play41:05

implement this very fast. And it's stressful for sure. Like,

play41:13

it fucks with your sleep, you know, like

play41:16

Would you sell them? Would you sell your AI businesses?

play41:19

Yeah, I think I'll get it to a certain level, like maybe 100k

play41:23

MRR for photo AI and interior and then like, I got them valued

play41:28

recently. And the multiples for start ups are very good. Like

play41:31

they are very quite high. Like, normally for like any start ups,

play41:35

you get, like 2-3x or something, right? For AI, it can be like

play41:38

five or six or even eight because it's kind of hype now.

play41:43

So I think, again, the problem is profit, like the multiples

play41:47

are based on profits. So you need to cut these costs rapidly.

play41:51

And then you need to go to broker and then you need to sell

play41:53

for like, good amount of money. But man, I don't know, it's hard

play41:57

to sell. It's always like a nice challenge this AI stuff and but

play42:01

it is stressful, you know, probably gives you a heart

play42:03

disease.

play42:04

Yeah, I mean, if not like mental health issues, right? With

play42:08

anxiety and dealing with like all these unforeseen changes in

play42:12

the platforms, that dependency on open AI and all their

play42:15

platforms, right? If they decided to do the Elon Musk for

play42:19

$2,000 a month kind of move. I mean, you could probably handle

play42:23

it maybe but you know, like, it would be such a bastard move

play42:28

really.

play42:29

Yeah, yeah. Well, the good thing with AI is it's very open. So

play42:33

when one company will raise the prices very fast, you can

play42:36

probably easily back then not really, but now you can easily

play42:39

switch to another provider. There's so many providers now.

play42:41

So there's no less platform dependency now than a year ago,

play42:45

you know, because there's a lot of API providers now. But yeah,

play42:51

but it is stressful, you know. But I go gym, I go deadlift, and

play42:54

you know, overhead press and squats and then it's good for my

play42:57

mind. I don't have anxiety a lot. And but still, it's

play43:00

stressful.

play43:01

Yeah, I bet. Yeah, that's the thing with these kinds of hype

play43:04

startups, right? You really have to push. And then you have to

play43:07

make as much as you can and then go to the next thing. And that

play43:10

feels, it doesn't feel like very sustainable.

play43:12

Such an interesting way of thinking about photography. Like

play43:12

Not my vibe, you know, I like building long term businesses.

play43:15

And that's what I had with avatars. It felt so skitchy to

play43:19

me, so gimmicky. Like, it's not really my vibe, like, it's kinda

play43:21

it completely removes the act of photography

play43:22

like too short term, you know and this photo AI feels more

play43:26

like a photo studio for long term. Like it can have

play43:28

potentially long but who knows, because AI. You don't know how

play43:29

Like the act is gone, right? You don't need to go anywhere

play43:32

long but the intention is to have a long term product that

play43:35

can stay even if you sell it can stay for like 5 years or 10

play43:39

years, you know, because the philosophy is that you can have

play43:42

photography without needing a camera, you know. Like, you can

play43:45

just train yourself and you can make unlimited AI photos

play43:49

anywhere in the world from your computer, you know, you're on

play43:52

the beach or you're in the office, you're anywhere.

play43:54

anymore.

play44:07

Yeah, it's such a cool idea. And I kind of love that. It's like

play44:11

you and I kinda also hate it from a sense of somebody who

play44:15

likes to take photos, right? It's weird. I'm torn on both

play44:19

sides and I love the fact that it makes money. I hate the fact

play44:22

that it's so easy to build so everybody built it.

play44:26

It's like Photoshop. Photoshop at the same, when I was a kid

play44:29

Photoshop came out and the newspapers are full of

play44:32

Photoshop, like this is gonna destroy photography, everything

play44:34

is fake now and it didn't. Like all it did was the people use it

play44:38

for touching up or for art and stuff. So it's become a tool and

play44:43

I feel with all this stuff it becomes a tool for like I

play44:46

mentioned, you have a wedding photographer. He makes a lot of

play44:48

photos and then there's not a single good one. Okay, maybe you

play44:52

can use AI to train this person and you can make some renders

play44:55

and then stitch them back into the photo, you know.

play44:58

That is really cool. That makes sense.

play45:00

That can be a mix of reality and AI, you know, like, that's

play45:04

probably the future. So

play45:06

I was gonna ask you what do you think of AI being the future,

play45:09

but I kind of hear the sentiment of AI as tools that make actual

play45:13

things easier. That is always going to be the future, right?

play45:16

It's not that the AI is going to do everything for us, you know,

play45:19

AI's gonna help us do the things better. That's how I see it, at

play45:22

least.

play45:22

Yeah. But I do think that it replaces people like I do think

play45:25

it can replace photographers. So it's like, it is a tool, but you

play45:28

will probably need one photographer instead of 10

play45:30

photographers, you know. You need one person who can control

play45:32

the AIs. So yeah, it's interesting. It's interesting.

play45:36

But also for interior designers like interiorai.com, it tries

play45:40

to, a lot of interior designers use it for ideation. So you have

play45:45

a client who wants to get an idea for like because clients

play45:48

don't know what they want. You take a photo of the interior.

play45:50

And then you give them a lot of different styles. And do you

play45:53

want this and you can kind of move through ideation together

play45:57

to find the style that the customer wants and show them how

play46:01

it looks and but this also removes a lot of jobs again

play46:05

because you you need less like. Like I was looking at real

play46:08

estate agencies, a lot of them use already people who make

play46:11

these renders, especially new construction. They use beautiful

play46:14

interior renders, so fake and this easily you can do with AI

play46:19

in man, it takes 10 seconds to render a whole beautiful render.

play46:22

Normally, it takes what like two days for people to make this. So

play46:26

that's a real thing. But these people can use these tools also.

play46:30

It's going to shortcut a lot of processes that are established

play46:34

already and have like people working on them. But that's like

play46:37

you said Photoshop is that too, right? There used to be other

play46:40

tools to manipulate images before and it used to be like a

play46:44

more physical, it's like editing, editing video, right?

play46:46

People used to actually cut like, physically cut the stuff

play46:50

My dad did that

play46:51

It got digitized. All of a sudden, you do in a second what

play46:55

took hours to get done. Right?

play46:57

Exactly. Now you can edit with your iPhone, you know, like, my

play47:01

dad is a big, his favorite thing is film editing. And he did this

play47:05

with, he has classic film tapes and he caught and glues

play47:07

everything before. And then he had this video, instead of

play47:10

professional video, like betacom and stuff. And now it's like

play47:14

Final Cut Pro. But then I'm like, look at my iPhone. Like I

play47:16

make videos on my iPhone now. In TikTok you can edit even faster

play47:20

and it is high quality. So you know, it's all changing fast.

play47:25

And yeah, we'll keep changing. AI is part of that, so.

play47:29

Yeah, I find it so interesting that you get to see both sides,

play47:33

you get the boring project. I'm not gonna call Nomad List as

play47:37

boring, but it kinda is like in terms of the, you know, the hype

play47:39

around it. It's just used by the people that need it. And that's

play47:42

it.

play47:42

Yeah

play47:43

And you get the hype ish projects that get the headlines

play47:46

that get like, coverage in the press and that kind of stuff.

play47:49

Yeah, but this was Nomad List before of course. Nine years ago

play47:52

no, Nomad List got a lot of like, it was in New York Times,

play47:54

it was in all articles. I was like, oh my God, Nomad's gonna

play47:57

go everywhere. So it was hype and then hype ends, it becomes

play48:01

normal. It becomes mainstream.

play48:02

Do you think like, being a nomad is still something like,

play48:06

obviously I see you traveling around the world. My question,

play48:09

but it's not like it's still around, obviously. Nomadism

play48:12

isn't dead, right? But is it still something that you

play48:16

personally do? Or do you want to do this forever? Same like with

play48:18

your business, do you want to keep being an indie hacker

play48:20

forever? Do you still want to travel?

play48:23

Man, like this problem, this idea of the unknown. It's like

play48:26

most of them are slow mads and they start out very fast. They

play48:29

go like, you know, sometimes week to week, two different

play48:32

place that kind of like backpacking, then it becomes

play48:34

month to month and then it becomes like three months

play48:37

usually or six months in one place. And I feel and I also

play48:41

slowed down a lot like with COVID I just stopped. Everybody

play48:44

stopped traveling, right? This year was kind of crazy with

play48:47

travel. But before I was, you know, I tried to like keep it to

play48:51

like two countries. And I think for mental health also like, I

play48:56

think you do go crazy if you keep traveling so much. I

play48:59

personally do. I did, you know? Because you don't know where you

play49:03

are anymore. Like there was literally things with nomads,

play49:05

you wake up and there's a thing like they don't know, like where

play49:08

am I? You look outside. Oh, okay. I'm in Croatia or you know

play49:11

this stuff?

play49:12

Yeah

play49:13

Man, it's probably not so good. But it's very interesting

play49:15

lifestyle. But I think long term like man, if you have a

play49:17

relationship and if you have kids later all this stuff. I

play49:21

still think you can move. But you probably want to limit to a

play49:25

few places, you know and I think we just become the same as what

play49:29

people like retirees do. They are like in America, right? What

play49:33

are they called? Like birds like winter birds or something like

play49:35

Snow birds

play49:36

Snowbirds, in the winter, they go to Florida and in the summer,

play49:39

they go to New York or something. This is the setup. So

play49:42

it's just it's gonna go to the same thing. And I do it already

play49:45

like Europe in the South. It gets cold in the winter. I try

play49:49

to go to Asia, Southeast Asia where it's warm. I try and mix

play49:53

like the big city Asia with small village, Southern Europe

play49:57

on the beach. I think this works for me. Of course personal works

play50:01

here. But yeah, nomadism is still very active and lively and

play50:05

there's real like spots like Bali is still a very big spot

play50:08

and Thailand also and Mexico. With the Americas now coming in

play50:12

because they can work remotely a lot of them are by default

play50:15

nomads and they live in Mexico. But yeah, nomads a lot, probably

play50:22

less. You know, but a lot of people are living in not their

play50:25

original countries now because of remote work. And it's kind of

play50:28

called digital nomading, right?

play50:30

I guess. Yeah. And in a way anybody working from a computer

play50:33

is a digital nomad, right?

play50:36

In another country, like in another country, in their home

play50:39

country and that's become very normal. So I think it's still

play50:42

like, I think it's still very cool lifestyle. Like, if I was

play50:46

20, I would not go probably to university anymore. I would just

play50:49

go travel with my laptop and try little startups and stuff. And

play50:52

travel is such a, especially solo travel, you have to

play50:59

survive, you have to meet people like so, everybody has social

play51:02

anxiety these days. So you have to go out there and talk to

play51:05

people and you learn how to talk to strangers. And you know, I

play51:07

was very probably shy before now I'm not because I learned how to

play51:11

talk. I learned to go out of my room and you know and survive.

play51:14

And I think this stuff you learn from traveling. Every city you

play51:17

go, you can be a new personality, you can test your

play51:19

personalities, you know, sounds a little psychopathic. But you

play51:23

know, your AB test, yeah. You know in your hometown, you're

play51:27

this certain Arvid. But then you go out of your country, you

play51:30

become international Arvid. You're like, very different. And

play51:34

you try this, you know, you try to be very extrovert and you

play51:37

can, a lot of people test this and I think that's very cool

play51:40

benefit of nomading.

play51:42

That sounds awesome. And it also sounds like kind of sounds like

play51:45

Twitter to me, where you can also be the person that you want

play51:48

to be, right? Like you project like the best parts, hopefully,

play51:51

or the worst parts of your personality on to social media.

play51:54

How do you deal with that? Like you have a pretty sizable

play51:56

following now. And with all the changes that have been recently

play52:01

made to Twitter or X, as we call it, right? There's a lot of

play52:05

difference in how we approach engagement and what gets views,

play52:09

what gets like retweeted, what gets actually pushed by the

play52:11

algorithm. How do you deal with this? Because you have a lot of

play52:14

reach.

play52:15

Man. So I think the algorithm has changed with Elon changing

play52:18

it and the team because before everything would kind of get

play52:24

views and likes, right? It would take with everything would get

play52:27

like you know, get exposure. A lot of people would see your

play52:32

tweets anyway, whatever you wrote and some would go viral a

play52:35

little bit. I think they changed it more to like, where if

play52:39

something goes viral in the beginning, it becomes pumped

play52:41

maximum. So it goes like before I would get like 100 retweets.

play52:44

Now if something viral it gets 1000 retweets, goes very far.

play52:48

But on the other side, often many tweets get like two likes.

play52:53

Yes

play52:53

You know and I have 300,000 followers

play52:55

So bizarre. It's weird, right?

play52:56

So I think they test in the beginning. Once you tweet a

play52:58

Yeah, it's really bad. It's kind of disappointing, right? Because

play52:59

test, does this feed work or not? Do people care about it?

play53:03

And I think how they test it, they check how many seconds you

play53:03

if you just tweet something honest, that is just you know,

play53:07

watch the tweets, the people who watch your tweets, you scroll

play53:11

through and they they count now the numbers, the seconds and

play53:15

Elon Musk said this, you know. And when this tweet doesn't

play53:15

something that comes from a place that is not extreme, but

play53:19

perform well, they just don't show it anymore a lot. So it

play53:23

become more extreme. And this of course, creates even more

play53:26

extreme Twitter because you get tweets that have to go really

play53:30

far, really extreme to get, you know, like. And then they get a

play53:34

lot of retweets or nothing.

play53:48

it's still important. And it gets just like washed away and

play53:51

buried beneath all the outrage things, kind of makes Twitter a

play53:55

less enjoyable platform, at least for me.

play53:57

Yeah, I think so like product updates. They don't really like

play54:00

I used to always, I always do product updates, like I made

play54:02

this new feature. And they used to get like, you know, like, a

play54:06

lot of views. They get less, much less now because it's not

play54:09

that interesting. It's kind of like yeah, it's kind of nice,

play54:11

you know, so the long term kind of vibe of Twitter changed a

play54:14

little bit. But I do have faith in our great leader, Elon Musk,

play54:18

you know. He can improve it. I think it's a survival thing.

play54:23

Like they need to get more monthly active users. They need

play54:24

to become more like TikTok. TikTok is maximus algorithm.

play54:28

Like they check every video they see if it works or not. And then

play54:31

they pump it also. I think he's on TikTok a lot and checking

play54:34

this and he wants to make Twitter very similar. And all of

play54:38

the vidoes, of texts, but then with the TikTok algorithm. So

play54:43

you know, you have OKRs like the metric target, which is like

play54:46

more users and now I think Twitter has a record use like

play54:50

500 million active users, monthly active users, so it does

play54:55

work but it changes the vibe a little bit. But I ignored I just

play55:00

still tried tweet whatever I think and man, if nobody cares

play55:03

anymore, I'll keep tweeting because I was tweeting and

play55:05

nobody cared 10 years ago. I'll just keep tweeting, you know.

play55:07

That's exactly right

play55:08

It's about your own, you know, your own. You should enjoy. You

play55:11

shouldn't do it for the audience maybe

play55:12

Yeah. And the people who enjoy what you do, they will find you,

play55:15

right? Like if you're just consistent enough

play55:18

They'll go to your profile and they read your stuff, right?

play55:20

They will maybe not seen in the time now, they will go to there

play55:23

so I think man, like don't be tread boy, you know, like don't

play55:27

do like the five things you need the five AI tools you needed to

play55:30

verse 24.

play55:32

Number three will surprise you, right?

play55:33

Number 3 will shock you. Yeah, it's bullshit. Man, what I loved

play55:38

one thing interesting. He also increased these long posts like

play55:42

now you can write blog posts.

play55:43

Yes

play55:44

These blog posts by definition get a lot of view time because

play55:46

of seconds. Right? These do work really well. So it's almost like

play55:52

a blog platform. So man, a lot of times I've just started

play55:55

writing blog posts now on Twitter.

play55:57

Yeah, I've seen this too. And video too, right? Like any kind

play56:00

of medium to long form video really does well, like if people

play56:05

just keep watching it a couple seconds because it's so

play56:07

interesting. But that's the interesting thing about Twitter.

play56:09

Now you need to take YouTube ideas, the idea of YouTube intro

play56:12

For a seconds, right? You won't believe what's next, go!

play56:17

Mr. Beast style and you need thumbnails and all that stuff

play56:20

now on Twitter as well if you want to professionalize. It just

play56:24

feels it's different. And maybe that's the exact same sentiment

play56:27

as we had earlier, indie hacking dead, nomadism dead, Twitter

play56:31

dead. We all that kind of the old ones, at least. It's all

play56:34

new. Right? It's all just different at this point.

play56:37

Yeah, it feels like it's but you have these time schisms?

play56:40

You know, where a lot of things change suddenly, for this is

play56:40

Yes

play56:43

definitely COVID, of course. This COVID years and maybe

play56:46

effects was more 2021, big schism, like we're in a new

play56:51

cycle. Now look at the recession, also and man

play56:54

honestly, the cycles are usually seven years. That's why I always

play56:57

say seven year cycle, you can search on Wikipedia, economic

play57:00

cycles usually seven years

play57:01

Contracting economic cycles?

play57:05

I don't know. Is that the same?

play57:07

I think it has name

play57:08

Yeah. But also like economic cycles are social cultural

play57:11

cycles, too.

play57:12

Yeah

play57:12

Like when there was a recession in 2008, you would see these

play57:15

hipster coffee shops pop up in Amsterdam, I remember this

play57:18

vividly. It changed the culture to kind of scrappy and hipster

play57:22

and it changes fashion. You know, it changes everything. So

play57:26

there's definitely big cycles and we're in a new cycle now. AI

play57:29

is part of this new cycle, right? So in seven years, it's

play57:32

all gonna go full again and something new come. So but I

play57:37

think yeah, again, don't be angry about the changes, just

play57:40

embrace and reinvent yourself for this new time. And you

play57:45

always need to reinvent yourself, right?

play57:47

Yeah, I think you're right. It is an attention economy. Right?

play57:52

Now, everybody has very limited attention because everybody's

play57:55

pulling at it from all sides. I talked to Aprilynne Alter about

play57:58

this YouTube thing too, right? Because she knows how to do a

play58:01

good YouTube video. It was funny, I had her on the show.

play58:03

And the day after that, she published a video that went

play58:06

viral, it's now had like 200,000 views or something. She knows

play58:09

what she's doing. It was really cool. And, like, I watched her

play58:12

video on how to do an intro to YouTube video. And the whole

play58:14

idea is to make it absolutely clear what the promise is of the

play58:19

video, what you're going to do and then surprise people and

play58:21

give a bit more than they expected. It's really just

play58:24

trying to get people to feel confident in giving you their

play58:27

attention for a longer time.

play58:29

But that's like a tweet, right? The problem I have, so I thought

play58:34

about it and I did this and then I solved the problem. Here's how

play58:38

to do it yourself. You know, it is a formula.

play58:42

Yeah. And it's required because you need to be able to stand out

play58:46

amongst other people who are also interested in getting

play58:49

attention. It's just a new way to communicate. We used to, we

play58:53

had a time where we wrote letters all the time. And then

play58:55

email came along. And then social media came along. And now

play58:58

we have this. And this is I guess, just what we have to deal

play59:01

with.

play59:02

But the attention economy has always become it's always become

play59:05

less attention. Like you used to have long movies and then it

play59:08

became TV shows. And it became YouTube videos. Now TikToks.

play59:12

Next will be like, just one second video or something, you

play59:16

know, like, I don't know. But it's always been by this. But

play59:20

now I feels both because you have long podcasts like Joe

play59:22

Rogan has three hour podcasts and I listen to the whole

play59:25

things. And it might take me days because I listen a little

play59:27

bit here. And next I listen to it here. And then you also have

play59:31

the clips, you have TikTok clips of podcasts. So it works both.

play59:34

You have this outlier, you know, like, what do you call the

play59:36

economy of both sides. So

play59:38

Yeah, that makes that makes a lot of sense. Like it's kind of

play59:41

the you should be zigging when everybody else is zagging,

play59:44

right? That kind of thing. Now you can do long form content for

play59:47

the people who really care about it. And everybody else needs to

play59:49

short term stuff and even for the short form content, you can

play59:52

still do the clips so you get your long form but in short

play59:54

Exactly!

play59:56

Yeah, it's the more I do like of podcasts and YouTube and writing

play59:59

and newsletter, whatever I do. I do a lot of things, but they're

play60:02

all on based on the same material. I just use different

play60:05

ways of distributing the same material. And maybe that is the

play60:08

lesson here, right? That's depending on the media,

play60:10

depending on the medium, like the social media platform or

play60:14

YouTube or whatever, you just have to shape it the right way

play60:17

for people to consume it.

play60:18

Yeah, I think you can learn a lot from these big, big famous

play60:22

influencers even if you don't like them. Man, they will say

play60:25

like, outrageous stuff. Like, I don't like this guy, Andew Tate,

play60:29

for example. They, he says, really radical stuff that's very

play60:35

controversial and too much, you know and then the long form

play60:38

parts is quite balanced. Like he kind of softens down. He's like,

play60:43

what actually what I think. Man, I don't think he's very honest

play60:46

but there's something to be learned there where if you say

play60:52

things that are quite packable into shorts, like answers, that

play60:57

person that can package their answer in the first sentence

play61:00

probably well and then go for long form, this will get clipped

play61:04

and this person will get more views than a person who cannot

play61:08

make a proper sentence first to summarize, you know. So becoming

play61:12

good at writing tweets and even talking now in a short sentence

play61:16

is becoming like an integral. Man, it can make you rich or

play61:19

not, right? Because if your video goes viral, you become

play61:21

famous and you sell products. So, man, that's like a skill,

play61:25

you know? I don't know if I'm good at it because I ramble.

play61:28

Well, me too, but we're both trying our best, right? At least

play61:32

we're trying, we're in the arena and not on the sidelines. Right?

play61:35

Yeah, exactly.

play61:38

A lot of the things you say, a lot of people have opinions

play61:42

about like, just, you know, you can get a lot of trolls and you

play61:46

get a lot of people to turn your stuff into memes. How do you

play61:49

feel about that, like in particular?

play61:51

Man, it's great. It's like, it's amazing. Like, these memes are

play61:53

amazing. And, man, what do you expect? Like you tweet like, you

play61:59

know, controversial stuff

play62:00

Right

play62:01

Yeah, for sure.

play62:01

To a lot of people and of course, people going to, people

play62:04

get like, even like, you know, friends of friends, they message

play62:09

and chat like, man, what you tweeted now it's too much,

play62:13

unacceptable. I'm unfollowing you. I can't do it. You can't

play62:17

say this about this framework, you know, because I use it.

play62:21

People get really triggered. Man, I don't know. I think it's

play62:25

really funny. It's like, but you need to see it as kind of like a

play62:29

game. You know, man, it sounds psychopathic sociopathic, but

play62:33

it's you cannot take seriously like it. It's impossible to see

play62:37

it as a normal conversation because we have a normal

play62:39

But people who are smart, they understand, okay, this guy is on

play62:41

conversation. But if you have now you add 300,000 people on

play62:45

the other side is just shouting. It's like lynch mob. So and this

play62:49

changes you I think and you have to watch out doesn't change your

play62:54

personality in real life, you know, because you become but it

play62:58

does a little bit of course. But I think the benefits generally

play63:02

outweigh the negatives. You made a lot of cool people like you.

play63:07

Like most of my friends, I met via Twitter, you know and we met

play63:11

on Twitter. A lot of famous people also like people that do

play63:15

really cool stuff. They DM me and we talk and stuff and it's

play63:19

like wow, super cool. Like, man, like I talk with DJ Fresh

play63:23

because when I used to make music, drum and bass music, DJ

play63:27

Fresh was very important figure in music. Now he makes AI

play63:31

startup tool called voice-swap.ai, plug it. And we

play63:34

DM and we talk about a lot of stuff. And I'm like talking to

play63:38

my drum, bass idol. You know, it's the same. It's like, every

play63:42

time I'm still shocked. So and I think the more you can even if

play63:47

you read controversial stuff because it's your real being,

play63:51

you get a lot of attention and via this, people understand it's

play63:55

Twitter, we don't understand. It's like a stage. You know,

play63:56

a platform and he's doing a show thing. And you have to take

play63:59

it's a show kinda

play64:07

everything with a grain of salt, you know and but at true, I try

play64:10

to say things honestly. I don't say things just to bullshit, you

play64:14

Yeah, I guess, if you have controversial opinions, the

play64:17

authentic representation is just to talk to people about those

play64:20

things, right? To share these opinions. Like you don't hide

play64:23

them. You just you don't become like the person that is happy

play64:24

know.

play64:27

with every single thing or is like really, really appreciative

play64:30

of every opinion. You just say what you say.

play64:32

And you try to be honest and apparently that's like

play64:34

controversial, but of course it becomes controversial because

play64:37

there's so many people. They don't have to be will disagree

play64:40

with you. So then it becomes by definition controversial, but

play64:44

it's not really controversial, you know and the problem is if

play64:47

you get scared and most people get scared of these and then

play64:50

they start tweeting like basic normal stuff and it's not

play64:53

interesting anymore. And I think the reason a lot of people

play64:56

follow me is because they know I'm honest and I'm not perfect.

play64:59

And I write whatever I think and it's usually crazy. But I also I

play65:03

like this yeah, but I like to say opinions and then like about

play65:06

frameworks or something and I say something and then I like to

play65:09

hear what people like when people reply. I learned from

play65:12

that and I changed my opinions. Like I have strong opinions

play65:15

weekly held. I do change my opinions all the time. And but

play65:18

it's a stage it's like a podium, it's a show kind of. It's

play65:21

inevitable that it becomes a show. It's very difficult not to

play65:24

make it and you have people like Lex Fridman, for example. He's

play65:28

very cool. And he gets a lot of hate also. And he chooses to

play65:31

talk more about like, love, like, we're all connected one

play65:34

world and everybody loves each other. And I liked that too. But

play65:37

it's not really my personal style. My first thought was just

play65:40

saying what I think. I want to keep being true to myself. I

play65:43

don't want to become fake, you know. And that seems fake. But

play65:46

he chooses love. I choose more like, what's on my heart, it's

play65:50

on my tongue. Like it's a German Dutch expression, I think. And I

play65:53

put that on Twitter, I tried to keep it in all in sync, you

play65:56

know. I don't like to be different offline, you know?

play65:59

Yeah, that's perfectly fine. And that's why I appreciate your

play66:03

tweets. I know that when you tweet something, even if it's

play66:06

controversial, it comes from an honest, truthful place. And that

play66:10

is the way you think about it. And that is the way you will

play66:13

talk about it. And I know what I get, right? That's the thing.

play66:15

It's very, authentically you. And I think that is a really,

play66:21

really smart way to building an audience or whatever you might

play66:24

want to call it, or just have a Twitter presence or social media

play66:26

presence, is just to not hide who you are. And kind of stand

play66:30

behind the things you say.

play66:32

That's so difficult because people are getting really angry

play66:35

and they hate you for your opinions. And people, yeah, you

play66:39

see these breakdowns on Twitter, right? People just have a

play66:41

meltdown because they get so much hate. I get this every day.

play66:45

Me too. Yeah, I think we both follow many, many people through

play66:50

lists and followers. And I think over the last three days, I saw

play66:53

like four people saying, I'm gonna need a break from Twitter.

play66:56

This is enough, right? And it's unfortunate that when it comes

play66:59

to that because people and I'm the same way, like I post

play67:03

something 30 people say, this is really cool. One person says,

play67:06

this sucks. And all I focus on is this one person and not the

play67:10

30 other people that really enjoyed what I said, right?

play67:13

That's typical. Yeah

play67:14

Yeah, it's really bad. But hey, let's end this on a high note. I

play67:17

think your Twitter account is awesome. I think you're sharing

play67:21

just your honesty, sharing things that you encounter in

play67:23

your daily coder entrepreneurial life. And I think that is

play67:27

absolutely worth sometimes getting into controversial

play67:30

fights with other people who have no skin in the game

play67:33

whatsoever, but a lot of opinions. So where would you

play67:37

like people to go to follow you if they don't already? But where

play67:40

would you like people to go to look at what you do, how you do

play67:42

it, and the projects that you're building?

play67:44

I think Twitter, X now you know, x.com/levelsio. Yeah. Thank you

play67:56

for having me. And I'm big fan of your Twitter account, too.

play67:58

I'm a big fan of you, man. It's so nice. It's taken a couple of

play67:58

Thank you, man! It's an honor to hear, man! Very nice!

play68:02

years for us to have a chat finally. But I'm super happy to

play68:06

be got to talk about all of this today. I'm really, really

play68:09

looking forward to seeing like where you're indie hacker

play68:11

journey, if that is still what you consider yourself to be

play68:12

It's been a pleasure. Thanks for being on the show.

play68:15

takes you in the future. And thanks for building all of these

play68:19

things in public. You're a role model to a lot of us. So thanks

play68:22

so much.

play68:26

Thank you for having me.

play68:28

And that's it for today. Pieter mentioned that he'd be open to

play68:31

sell his AI businesses eventually. And I know just the

play68:35

right place for him to list those businesses. I will now

play68:39

briefly thank my sponsor for today: acquire.com. Imagine this

play68:44

and it's not gonna be hard because Pieter just talked about

play68:46

this the whole time. You're a founder who's built a really

play68:48

solid SaaS product, you acquired massive amounts of customers,

play68:51

you're getting consistent monthly recurring revenue.

play68:54

That's the SaaS dream, as explained and evidenced by

play68:58

Pieter's AI tools. The problem is you're not growing for

play69:01

whatever reason, maybe lack of focus, lack of skill, lack of

play69:04

interest, and you just feel stuck in your business and with

play69:07

your business. In Pieter's case, it's really unawareness of where

play69:12

things are gonna go, right? Is the stuff still going to be

play69:14

around in a couple months? Can I still run this business by

play69:18

myself? Or should somebody take over? Well, the story here at

play69:22

this point, in many cases, is that people would love to hear

play69:25

that you buckled down, reignited the fire. You worked on the

play69:28

business, not just in the business, you build an audience

play69:31

and you marked a new sales and outreach growing team and

play69:33

whatever. Six months down the road, people would love to hear

play69:37

that you made all that money, right? You've tripled your

play69:39

revenue, you've built this hyper successful business, but reality

play69:43

is unfortunately not as simple as this. And the situation that

play69:47

you might find yourself in might be very different. And every

play69:50

founder is facing this crossroad in a different way. But too many

play69:53

times, the story that follows is the same. It ends up being one

play69:57

of inaction and stagnation until your business itself becomes

play70:00

less and less valuable over time or worse, completely worthless.

play70:04

So if you find yourself here already or you think that your

play70:07

personal story is likely headed down a similar road, I would

play70:11

consider a third option. And that's selling your business on

play70:13

acquire.com. Because capitalizing on the value of

play70:16

your time today is a pretty smart move. It's the only time

play70:20

you have. Acquire.com is free to list. They've helped hundreds of

play70:24

founders already. So go to try.acquire.com/arvid and see

play70:27

for yourself if this is the right option for you and your

play70:30

business right now.

play70:32

Thank you so much for listening to The Bootstrapped Founder

play70:34

today. You can find me on Twitter @arvidkahl. You find my

play70:38

books and my twitter course there too. And if you want to

play70:41

support me and the show, please subscribe to my YouTube channel,

play70:44

that would be really appreciated. Just get and rate

play70:47

the podcast in your podcast player of choice and leave a

play70:49

rating and a review by going to (http://ratethispodcast.com/founder).

play70:54

It really makes a massive difference for me. Because if

play70:58

you show up there, can rate and review, then the podcast will

play71:01

show up in other people's feeds. And that just means more people

play71:04

get to learn from people like Pieter today. Any of this will

play71:07

help the show. Thank you so much for listening. Have a wonderful

play71:10

day and bye bye.

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