- Pieter Levels, a digital nomad, has constructed dozens of startups.
- He created Nomad List in 2014 to assist digital nomads discover cities with quick web.
Indie hacker and entrepreneur Pieter Levels discovered success proper from his laptop computer at dwelling — “dwelling” being 40 completely different international locations and 140 cities.
With over 40 startups, the self-taught developer has claimed his numerous enterprise ventures now generate over $2.2 million in income. (Levels frequently writes on-line about which of his startups earn money — and which failed.) And he is been in a position to create these startups around the globe as a digital nomad, a distant employee who travels freely.
In a latest episode of the “Lex Fridman Podcast,” Levels revealed that his favourite place he is ever visited can be the house of one in all his largest startups — Nomad List.
In 2014, Levels met different digital nomads whereas residing in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He mentioned that whereas distant work, which was not as well-liked on the time, appeared “like a cool factor to do,” he observed that “web all over the place was very sluggish.”
“I wished to search out different cities the place I may go to work on my laptop computer and journey, however we would have liked quick web,” Levels mentioned. “So I used to be like, ‘Let’s crowdsource this info with a spreadsheet.”
That spreadsheet ultimately turned Nomad List, a web site for digital nomads that gives information about cities worldwide, resembling their value of residing, web velocity, and security.
A decade and tens of millions of customers later, Levels mentioned the very best cities he is been to are nonetheless Bangkok and Chiang Mai.
“I believe Thailand may be very particular,” he mentioned. “I’ve been to Vietnam and I’ve been to South America and stuff. I nonetheless assume Thailand wins in how good individuals are, how simple of life folks have there.”
Thailand ranked sixth general greatest nation within the 2024 annual Expat Insider report, a examine by InterNations that surveyed over 12,500 expats representing 175 nationalities residing in 174 international locations or territories.
The examine analyzed a number of indexes, together with Personal Finances, Ease of Settling In, and Expat Essentials (which covers language limitations, reasonably priced housing, digital life, and admin matters). Thailand positioned eighth, sixth, and fifteenth respectively.
Freelance journalist Lola Méndez beforehand instructed Business Insider that after visiting 90 international locations, Chiang Mai was the one place she wished to reside in resulting from its affordability and lenient laws on marijuana use and same-sex marriage.
“In Chiang Mai, I pay $355 per 30 days for hire, $300 lower than what I used to be paying in Puerto Vallarta and 4 instances cheaper than my New York City hire,” she mentioned.
According to information from Numbeo, an internet site that gives crowdsourced summaries of the price of residing in main world cities, the estimated month-to-month prices of a single particular person in Bangkok are round $670 with out hire and roughly $530 in Chiang Mai.
While Levels mentioned Bangkok is getting costlier, he nonetheless recommends Chiang Mai as a extra reasonably priced possibility.
“I believe whenever you’re beginning out, it is a terrific place,” he mentioned. “The air high quality sucks, it is a massive downside. And it is fairly sizzling. But that is a really cool place.”
Levels additionally expressed love for Brazil, which ranked seventh within the Expat Insider report, though he mentioned that the nation’s “security subject” remains to be an issue.
“It’s like in America — it is localized,” he mentioned. “So in the event you go to the appropriate areas, it is superb. Brazil’s superb. If you go to the improper areas, possibly you die.”
Brazil ranked within the backside 10 for political stability and private security, at forty eighth and 52nd, respectively, in response to the examine. However, the nation got here in first for friendliness towards overseas residents, with 92% of respondents positively ranking this issue.
