From Google Sheets to $3.6M as a Solo Founder
Hi all, I am Farid, founder of SupaBird (X Growth App), I am doing post series on indie hackers who "made it". My goal is divide their journey into a timeline and learn from it.
How One Google Spreadsheet Became a $3.6M Solo Business (10-Year Breakdown)
Most indie hackers dream of hitting their first $10K MRR. Pieter Levels built a $300K/month empire from a single spreadsheet—and he's still the only employee.
Here's the decade-by-decade breakdown of how he did it, plus the counterintuitive strategies that actually moved the needle.
The $0 to $1 Moment (2014)
Pieter was nomading through Southeast Asia with a simple problem: which cities were actually good for remote work? Instead of endlessly researching, he opened Google Sheets and started ranking cities by WiFi speed, cost of living, and safety.
The spreadsheet was purely for personal use. Then he had a thought—what if other people needed this too?
He turned the spreadsheet into a basic website called Nomad List. No fancy features, no VC pitch deck, just a list with a map. Launch day: July 29, 2014.
The organic traction was instant:
- 50,000 visitors from Hacker News
- 12,000 from Product Hunt
- A few thousand in $25 memberships
The lesson: Your personal problem is probably someone else's $10K problem. Start there.
Finding Product-Market Fit Through User Feedback (2015)
Here's where Pieter made a move most founders miss—he actually listened to his users.
Nomad List members kept asking the same question: "This is great, but how do I actually find remote work to fund this lifestyle?"
Instead of sticking to his original vision, Pieter pivoted to solve the next logical problem. He built Remote OK in February 2015—a job board specifically for remote positions.
Companies paid $199 per job posting. Simple model, immediate revenue, clear value prop.
The insight: Don't just solve one problem and call it done. Follow your users' journey and solve the next problem they encounter.
The Community Flywheel (2017)
By year three, Pieter realized something crucial: data gets people to your product, but community makes them stay.
He added forums, city reviews, and user profiles to Nomad List. What happened next was magic—users started helping each other. They shared workspace photos, warned about sketchy neighborhoods, and even organized meetups.
Pieter began traveling to these meetups himself, meeting his users IRL in Chiang Mai and Amsterdam. He started posting behind-the-scenes content on Twitter, building personal relationships at scale.
Revenue hit $120K annually from subscriptions alone.
The playbook: Give users a reason to stick around after they get their initial value. Community beats features every time.
The $600K/Year Breakthrough (2018)
When Pieter tweeted that he was making $50K/month ($30K from Nomad List, $20K from Remote OK), the indie hacker world took notice.
But here's what most people missed in that celebration tweet—his decision NOT to hire a team.
Instead of scaling with people, he scaled with systems:
- SEO automation to rank for "digital nomad cities" and "remote jobs"
- Live chat features so users could connect in real-time
- Automated customer support flows
The contrarian move: When you hit $50K/month, the default advice is "hire a team." Pieter doubled down on automation instead and kept 100% of the equity.
Surviving the Pivot Test (2019)
Five years in, Pieter tried expanding beyond his core products. He launched a nomad gear shop and several experimental projects.
Most flopped completely.
But here's the founder mindset that matters: he didn't see these as failures. He saw them as cheap education. The revenue from Nomad List and Remote OK (~$200K annually) gave him the runway to experiment without pressure.
The framework: When you have one profitable product, use it to fund experiments. Most will fail, but the ones that hit will 10x your business.
The Black Swan Year (2020)
Then COVID happened.
Suddenly, every company on earth needed to figure out remote work. Pieter's decade of building for a niche audience became incredibly valuable to the mainstream.
He quickly added pandemic safety data to Nomad List and watched Remote OK become the default job board for newly-remote companies.
Revenue exploded past $1 million annually.
The luck factor: You can't predict black swan events, but you can position yourself to benefit when they happen. Pieter's 6-year head start in remote work made him the obvious solution when the world went remote.
The Brand Investment (2021)
At $1.5M annual revenue, Pieter made his first major reinvestment—$100K for the remoteok.com domain.
Most indie hackers would have pocketed that money. Pieter understood something deeper: brand equity compounds faster than bank balances.
He also launched premium tiers and tested Google Ads, pushing revenue toward $1.5M.
The long-term play: When you're profitable, reinvest in assets that compound. A premium domain pays dividends for decades.
Riding the AI Wave (2022-2024)
When AI became mainstream, Pieter didn't try to build the most advanced technology. He built the most accessible AI tools.
Avatar AI launched in October 2022 and generated $100K in ten days. Photo AI and Interior AI followed, each solving specific problems with simple interfaces.
By 2024, his AI products combined with his original platforms were generating $300K/month.
The execution edge: Being first to market matters less than being first to market with something people actually want to use.
The Solo Founder Playbook
After analyzing Pieter's decade-long journey, here are the strategies that actually moved the needle:
Ship Fast, Iterate Faster: His first version of Nomad List was embarrassingly simple. It worked because it solved a real problem immediately.
Follow the User Journey: Instead of building random features, he built solutions to the next logical problem his users faced.
Automate Before You Hire: Every function that could be automated was automated. This kept costs low and control high.
Build Your Distribution: Twitter became his marketing engine. Every behind-the-scenes post built trust and brought customers.
Cross-Promote Everything: Each product became a funnel for the others, creating a self-sustaining ecosystem.
What This Means for You
Pieter's story destroys most startup mythology. You don't need:
- Venture capital
- A revolutionary idea
- A technical co-founder
- A team (at least not initially)
You need:
- A problem worth solving
- The discipline to ship imperfect solutions
- The persistence to keep building through failures
Of 70+ products Pieter launched, most failed. But the few that succeeded created financial freedom and then some.
The math is simple: if you can build one product that generates $10K/month, you can probably build another. Stack enough profitable products, and you have a business that gives you complete autonomy.
Pieter proved that the solo founder path isn't just viable—it might be the most profitable way to build.
This breakdown is part of my ongoing series analyzing successful indie hackers and their growth strategies. For more detailed case studies and tactical insights, check out my blog where I explore what really drives indie success.
