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Nomad List
Netherlands · $0 VC · profitable · 2014 (now Nomads.com)
👤 Pieter Levels (@levelsio · built 12+ products solo, radical build-in-public)🌐 site𝕏

Score & compare cities on cost, internet, safety, weather — plus a nomad community. 11 years, run almost solo.

Will it work? · our read
Rare moat. 11 yrs of user-filled data + community network + his public brand — all solo, near-zero cost. The nomad niche is small and swings with economy/visas, and travel means churn.
01How the money moves
Users fill
city data + community
Score & compare
cities (freemium)
Lifetime / annual
membership + spin-offs
02The numbers
about $38K
/mo · 2025
public bio
$0
VC raised
known
2014
solo · about 1-2 ppl
Grew for a decade almost alone. Once scaled the team to about 10, then cut back to about 2 — proof the model must stay lean. levels.io
Revenue about $38K/mo (Levels' public Stripe & bio, 2025 self-reported) — down from a $52K peak: ★the niche's swing shows up in the revenue itself. (We dropped Latka's about $5.3M figure — off by about 10×.)
03Weight class — CENTStap an axis
ControlEntryNeedTimeScale
Control High
Owns the domain, brand, and data, and runs it solo — full control of the whole stack.
04The key move
Users fill the data
He doesn't write the content — users fill the data. Pair that with lifetime memberships (upfront cash + lock-in), and you get a one-person, near-zero-marginal-cost machine that ran 11 years.
model=known
The counter-intuitive move
Radically public — he shares revenue openly, turning @levelsio into the marketing engine. What's uncopyable isn't the data — it's reputation + community.
our read
05Where the moat is
Not the data (anyone can gather city stats). It's:
Network · 11 yrs of user-filled data + active communityBranding · @levelsio's public brand as the front door
06How it diesmedium confidence
He burns out carrying it solo, or the nomad niche craters (recession, visa/tax crackdowns, exchange-rate swings). The team going 10 → about 2 shows the model punishes weight — it lives or dies on staying lean. our read
Show evidence · counter
Evidence: Team 10→2 (fact, his public posts) + nomad demand is economy/visa-sensitive.
Counter: But 11 yrs of community + switching cost make it durable — "calm & lean" may be why it survived, not how it dies.
07Against rivals
Nomad Listdata + community + membership
Numbeocost data only · free/ads
FB / Redditcommunity only · free
Others have data (Numbeo) or community (scattered groups) — but not both, structured, in one place. ★The bundle is the moat. our read
08Who uses it
🌍 Digital nomads — where to go next💻 Remote workers relocating✈️ Long-term travelers
Would it work for you?
Do you belong to a clear niche community where users would gladly fill the data themselves — and would you build in public?
Levels' whole edge = the nomad community + radical transparency, not the data. We don't score you — you answer.
🚀Use it as a launchpada prompt for your own AI
Copy → paste into your AI → then develop it freely in the conversation.
You are a sharp, honest startup strategist. Use the proven case below as a launchpad for MY idea — help me find my own angle, not copy it. <my_profile> Domain I know: [your domain] My unfair advantage (access/audience): [your edge] Interests: [your interests] Resources & goal: [your resources] · [your goal] </my_profile> <case name="Nomad List" model="community"> What it does: scores & compares cities for nomads (cost, internet, safety, weather) plus a community; users fill the data; lifetime/annual membership; solo, $0 VC, 11 years Why it won (moat): network effect (11 yrs of user-filled data + community) + @levelsio's public brand — not the data itself Weakest axis (CENTS): Need/Time — the nomad niche is small & economy/visa-sensitive, and travel means churn How it could die: solo burnout carrying it, or nomad demand craters (recession, visa/tax rules) </case> <task> Be a skeptical operator, not a cheerleader. No generic startup platitudes. If my angle is weak, say so plainly. First, a reality check: markets like this mostly fail. State the honest base rate (how crowded/hard is this?) and the ONE specific thing that would have to be true for ME to be the exception — grounded in my profile above. Then a compact table: - Fit — does this pattern suit my edge, or fight my gap? - Angle — my sharpest differentiation vs Nomad List (concrete, not "better UX") - Distribution — exactly where my first 100 users come from (this is the hardest part — be specific, not "content marketing") - Risk — its "how it dies" (above) in MY situation Finish with one line: "The single thing to do next." Use only the facts above; if data is thin, say so — never invent numbers. Then stay with me and go deeper on whatever I ask — tech stack, rough cost & time, the smallest MVP to test, pricing, or timing. </task>
✓ Copied — paste into your AI
👤Placeholders like [your domain] auto-fill from your profile — example values for now.Set up profile →
Sourcesupdated · daily
· Founder & story — nomadlist.com, @levelsio (build-in-public posts)· Revenue — @levelsio public bio & Stripe (first-party, self-reported)
Revenue (about $38K/mo, 2025) is self-reported by Levels — live Stripe dashboard & MRR in his bio, so first-party. $0 VC, solo, 2014, team 10→2 are also his public posts. CENTS & moat are our read. We never score you.