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The MMORPG was never just a game. It pioneered the architecture of the first Living…
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Software development — by 2040
Software development — by 2040
The world is going through upheavals, triggered by the rapidly accelerating pace of technological change. It is…
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Plan for the Utopian Future, but accept the Dystopian Present
Plan for the Utopian Future, but accept the Dystopian Present
If you look at the red-versus-blue states of the US election, and compare this to the leave-versus-stay geographies of…
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Mark Levitt shared thisA view from a core team member, in her lifelong connection to the world of chess, and the building of TrixtaChess.Mark Levitt shared thisWhen I was 8 years old, I got banned from ChessCube. I'd flooded one of the chat rooms with about a hundred smiley faces, and a moderator was not amused. My mom had to email the company to get me unbanned. In my defence, I was always there more for the people than the chess. Because chess, for me, was never really about the game. It was the world I grew up in. My whole family played, so my childhood was shaped by it: family holidays planned around tournaments, weekends at the club setting up boards, chess books at bedtime. I spent countless hours in the stands and outside tournament halls, waiting for my dad, my brother, and my sister to finish their rounds, surrounded by that community the entire time. The chess community might not remember me, but it sure had an impact on me. I gave the competitive route an honest try. At one South African Junior Chess Championship, my dad called me in to fill a "bye". I arrived ready to play the hero, sat down, tried to make friendly conversation, and my opponent's opening line was: "How many openings do you know?" I retired shortly after. Age 10. But while I never fell in love with playing the game, I absolutely fell in love with the community around it. Especially the one on ChessCube. Last week, my team and I at trixta.ai rebuilt ChessCube live, using our own technology, as TrixtaChess. Twelve hours of building, with the ChessCube community, old and new, alongside us the whole way: testing features as they were released, giving feedback, sending words of encouragement. It felt so special to be collaborating with the very community that shaped so much of my childhood. Seventeen years after getting banned from the platform, I got to be one of the people bringing it back. I am ridiculously proud of my team. We built all day, and we genuinely had fun doing so. Of course, we hit several obstacles. An unforeseen bug at the start of the stream sent us into a flurry. But we fixed it, live, regrouped, and carried on. We were resilient and had each other's backs the entire time. We formed our own little community. This is just the first pawn played. Watch out for our next move.
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Mark Levitt shared thisCHANGING THE GAME Online chess Worlds - tomorrow, the next chapter begins. Its name is TrixtaChess (www.trixtaChess.ai) and comes from the team that once brought you ChessCube. This is Day One. What may be most interesting is not only what we build, but how we build it. Over several years, we have invented a set of collaborative building tools that look very different from normal coding, vibe coding, or simply asking AI to generate code. Our team will work together through conversation, visual tools, and some AI. And the audience will be part of the process. You will be able to register early, submit ideas to our public Kanban board, and help influence what gets built. For chess players, this is the beginning of a new community where the power of building it will move into your hands. For developers, founders, AI technologists, vibe coders, and investors, it may be a glimpse of a very different way of building software. Tuesday, July 21 8:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m. GMT Watch live: - Youtube: https://lnkd.in/dUaXFUfE - Twitch: https://lnkd.in/dQ6iT7PH Register when live and submit ideas: www.trixtaChess.ai Tomorrow, we make the first move. #TrixtaChess #ChessCube #BuildInPublic #AI
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Mark Levitt shared thisIN 2 DAYS, WE BUILD LIVE! Not to unveil a finished product. To begin building an online chess world - LIVE - in public. You’ll watch ideas become decisions, decisions become tasks, and tasks become the foundations of a new online chess platform. You’ll see the technology. You’ll see the wrong turns. You’ll see the breakthroughs. And you’ll see something that didn’t exist begin appearing on screen. You won’t only be watching. You’ll be able to register early, submit ideas, and help influence what gets built. Tuesday, July 21 · 8:00 a.m. GMT 12 hours, live on YouTube and Twitch #Chess #ChessCube #OnlineChess #BuildInPublic #AI
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Mark Levitt shared thisSix years ago, ChessCube went offline. For a long time, that felt like the end of the story. It wasn't.
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Mark Levitt shared thisChessCube. For many of us, it was more than a chess site. It was where we played, competed, argued, laughed, and made friends across the world. On 21 July, the three OGs are getting back together. We are taking everything we learned from ChessCube and starting something new - from scratch, live on stream, with the community building alongside us. Some of it will feel familiar. Almost EVERYTHING is about to change. Are you ready? #chesscube #chess #livestream
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Mark Levitt shared thisMeet me at The AI Summit London - Where Commercial AI Comes to Life https://lnkd.in/db2CjF2t #TheAISummit
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Mark Levitt shared thisMaybe a massive model is needed 🤔Mark Levitt shared thisIf you want AI adoption, stop asking: “What tools do you want?” Start asking: “Show me your clicks.” I sat with a transportation logistics coordinator. She walked me through her weekly report: 7 steps. 5 were mechanical. 2 were judgment. Then I asked: “Which of these require you being you?” She pointed to the summary and distribution decisions. We automated the rest in a week. She told me later: “I actually think about the business now.” That sentence is why “replace your people with AI” is the wrong goal. The goal is: Replace the work that insults your best people’s intelligence. I wrote the full breakdown + the exact prompt to build your first automation on my Substack. Link in comments.
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Mark Levitt shared thisIt was great to meet you at the event Phamela. Wishing you all the best as you embrace all the opportunities to build great product in the era of AI!Mark Levitt shared this“Build with AI” event at Innovation City Cape Town learnings🧠 Attending the event last night was such an eye-opener, it reminded me that AI is not just about technology, it is about solving real problems. Here are some key takeaways: 1️⃣ Start with Design Thinking Before building AI, it is essential to understand your users’ needs. The most impactful AI solutions come from identifying real challenges and designing technology that truly serves people its not about you 😭 !(Bottom-Top) 2️⃣ AI as a Productivity Multiplier While networking with Mark Levitt The Founder of trixta.ai, He highlighted how AI is transforming software development. Developers now need to: ✍ Think like Product Managers ✍ Understand the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) ✍ Master prompt engineering to leverage AI effectively and accelerate development 3️⃣ Soft Skills Matter Technical skills alone are not enough developers 😭🤣 , gone are the days you are glued to your PC coding only, work on those soft-skills, especially effective- communication, collaboration and empathy are now critical to delivering solutions that work for real people. Inspiration from Suzette Ferreira, The Founder of Proto Care (Pty) Ltd shared how Proto Care is building Suzie AI and going to disrupt the healthcare system in South Africa. She answered every challenging question from the MC, Migal Van As and Panelist with grace and insight. Her approach reinforced the importance of combining vision, empathy, and technical know-how. Key takeaway for everyone: Whether you are a developer, entrepreneur, or innovator, understand your users first and use AI as a tool to create solutions that truly add value. Suzette Ferreira, I can’t wait for the day we achieve our dreams, laughing and appreciating the obstacles we conquered in this season while sipping champagne on a yacht, because it’s going to happen! 🥂 Thank you Innovation City Cape Town for hosting such educational and engaging events. 💙 #AI #DesignThinking #SoftwareDevelopment #UserCentric #Innovation #BuildWithAI #SoftSkills
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4d
Great article Rael! With the truth in our back pocket, South Africa can focus on growing its true strengths, not yearn for a past glory.
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3w
Hi Brett, good to hear from you. Those were the days! Hope all good on your side!
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Mark Levitt liked thisMark Levitt liked thisThe Government's R750bn industrial masterplan aims to revitalise a manufacturing economy that peaked in 1981 and has been shrinking for over 40 years. The DTIC's industrial strategy is wishful thinking, not rooted in reality. It’s a gamble on reindustrialisation, dressed up in the language of a "fourth industrial revolution," pursued by people who genuinely believe factories are the way back to full employment. They are badly mistaken, and the data has been showing this for decades. While they think everything will happen through policy, we've all seen how manufacturing plants have become warehouses for imported goods. Here's what industrial policy consistently misses, and where the real jobs are. #IndustrialPolicy #SouthAfrica #ManufacturingSouth Africa Lost Half Its Manufacturing Base. It's Not Coming Back.South Africa Lost Half Its Manufacturing Base. It's Not Coming Back.
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Mark Levitt liked thisMark Levitt liked thisPenny in PnP asap! is the fastest way to build a shopping cart today: 1. Recipe upload -> items auto-added to my cart 2. Describe the goal -> instant ingredient list It's great with voice notes too, or snap a photo of your handwritten shopping list. I've not found a faster way to do this with any of the South African apps (yes, I'm looking at you Woolworths and Checkers). Have you tried it?
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Mark Levitt liked thisMark Levitt liked thisThis is the building where two global kingdoms were built. 26 storeys of brutalist concrete and some glass on Cape Town's Foreshore. Today it's the Media24 building. When it opened in 1962, it was the tallest building in South Africa. The first real skyscraper rose out of reclaimed land that had been open water twenty years earlier. If these walls could talk, they'd tell one helluva story of the two South African empires that grew inside them. Sanlam was born in 1918, out of a simple idea: give ordinary Afrikaans-speaking South Africans a way to insure their families and grow their savings when the mainstream banks and insurers wouldn't. By the time this tower was built 44 years later, Sanlam had become one of the most powerful financial institutions on the continent, and this building was its statement - proof of scale, proof of solvency, proof they'd still be here to pay out a policy sold decades before. This Boertjie Skyscraper housed towers of Afrikaner ambition, standing over a city that hadn't seen anything like it before. Today, Sanlam operates in 29 countries, manages hundreds of billions of rand in assets, and is one of the most durable institutions this country has ever produced. In 1981, Sanlam moved out of the building and relocated to Sanlamhof in Bellville. Nasionale Pers - later Naspers Limited - moved in. Made it their headquarters. And what they built inside those same walls was completely different to what Sanlam had built, but turned out to be far, far bigger. Naspers Limited started as a newspaper publisher in 1915. Then, in 2001, it made a bet almost nobody else in the world understood: $32 million for nearly half of a small Chinese messaging company called Tencent. 25 years later, that bet has grown into one of the most valuable technology holdings on the planet, and the group built around it - through Prosus, now spans e-commerce, food delivery and fintech across three continents. Same tower. Same address. Two different ways of building something incredible and built to last. Sanlam compounded trust, one policy at a time, for over a century. Naspers compounded conviction, on a handful of enormous bets, for twenty-five years. Neither business plan would have worked by wearing the other's strategy - and yet both walked out of the same building, having built something that outlasted the ground it was built on. Today, Sanlam is worth around R180 billion. The Naspers and Prosus stable, carried largely by that Tencent bet, is worth in excess of R2.4 trillion. Two empires. One address. Proof that there's more than one way to build something that lasts - as long as you're building something iconic.
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Mark Levitt reacted on thisNot bad for a side quest 😂 Congrats Vinny L.! I have so much respect for this. The more I learn about poker, the more I see why so many great business minds love it. Might be time for me to start playing more.Mark Levitt reacted on thisThree years ago I set myself a challenge that had nothing to do with building companies or leading teams. I wanted to compete at the highest level of something that was purely individual — no co-founders, no employees, no safety net. Just me against the world’s best. That challenge was high-stakes tournament poker. I started traveling the high-roller circuit — WSOP, Triton, PokerStars — and quickly discovered how brutal and beautiful the game can be. You’re sitting across from some of the sharpest mathematical and psychological minds on the planet. Every decision is high-stakes. Every session tests your patience, your ego, and your ability to stay rational under pressure. I made final tables. I came close more than once. But a pure tournament win kept eluding me. Until last week in Barcelona. I won the PokerStars €30k event… and the very next day finished 4th in the €50k. What struck me most wasn’t the money or the trophy. It was the quiet realization that some achievements simply cannot be bought. They have to be earned the hard way — through years of quiet preparation, repeated failure, and the decision to keep showing up when it would have been easier to quit. Poker has been one of the most powerful teachers I’ve ever had. It has forced me to confront my own emotional patterns, sharpen my decision-making under uncertainty, and develop a level of grit I didn’t know I needed. In many ways, the game taught me more about myself than it taught me about cards. If you’re looking for a pursuit that will stretch you — mentally, emotionally, and strategically — I can’t recommend learning and playing poker highly enough. The introspection it demands is rare. Huge gratitude to the poker community for welcoming me from day one. The support this past week has been overwhelming and deeply appreciated. Sometimes the hardest goals are the ones that change you the most.
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Mark Levitt liked thisMark Levitt liked thisI believe in humans 🙌🏻 A huge thank you to the heroes at FDNY and Ladder 20. A very sentimental piece of jewelery fell of down a grate last night (while I was about to ask Claude what to do), some real life heroes came to the rescue and reminded me that NY’ers are some of the kindest, most proactive people around. I❤️NY and the hardworking people who protect us and keep it running. They didn't need to help me, but went out of their way 🙏 And a big shoutout to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority employees who were nearby and so kind and helpful.
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Mark Levitt liked thisMark Levitt liked thisMathias Dail, President & Co-Founder at Exorde Labs, after pitching to Angel Investor Club of Armenia (AICA): “Pitching and getting introduced to AICA was a pleasure. It’s very different from classic venture capital. I felt more welcomed than ever. People were warm and kind while being serious and product/result-focused, which is all I could ask for. I enjoyed that the conversations were under the prism of being fully supportive of the company. AICA’s network is also very unique and can complement many company strategies.” This is exactly the environment we want to create at AICA: serious conversations about the business, product, results, and investment potential, while keeping founders at the center of the conversation. 🚀 Applications for our 30th Pitching Session are now open. If you’re building a scalable company with global ambitions and want to pitch to AICA’s international community of angel investors, apply by August 24. Application link in the comments and on our website.
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Mark Levitt liked thisMark Levitt liked thisCONNECT. CREATE. EXCHANGE. We talk a lot in business about data, algorithms, technology, deals and execution. All incredibly important. But behind every great business relationship there is still something far more human: Trust. Trust in the people you choose to build with. An appreciation for each other’s journey and an understanding that the best partnerships aren’t about what you can get from each other, but what you can create together. At Inospace, we are changing the way businesses think about flexible storage and fulfilment. DPD South Africa is challenging and evolving the way deliveries are done. What excites me is where those two journeys intersect and the value we can create by connecting our ecosystems. Technology enables it. Infrastructure makes it possible. But ultimately, people make it work. Michele Fourie, great having you spend some time with us and be part of what we are building together⭕️ Happy Bok Day, julle! 🇿🇦
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Mark Levitt liked thisMark Levitt liked thisGreat seeing Wayne Berson Retired CEO of BDO and leader in the #CPA Profession and friend! Here at Baltimore Orioles game with the BDO Alliance USA #Leadership
Experience & Education
Projects
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Gyft
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Gyft is a mobile gift card platform for storing and sharing gift cards with your friends. The app has a a highly customized UI for iPhone and iPod for which I have been the sole iOS developer.
Other creatorsSee project
Honors & Awards
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Represented South Africa at the World Chess Olympiad in Bled Slovenia
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Represented South Africa at the World Chess Olympiad in Yerevan Armenia
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4 times South African Open Chess Champion
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Languages
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English
Native or bilingual proficiency
Recommendations received
5 people have recommended Mark
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Daily Maverick
SPONSORED CONTENT: Accessing funding is the biggest barrier for many South African startups, but the real test is funding readiness. E Squared Investments highlights that good governance—like the advisory board Fintr introduced early on—and transparency are critical differentiators. Investors don't fund ideas, they fund capable, prepared, and purpose-driven founders. #ESquaredInvestments #StartupFunding #Governance
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TGTC Network
Two lessons every founder should know early. In our latest South African Tech Marketers episode, Imke Dannhauser (Co-founder WS&O) shares hard won wisdom for startup growth: 1️⃣ Build with a founding team. It takes pressure off doing everything yourself. 2️⃣ Get crystal clear on your value proposition. What do you offer that no competitor can? Practical, simple, powerful advice for anyone scaling in SA’s tech ecosystem. 🎧 Full episode streaming everywhere (link in the comments) #SouthAfricanTechMarketers #ImkeDannhauser #WSO #FounderWisdom #StartupGrowth #ValueProposition #TechMarketing #ScalingStartups
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