How does Naval explain "code is leverageable labor"?

Okay, this is a fascinating question and a particularly core idea in Naval's thinking, crucial for understanding the logic of modern wealth creation. I'll do my best to explain it in plain language.

What exactly does Naval mean by "Code is an infinitely reproducible form of labor"?

Think of this statement as an analogy about a "robot army."

1. First, let's talk about traditional "labor"

Imagine you're a skilled chef. You work for an hour, cook one dish, and earn money for that dish. If you want to earn more, you need to work longer hours, or open more branches and hire more chefs.

The key point here: Your labor and output are bound in a 1:1 ratio. One chef can only cook one dish at a time. To serve 1000 customers requires 1000 units of labor (maybe 10 chefs working hard for half a day).

This type of labor cannot be "copied."

2. Now, look at "code" as a new form of labor

Now, imagine you're a programmer. You spend a month writing an app that automatically processes photos.

This app is your "labor." But it's completely different from the chef:

Created Once, Served Infinitely: Writing this app is like creating the first "robot laborer." When the first user downloads and uses it, this "robot" serves them. When the ten thousandth or the millionth user downloads it, the system automatically "copies" a million identical "robots" to serve them simultaneously. You don't need to spend a million times more of your own time.
Near-Zero Cost to Replicate: For a chef to cook an extra dish, they need new ingredients, gas, and time. But for your app to serve one more user, the cost to copy the code is almost zero. The server might bear a tiny extra load, but compared to your initial labor, it's negligible.
Works 24/7, Never Complains: The code you write (your robot army) doesn't need sleep, vacations, sick days, or raises. It works for users anywhere, anytime, creating value for you from any corner of the globe.

So, Naval’s core point is:

Programmers, by writing code, create a "virtual laborer" that can be copied infinitely, at near-zero cost. This laborer can work tirelessly, day and night, for thousands, even hundreds of millions, of people simultaneously.

Why is this so important?

Because it completely shatters the traditional model of "trading one unit of time for one unit of income."

Traditional Model: Income = Hours You Work × Hourly Rate
Code Model: Income = (Value of the Product You Create) × (Number of People Who Use Your Product)

You see, in the second model, "hours you work" only matters during the initial creation phase. Once the product is complete, your income is decoupled from your working hours. Your income potential depends on how many people your product serves – essentially, the scale of your "robot army."

This is why we see small teams of just a few people creating wildly popular apps and accumulating enormous wealth very quickly. They aren't stacking more work hours; instead, they create an infinitely replicable form of "labor" and distribute it worldwide using the internet as the channel.

To put it simply:

When you look at a piece of software or an app, don’t just see it as a tool. From Naval’s perspective, you should see the vast, tireless "robot army" hidden behind it, working continuously for its creator. This is the true power of code as "infinitely reproducible labor."