Nabeel S. Qureshi
Personal writing and other things by Nabeel Qureshi.
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Reflections on Palantir
- Palantir is currently experiencing a surge in popularity and success, with its stock on the rise and nearing a $100 billion market cap.
- In the past, working at Palantir was seen as controversial and unpopular due to its association with spy tech and NSA surveillance.
- The author joined Palantir in 2015 because they wanted to work on meaningful problems in industries like healthcare and bio, which the company had a nascent presence in.
- Palantir was one of the few companies at the time addressing the "real, thorny parts of the economy" rather than just consumer apps and social networks.
- The talent density and intensity of the early employees at Palantir, influenced by the Paypal mafia, impressed the author and made it an attractive option.
- The author also wanted to gain experience in a specific industry before starting their own company and saw Palantir as an opportunity to do so.
Overview of Palantir's Work Culture and Business Model
- Palantir's CEO, Alex Karp, has a unique interview style where he meets candidates without any prior information and asks random questions to assess their problem-solving skills and perspective.
- The company emphasizes short interviews to prevent candidates from relying on rehearsed responses and to get a better understanding of their true selves.
- Karp and other members of Palantir's leadership team often engage in intellectual conversations with employees, discussing topics like philosophy and literature.
- Palantir has two types of engineers: forward deployed engineers (FDEs) who work directly with customers and product development engineers (PD) who focus on core product development.
- FDEs spend a significant amount of time working on-site with customers, gaining deep knowledge of their business processes in industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, aerospace, etc.
- PD engineers then use the insights gathered by FDEs to design software solutions that address specific customer problems.
Importance of Context and Customer Engagement in Software Development
- Context is scarce and essential for software development.
- Going onsite to customers helps capture tacit knowledge and understand their work processes.
- The company had a cultural bias of "get on a plane first, ask questions later," leading to out of control travel spend.
- Customer engagement was a key learning cycle that eventually paid off.
- The author's first customer engagement was with Airbus, where they worked in the factory to help build software specifically for scaling up A350 manufacturing.
- The software acted as an end-to-end solution, helping with work orders, missing parts, quality issues, and scheduling.
- The software's impact was significant, 4x'ing the pace of manufacturing while maintaining high standards of quality.
- FDEs focus on fast results, while PD engineers prioritize scalability and versatility.
- BD engineers embed themselves in customer companies, building trust and delivering value quickly.
- The team's ability to deliver real software within a week or two stood out in contrast to traditional software contractors working on long timescales.
Observations on Working within an Organization
- Political obstacles often hinder successful outcomes within organizations.
- The importance of data integration, which involves accessing, cleaning, and making data usable, is often underrated.
- Organizational politics can make data integration challenging, with teams or groups controlling key data sources.
- Palantir recognized the importance of data security and built security controls into their data integration layer.
- Palantir had a unique culture that tolerated and welcomed criticism, fostering open and contentious debates.
- New employees were provided with books that set the tone for the company's values and mission.
Skills and Traits of a Successful FDE
- Successful FDEs need to have an understanding of social context and be able to partner with corporate or government counterparts at a high level, gaining their trust.
- FDEs often need to navigate political games in order to succeed in their roles.
- Impro, a popular technique among FDEs, breaks down social behavior mechanistically and provides a vocabulary for understanding different social statuses.
- FDEs who lack knowledge of social behavior and the Impro-isms are unlikely to succeed in a customer environment and integrate customer data.
- Former FDEs tend to make great founders because they have an instinct for reading rooms, group dynamics, and power dynamics, all of which are critical for negotiating and building a successful company.
- FDEs need to be able to understand specialized vocabularies quickly, such as those related to hospitals, drug discovery, health insurance, etc.
Cultural Principles and Talent Acquisition at Palantir
- Peter Thiel's influence on Palantir's company culture is significant, despite not being operationally involved.
- The idea of not giving people titles originated from Peter, reflecting his Girardian beliefs.
- Everyone at Palantir had the same title of "forward deployed engineer" except for a few directors and the CEO.
- This "flat hierarchy" approach aimed to prevent competitive politics and promote internal unity.
- Influential individuals were recognized based on their impressive accomplishments rather than their titles.
- The company culture valued those who ignored authority and pursued their own ideas, leading to generative outcomes.
- Numerous novel UI concepts and ideas were developed at Palantir, some of which have found non-Palantir equivalents.
- The lack of titles caused quick fluctuations in popularity within the company, with influence being determined through other means.
- Palantir implemented talent bat-signals, which were differentiated sources of recruiting alpha to attract top talent.
Reasons for Joining Palantir and Considerations of Morality
- Palantir attracted talented individuals from diverse backgrounds, including former agency and military personnel, due to its support for the military and patriotic values.
- The company emphasized a unique and mission-focused culture, which appealed to individuals who can think independently and handle controversy.
- Despite being a pariah in Silicon Valley during the Trump years, Palantir selected individuals who were willing to work long hours, accept lower pay, and travel frequently.
- The company's pro-West stance resonated with employees who had experienced repressive countries and believed in a world aligned with democratic values.
- While acknowledging that the military sometimes engages in morally questionable actions, working at Palantir meant aiding government agencies in performing their duties more efficiently.
- The company's work can be categorized into morally neutral, unambiguously good, and morally ambiguous (grey areas).
Engaging with Controversial Institutions and Technologies
- The police, oil companies, and health insurers all have unsavory aspects but serve essential functions.
- There is no clear answer on whether to work with category 3 customers; it is a case-by-case decision.
- Palantir's approach is to work with most category 3 organizations and trust the democratic process to guide them in a positive direction.
- Palantir disengaged from certain departments during the Trump era but continued to work with others.
- The uncomfortable stance of working with controversial institutions is based on the belief that more good is being done than bad and being in the room is better than not.
- Engaging with thorny areas like healthcare, bio stuff, and AI raises moral questions but also offers opportunities for positive contributions.
- The grey area of controversial issues is worth engaging in, such as working on government AI policy or deploying AI in areas like healthcare.
- Being in the room when things happen, even if difficult decisions must be made, is preferable to being a bystander.
The Journey of OpenAI and Palantir: Lessons Learned and Implications for AI in Business.
- Integrating enterprise data is crucial for deploying AI agents in business workflows.
- OpenAI and Palantir needed strong financial backing and a long-term vision.
- OpenAI went against traditional startup advice, taking years to launch a product and becoming capital-intensive.
- Palantir struggled initially in the government space but eventually found success.
- Attracting true believers from the start and creating an intellectually generative culture are key factors for success.
- The press mischaracterized Palantir as a data mining company when it focused on data integration for its customers.
- The term "cult" refers to the ability to pay below-market salaries and retain above-average workers.
- Despite initial doubts, early Palantir employees benefited financially from the stock's performance.
- Palantir's current valuation is $97.4 billion.
Company Culture and Activism
- The company is not politically extreme, with a majority of normie centrists as colleagues.
- Many activists underestimate the importance of a strong military and may have reconsidered their views after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
- Palantir played a crucial role in Ukraine's response to the invasion.
Palantir's Popularity and Success, Unique Interview Style, Customer Engagement, and Cultural Dynamics
- Palantir is experiencing a surge in popularity and success, with its stock nearing a $100 billion market cap.
- Initially seen as controversial, Palantir's association with spy tech and NSA surveillance affected its popularity in the past.
- The author joined Palantir in 2015 to work on meaningful problems in industries like healthcare and bio where the company had a nascent presence.
- Palantir stands out for addressing the "real, thorny parts of the economy" rather than just consumer apps and social networks.
- The talent density and intensity of early employees, influenced by the Paypal mafia, made Palantir an attractive option.
- The author joined Palantir to gain industry experience before starting their own company.
- Palantir's CEO, Alex Karp, has a unique interview style, meeting candidates without any prior information and asking random questions to assess problem-solving skills and perspective.
- Short interviews are emphasized to prevent rehearsed responses and get a better understanding of candidates' true selves.
- Palantir's leadership team engages in intellectual conversations with employees on topics like philosophy and literature.
- Palantir has two types of engineers: forward deployed engineers (FDEs) who work directly with customers and product development engineers (PD) who focus on core product development.
Peter Thiel's Influence on Palantir's Company Culture and Success
- Peter Thiel's Girardian beliefs influenced Palantir's company culture, leading to the idea of not giving people titles.
- Palantir implemented a "flat hierarchy" approach, where everyone had the same title except for a few directors and the CEO, to prevent competitive politics and promote internal unity.
- The company valued individuals based on their accomplishments rather than their titles, fostering a culture of independence and idea pursuit.
- Palantir attracted talented individuals from diverse backgrounds, including former agency and military personnel, due to its support for the military and patriotic values.
- The company's mission-focused culture appealed to individuals who could think independently and handle controversy.
- Palantir worked with category 3 customers (those in morally ambiguous areas) and trusted the democratic process to guide them in a positive direction.
- Despite controversies, Palantir believed in being in the room and engaging with thorny issues, such as government AI policy and deploying AI in healthcare.
- Palantir's success was attributed to attracting true believers from the start and creating an intellectually generative culture.
- The press mischaracterized Palantir as a data mining company, when its focus was on data integration for customers.
- Palantir's current valuation is $97.