What is a company if not the people who work there and drive some vision forward?
What would Tesla be without Elon?
It sure looks like the company is a tool for Peter and his ilk, to enable and extend state surveillance, to limit people’s capacity to stand up to corrupt and evil governments.
I’d suggest you read up on Thiel’s and Yarvin’s beliefs. Palantir sure seems more of a projection of those beliefs rather than a mere tool that by itself has no purpose.
It’s worth reading 0 to 1, it outlines Thiel’s views on startups, which can be illuminating on his broader views.
He emphasizes that sales and distribution are just as important as the product itself, and he is particularly blunt about the need to convince people to become customers, even if your product is truly superior.
> “If you’ve invented something new but you haven’t invented an effective way to sell it, you have a bad business — no matter how good the product.”
Thiel argues that great products don’t sell themselves, contrary to the romanticized idea many founders have. Even if your product is objectively better, people won’t automatically understand or adopt it. You must persuade them, market effectively, and create distribution channels — either through salespeople, viral growth loops, partnerships, or targeted marketing — to bridge the gap between product and user adoption.
...all of which (vile and horrifying in its own right, but not at all original) applies to mass-market products. The market for Palantir is extremely small and the demand -- even, or especially, at the level of a wish-list -- extremely inelastic. I still say, without that demand, no Palantir -- unless Thiel had funded its entire development out of his own pocket. (Perhaps he did; all the sicker.)
Yes, demand can be created; but where it is spontaneous, it is also the only possible target of blame.
What is a company if not the people who work there and drive some vision forward?
What would Tesla be without Elon?
It sure looks like the company is a tool for Peter and his ilk, to enable and extend state surveillance, to limit people’s capacity to stand up to corrupt and evil governments.
I’d suggest you read up on Thiel’s and Yarvin’s beliefs. Palantir sure seems more of a projection of those beliefs rather than a mere tool that by itself has no purpose.