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And he makes new employees tell him to “f— off,” at least once
On August 5 , Palantir ’s CTO Shyam Sankar stood in front of about 20 nervous new employees at the company ’s Washington , D.C. , office and gave a words you ’d expect at a new hire meeting : company commission , Palantir ’s history , etc . But there was one part that would ’ve seemed unfathomable a few years ago : Sankar evangelized the grandness of a fresh wave of defense tech startup , spin up by Palantir , Tesla and SpaceX alums .
The significance was more ideological than financial . Any business Palantir gets from startups is dwarfed by its politics contract , after all . But you ca n’t put a Leontyne Price on philosophic bedfellows .
Palantir likes to remind the cosmos that it ’s not like other publically traded companies — that is , button up and appropriately distanced from its cowman individual days . Sankar cease his predilection by cheekily inviting the new employees to shout “ f — off ” at him — a means , he says , to further a flat structure . And as he walk out of the result way into the office bullpen , he passes a sign concern to employees as “ founder ” and “ pioneer . ”
The star sign is fitting : Sankar , who ’s been at the company for over 18 eld , is determined to help oneself Palantir become a driving strength for defense force technical school startups , a sector that ’s been flood with over $ 129.3 billion in venture Washington since 2021 , fit in to PitchBook .
“ To have this socio-economic class of unexampled champion who have all cut their tooth in Tesla and SpaceX and see the worldly concern in completely unlike ways , it ’s providing a vast amount of energy internally for us as we build for them , ” he said , referring to startups like Apex Space and Castelion , whose founders herald from those companies .
That is why , in late 2023 , he started a program that provides guidance and tools to defense technical school startups called First Breakfast . He referred to itin his writingsas Palantir ’s “ Amazon.com to AWS moment . ” Basically , it ’s a play for Palantir to get in at the terra firma level for the next Palantirs . It ’s a business strategy , but also a philosophic one for Sankar , who spends hour a workweek on the phone consulting with defense startups and speculation capitalists .
Like his longtime chief , Palantir CEOAlex Karp , Sankar like to rise poetic about protecting westerly values and how America ’s industrial fundament bumble after its WWII halo days ( though perhaps prime DoD contractors like Lockheed Martin and RTX , formerly bonk as Raytheon Technologies , would disagree that the diligence has been rest on its laurels for 80 years ) . Sitting in a group discussion room lined with whiteboards , and a constant flow of commercial planes wing over the Potomac River behind him , he reiterated his drear fears : that America may not be ready for whatever great conflict comes next .
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“ You have to really start from the premise that winning is not assure , which I believe , ” he enjoin .
He feels the mission of Palantir“is to serve the country and the West profits , ” he enounce of the software package company that help governments and businesses analyze data . “ That ’s go to expect many more of these companies succeeding . ”
Spawning a defense tech ecosystem
In 2004 , Sankar was destined to get suck into Silicon Valley : He was catch a master ’s in management scientific discipline and applied science at Stanford , was an former adopter of cold showers and wellness trends , and had a militant approach to work , fit in to Kevin Hartz , Sankar ’s first boss out of grad school . Hartz , who would go on to co - institute Eventbrite , said Sankar was the “ ultimate Boy Scout ” and hired him as the fifth employee at Xoom , a overhaul to help mass beam remittance .
Hartz sent Sankar abroad , where he help gear up up Xoom in over 40 nation .
Much to Hartz ’s dismay , Sankar let out in 2006 that his ambitiousness had drifted to Washington , D.C. “ It was n’t surprising at all , because Shyam really had a gamy purpose , ” he said . “ It pass water perfect sense that like Peter [ Thiel ] effectively outline Shyam in service . ”
Sankar joined Palantir as the 13th employee . “At the prison term , the Valley was n’t anti - authorities . It was more like the government activity ’s a dumb place to build a business , ” Sankar say . investor , he recalled , told them , “ We wo n’t give you a stop because we cerebrate this is a loser business sector . ”
The team ’s brash attitude did n’t help . “ Frankly , we were n’t that interested in how government acquisition worked , ” Sankar laugh now .
They had their first breakthrough when In - Q - Tel , a CIA - affiliate venture firm , gift and help them obtain security headway . Twenty years later , Palantir has had a celebrated rise , gain major spate with the government , like a$480 million contract bridge with Project Maven , and facing vivid examination forits work with ICEand broaderprivacy concerns .
It has also spawned a whole ecosystem in its Wake Island . Palantir Centennial State - founder Joe Lonsdale now finances some of the big defense tech startups through his venture firm 8VC ; other alums Trae Stephens , Brian Schimpf and Matt Grimm went on to co - regain Anduril , the defence tech unicornnow prise at $ 14 billion . And old-hat - Anduril employee are at the nitty-gritty of key early - point demurrer tech startups like Saronic Technologies , Salient Motion and Wraithwatch .
As the Defense Department tech gold rush grows , so do Sankar ’s experiential fears about America ’s war readiness . He recalled something an officer tell him : “ The military we have today is the one we ’re move to fight with in 2032 . ”
Imagine , he aver , if a byplay decided that “ the base I have today is what I ’m conk out to run my concern on in 2032 . ”
“ You ’re going to be live on out of business , ” he said .
First Breakfast and a head start
He ’s written in public about various longsighted - stroke initiatives , like creating a military reserve fortech leadersand advise the DoD loosen up on micromanaging contractor . “ What if Congress acted more like a special partner of a VC than a bureaucratic bean - counter?”he wrote .
But his biggest effort to put these ideas into military action has been First Breakfast , named after theinfamous “ Last Supper ” in 1993,when then - secretary of defense Les Aspin warned the major military contractor that the defense budget was about to sharply decrease ; it led to mass consolidation among the big defence companies .
First Breakfast is mostly a exercise set of computer software tools that Palantir has used internally for years , marketed to help up - and - comers quickly navigate the hard government approval cognitive process and qualify for contract . Sankar is hop he can help the new coevals of endangerment - taking founders bring home the bacon in the sphere . “ We need that eccentricity back , ” he said .
One of the key offerings is FedStart , a program that approves startups to build their software program atop Apollo and Rubix , two already - recognise platforms built by Palantir . This give way startup a drumhead start in the administration accreditation appendage , which can otherwise take a inauguration over a yr and a one-half and cost one thousand thousand in auditors and compliance consultants . Palantir charges for FedStart , though Sankar insists it ’s brush aside and that the company is only “ really blame you our consumption costs . ”
First Breakfast also offers startups a innocent service that provides the companies access to otherwise disparate military information , making it easy to access and use through secure genus Apis . Ben FitzGerald , the CEO of vindication tech unicorn troupe Rebellion Defense , said that the First Breakfast tooling “ can spare a ton of time , a ton of proficient complexness , ” and “ a ton of additional compliance . ”
“ Those are the sorting of innovations that I ’m really mad to see , because it does n’t ask an bit of Congress , ” FitzGerald say . “ It does n’t require a fresh Deputy Secretary of Defense to come in and try out to innovate . We can act upon with the existing system . ”
Beyond all the talking of defense technical school ’s shared missionary work , it ’s also just a smart business move for Palantir . Ross Fubini , bring off partner at XYZ Venture Capital , estimated at least 10 of his portfolio companies habituate tools from the First Breakfast . He said he see First Breakfast as a chance for Palantir software to underpin all the new startups in the space . “ For Shyam , I imagine it ’s two things at once , ” he allege . Shyam , he say , cares about “ the political science and societal stability ” — but he also “ definitely believes it ’s proficient for Palantir to grow the ecosystem . ”
Sankar knows furnish a wooden leg up with software program is n’t enough to make defence technical school an arena where VCs will continually vest at hoopla - comparable levels — not when there ’s a vast interrogation mark around how these startups recover an exit . Palantir is one of the few IPOs in the defense technical school distance . “ For the ecosystem to work , there has to be liquidity on the other end , ” he said , think over that at least some inauguration will have to deal to the major defense reaction player , like Lockheed Martin or Boeing .
Yet the defense “ primes ” have thus far shown little interest in snatching up the new defense tech startup , something Sankar hopes will change in the future . “ You need a all-inclusive bent of choice for fluidity , ” he state . “ Otherwise , everything ’s less valuable . ”
But that ’s a long - term job , one to be chip away at by the many defense tech startup fresh armed with state of war chest .
As for First Breakfast ’s quick hereafter ? “ I ’ve been wanting to do a literal breakfast , ” Sankar said , sighing . “ But I remember the technical school crew aftermath up late . ”
