Caroline Haskins: So one thing that happened recently is that Palantir had their earnings call. And I think consistent with what you saw, Alex Karp seemed really excited during that earnings call. I think they said it was the best earnings for a software company in history, but the company is reportedly doing almost $1 billion in revenue for the first time.
It is the top performer in the S&P 500. And yet, one thing that Alex Karp always emphasizes, at least rhetorically, is that Palantir, or at least Palantirians, are the workers, the cultural outsiders, the underdogs, et cetera. I was wondering how you saw it in the context of the interview or what you thought about the way Alex Karp described it.
Steven Levy: Yes. I asked him about it. My impression is that it’s something he develops, the outsider mentality. And I also linked it to our shared origins in Philadelphia, quoting Jason Kelce, the Philadelphia Eagle, when they won their first Super Bowl, where he went out there and said, “Nobody likes us, and we don’t care.” And I thought that could be Palantir’s motto.
He said, “Look, it’s not fun to be so unpopular, but it’s actually useful for us.” So he admits that this outsider mentality works for him, because, he says, “Four out of five people come in and they’re like, ‘Gee, I don’t want to be unpopular and work for Palantir.’ But the fifth person will say, ‘You know what? This is something interesting.”
At one point, he said, “I’m kind of a sacrificer.” So he sees himself, even though he’s a billionaire, he has several houses, he lives on a 500-acre compound in rural New Hampshire, but he feels like he’s an outsider. At one point, I even told him, “Yeah. You’re doing great, Alex.”