Palantir: The most important tech company you’ve never heard of
This Silicon Valley unknown is going public - but might already be running the world
- Words by: Harry Shukman
This Silicon Valley unknown is going public - but might already be running the world
This Silicon Valley unknown is going public - but might already be running the world
The stars of pride themselves on being socially maladjusted geniuses and Alex Karp is surely one of their biggest dorks. The CEO of Palantir, a shadowy global business now going public, keeps a cabinet in his office that has 20 pairs of identical swimming goggles, according to an old Forbes profile. He’s a 52-year-old bachelor who can solve a Rubik’s cube in under three minutes and has practised aikido and jujitsu, putting colleagues into martial arts holds in the corridors of his Palo Alto empire. He lectures his staff on Marxism, greed and integrity (more on these two later) on an internal video channel called KarpTube. His company culture appears to be like Facebook and Google – there’s Lego, Nerf guns and a conference room converted into a plastic ball pit.
The stars of pride themselves on being socially maladjusted geniuses and Alex Karp is surely one of their biggest dorks. The CEO of Palantir, a shadowy global business now going public, keeps a cabinet in his office that has 20 pairs of identical swimming goggles, according to an old Forbes profile. He’s a 52-year-old bachelor who can solve a Rubik’s cube in under three minutes and has practised aikido and jujitsu, putting colleagues into martial arts holds in the corridors of his Palo Alto empire. He lectures his staff on Marxism, greed and integrity (more on these two later) on an internal video channel called KarpTube. His company culture appears to be like Facebook and Google – there’s Lego, Nerf guns and a conference room converted into a plastic ball pit.
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| Clubhouse Membership | |
|---|---|
| Two Magazines per yearDelivered to your door | |
| Full Access to Paywall contentAccess to all member-only online features | |
| Membership Cardto redeem all the perks. | |
| Members Invites to Exclusive Eventsto private Clubhouse events | |
| Weekly newsletter Straight to your inbox | |
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