Karp Chooses Violence, MetaConstellation Unleashed | Bullets #10
This week's Palantir developments and the crowned “Tweet of the Week”
Editor: Emanuele Marabella
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Karp pitches aggressively at the World Economic Forum. The Chairman of Daesung Group, a South Korean conglomerate focused on energy, expressed his frustration about his “very disappointing” experience with software companies and consultants despite the high cost. He added that “Palantir seems too good to be true.” Karp responded confidently underlining “we are very expensive because someone like you is greatly skeptical and thinks it will not be valuable. When we show you it is very valuable we expect you to pay us a lot of money” and promptly invited the potential client to actually test the product at Palantir’s villa. Major flop or masterclass enterprise sales? We will discover this in the coming months.
In a CNBC interview, Karp expresses he is pessimistic about the near future, especially in relation to the geopolitical risk with Ukraine. The disruption, however, is seen as an opportunity because when life is at risk you can’t afford to have “powerpoints” and solutions that don’t work. This is also true for companies. As discussed many times, shocks expose weaknesses and create opportunities for Palantir to empower clients. Karp also acknowledged that dilution and growth are legit concerns and that SPACs were a mistake: “we made a mistake, we corrected, we moved on.”
Shyam, interviewed by Investor’s Business Daily, underlines the importance of the collaboration between tech and government. This collaboration initially gave birth to Silicon Valley, which now is only focused on consumer tech and disdains to work with the US government.
Metaconstellation is officially available for Commercial use. In the new video, Sonnedix’s AI Head explains how Palantir Metaconstellation helps, thanks to satellite images combined with AI/ML, to identify misaligned solar trackers. The commercial space market offers an incredibly big opportunity for Palantir, for which it is leading the way (Palantir’s $140bn Opportunity to Monopolize Space).
Alex Karp, in a letter, announces the establishment of the Palantir Foundation for Defense and International Affairs. The foundation, based in Washington, is focused on advancing national security, particularly through academic and technical research to support emerging technologies and policy development. This foundation should help attract talent and close the gap between tech and defense, from which Silicon Valley detached. Alex Karp is the Chairman of the Foundation. Precious hint from Karp’s letter: "The demand for effective enterprise software, from both commercial and government institutions, has never been more significant".
- shows further evidence that Palantir is helping manage Ukrainian refugees, especially in Poland. A new active link emerged called “Pomocdlaukrainy,” which translates from Polish to “Help for Ukraine”.
Either Square spots Lear's active link: the automotive ecosystem is expanding. Lears is a global automotive leader in Seating and E-Systems with +170.000 employees. In Bullets #5, we spoke about "Skywise for auto" and the importance of the automotive sector for Palantir.
Palantir officially announces the partnership with Cleaveland Clinics in a press release. I already covered this partnership in Bullets #3.
Related Tech trends/Macro:
Servicenow’s CEO shows confidence in IT spending regardless of the recession. To my eyes, Servicenow remains the closest comparable for Palantir and the yardstick it needs to exceed in terms of financial numbers (Seeking the Alpha: PLTR vs NOW).
Big techs are firing and cutting down on hiring (excl. Apple). Google just announced 12,000 people, 6% of its workforce amid fears of an oncoming recession. This comes after Amazon and Microsoft laid off a combined 28,000 people. Meanwhile, Alex Karp in a Reuters interview shared that Palantir “expects to add a couple of hundred people to its roughly 3,500 staff, in line with prior years of expansion just as peers in the technology industry are firing people.” Has Palantir been more strategic and responsible than big tech?
🟣 Tweet of the week 🟣
View expresses are my own and do not represent Financial Advice in any way.
I own (many) PLTR stocks.
great take, thank you!