AI is the only market where the more I learn, the less I know. And in every other market, the more I learn, the more I know, the more I'm able to predict things and I can't predict anything anymore. I think in a couple years we'll start thinking about it as we're selling units of cognition. AI is dramatically underhyped because most enterprises have not done anything in it. And that's where all the money is, all the changes, all the impact is, all the jobs, everything. The people that I know who have been very successful were driven solely by money, end up miserable because they have money. And then what do you do? What fulfills you?

The job of the forward deployed engineer is not just to deploy software, it is not just to sell software, it is to actually solve the problem. You would have to be there, you would have to meet the key stakeholders who are actually in charge of reporting to the CEO about this specific issue. You would have to become their friend, you would have to gain that trust, and you would have to, in some cases, create new software such that it could actually solve the novel problem that was in front of you. Every week you would have a cadence where it's like Monday you go in and you do your meetings. Monday night you build something. Tuesday you show it to somebody. Tuesday you get the feedback. Tuesday night you iterate on it.

Palantir screened hard for independent-minded people who weren't afraid to push back, question everything, and think for themselves. They also sought individuals with broad intellectual interests, evidenced by the CEO quoting European intellectuals, an uncommon practice in tech. Furthermore, they looked for intensely competitive individuals with a win-at-all-costs mentality. To screen for these traits, founders interviewed every candidate, engaging in unpredictable, deep conversations to test the limits of their understanding. Palantir's 'distinctive bat signal,' focused on preserving the West and military/defense, attracted individuals who sought to solve the world's hardest problems, differentiating it from the social media-focused companies of the time.