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Why do they need more cash? This seems like a business model where they should be profitable already. If they are not, what do investors expect to change to lea

Why do they need more cash? This seems like a business model where they should be profitable already. If they are not, what do investors expect to change to lead to the profits-promised-land? Contrast to Atlassian which built an (arguably) much more scalable software business with much less funding.

ryporter 11y ago
I don't think that, strictly speaking, Palantir "needs" more cash. However, it puts them in a more secure position grow aggressively, even if markets take a hit in 2016. Contrasting them to Atlassian, Palantir is much more ambitious. While they are best known for their government work, they are now far more than a government contractor. They have very strongly expanded to into many different other fields, and aim to be the data analysis leader, period. In that sense, they are a more scalable business. To be clear, I'm certainly not saying that Palantir's approach is any way superior. It is certainly more risky. My point is that, while Atlassian is steadily profitable, Palantir is pursuing a path of "Go big, or go home." Raising more money lowers the chance of "going home." (Disclosure: I worked at Palantir from '06-'08. Everything I post about them is my own opinion based on publicly disclosed facts.)
adventured 11y ago
How do you know Atlassian has a much more scalable business, without knowing the specific details of Palantir's business operations, its growth rate, its profitability, its revenue, etc? Besides, what's bigger than spying and gathering data on citizens these days? Governments around the world are allocating increasingly vast sums of money to it. It's certainly a drastically larger business opportunity than Atlassian's $319m in sales (after 13 years). Governments are not going to spend less on what Palantir does, they're going to spend a lot more, and then after that they're going to spend a lot more. What would it be worth to be one of the principle software contractors for the US Government for the next 20 years, and perhaps the five eyes in general? How about a $60 billion market cap like some of the other big defense contractors? Why not... that's the age we're entering.

ryporter 11y ago

I don't think that, strictly speaking, Palantir "needs" more cash. However, it puts them in a more secure position grow aggressively, even if markets take a hit in 2016. Contrasting them to Atlassian, Palantir is much more ambitious. While they are best known for their government work, they are now far more than a government contractor. They have very strongly expanded to into many different other fields, and aim to be the data analysis leader, period. In that sense, they are a more scalable business. To be clear, I'm certainly not saying that Palantir's approach is any way superior. It is certainly more risky. My point is that, while Atlassian is steadily profitable, Palantir is pursuing a path of "Go big, or go home." Raising more money lowers the chance of "going home." (Disclosure: I worked at Palantir from '06-'08. Everything I post about them is my own opinion based on publicly disclosed facts.)

adventured 11y ago

How do you know Atlassian has a much more scalable business, without knowing the specific details of Palantir's business operations, its growth rate, its profitability, its revenue, etc? Besides, what's bigger than spying and gathering data on citizens these days? Governments around the world are allocating increasingly vast sums of money to it. It's certainly a drastically larger business opportunity than Atlassian's $319m in sales (after 13 years). Governments are not going to spend less on what Palantir does, they're going to spend a lot more, and then after that they're going to spend a lot more. What would it be worth to be one of the principle software contractors for the US Government for the next 20 years, and perhaps the five eyes in general? How about a $60 billion market cap like some of the other big defense contractors? Why not... that's the age we're entering.