Exploring the Frontier

[00:01:35] – (First Question) – Patrick asks Kevin about his expertise in start-up culture and why Palantir will always be a start-up to Kevin

[00:04:05] – A look at what other frontiers are left to explore; economic, physical, technological, etc.

[00:05:45] – How we behave differently when the company’s trajectory is moving in the right direction

[00:06:10] – Kevin reviews what Palantir does and his specific role there

[00:08:44] – Kevin is asked to explain how Palantir could get people who were interested in a solution to solve the problem

[00:11:39] – Patrick asks whether winning creates a good culture in a startup or does the creation of a good culture facilitate their success

[00:14:11] – What are some of the most important elements of a good culture in a startup?

[00:19:22] – Patrick asks Kevin whether someone can be impacted by the level of the people that are around you

[00:21:30] – Why you only get one chance to set the right culture at a startup

[00:23:30] – Exploring the ideas of the economics of social status

[00:26:30] – Are there ways of earning social status that people practice

[00:30:19] – How the effect of exposure impacts people’s status

[00:32:42] – How to build prestige and some of the nefarious ways some people do it

[00:33:56] – Honestly signaling prestige

[00:37:17] – Why there’s always a group of cheats in life and in business and sociopaths in business

[00:39:21] – Most memorable day at Palantir

[00:41:03] – The fine line between the things that will help a startup and what is pure fluff

[00:45:14] – Changing your routine to change your mindset

[00:45:33] – Carnival / carnivalesque

[00:46:53] – How to improve off-sites and improve worker development

[00:48:14] – Why these out of the box ideas have to be bottom-up/grassroots instead of top-down mandates

[00:49:48] – Some of the most formative books/writers/essays for Kevin

[00:57:24] – Two philosophy majors start to explore meaning of life