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Business Insider
6 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
The Palantir job that grows startup founders
Palantir, the government-focused software giant run by Alex Karp, has emerged as one of tech's biggest talent factories. One role in particular, the Forward Deployed Software Engineer, is churning out our startup founders. Many Palantir alumni -turned-founders got their start in the role at the company — like Trae Stephens and Matt Grimm, two members of defense tech giant Anduril's founding team. When she was a college student at Harvard University, Lisa Vo wasn't interested in typical software engineering internships and jobs where she'd spend her time writing backend code in a quiet office. A position as a Palantir Forward Deployed Software Engineer (FDSE), however, promised her something different. During her time as an FDSE and intern at Palantir, Vo worked directly with the company's clients and enjoyed a high level of autonomy when trying out different solutions and settling on the best possible fix. She said the job gave her a rare experience in software engineering: the chance to interact directly with people and make an impact. "For someone who enjoys software engineering not just as a practice but as a tool to work on interesting problems and to be able to make an impact, that was a perfect training because you got to marry the very fast-paced, evolving priorities of working for a client, with working on interesting and ever-changing issues," she told Business Insider. Vo spent just over a year total at Palantir before quitting to become a founder, and she's launched five startups since 2019. Her latest project, a dating app called LoveJack, where users select five words, launched in London in May with pre-seed funding from Harvard AI Institute founder Karim Lakhani. Vo said that being a FDSE fast-tracked the skills she needed to learn to run a startup successfully. "It's definitely founder preparation bootcamp," she said. "As a founder, you have to talk to investors, land partnerships, and be outward-facing, but you also have to put your head down, build a product, code, and be inward-facing. It's the same dynamic with being a Forward Deployed Engineer." On the computer and on the front lines Like any other company, Palantir has traditional software engineers who work behind the scenes on product development and infrastructure — they're referred to as "Devs." But Forward Deployed Software Engineers —also known internally as "Deltas" — are meant to be the tip of the spear. In addition to using their computer engineering skills, they embed directly with Palantir's clients — which means government agencies like ICE and the U.S. Army as well as large companies including United Airlines and General Mills — to implement and adapt Palantir's software and tools in real time. "You're there to engage with a hard problem and solve it with deep customer empathy and lots of ingenuity," said Barry McCardel, a former FDSE who went on to co-found the data workspace startup Hex with two other Palantir alums, one of whom was also a FDSE. McCardel told Business Insider that when embedding with a client, FDSEs were expected to iterate quickly and find creative ways to solve problems. "That dynamic is what you ended up doing when you're creating a new product as a founder," he said. "So many of the things you worked on didn't work, but that was okay, which is similar to the venture and startup mindset." Palantir's practice of embedding engineers directly with clients to solve problems eventually evolved into a core company ethos known as "Forward Deployed" — which essentially prioritizes speed and efficiency, taking definitive action, and working hand-in-hand with clients to see and solve problems up close. Although Forward Deployed Software Engineers are perhaps the most well known, Palantir has other forward-deployed teams throughout the organization, including a Forward Deployed Infrastructure Engineering team, also known as the Baseline team, that embeds with clients to provide support for the products FDSEs build. Gary Lin, co-founder and CEO of enterprise startup Explo, worked as an FDSE at Palantir from 2017 to 2019. He described the job as one where you needed to "move fast and break things" in order to succeed — and that it wasn't always important to have a perfect, polished solution in order to succeed. You just needed to give your client something that worked well, quickly, he said. "Our goal was, 'What does it take to win with respect to the client?'," he said. "We were building faster to meet timelines, and that made our priorities slightly different." From Forward Deployed to founder Representatives for Palantir did not respond to a request for comment for this story, so it's unclear exactly how many FDSEs the company has hired since the firm was founded in 2003 or how many currently work there. There are around 700 LinkedIn profiles that list themselves as founders and say that Palantir was their former employer. For Lin, being embedded with clients gave engineers a chance to practice translating vague customer feedback into workable software, which is a skill that's proven essential in his current role leading a startup. "Forward Deployed Engineers will actually build software themselves and parse signal to noise what a customer is saying and figure out what's doable and reasonable," he said. "The exposure they get to the business side teaches you the tradeoffs between business development and product development, and as a founder you lean when it's okay to cut corners from an engineering perspective, and vice versa." Eliot Hodges, CEO at fintech startup Anduin, was an FDSE from 2012-2014. He remembers a relentless focus on outcome and impact for the client, and those values have stuck with him more than a decade later, now that he's running a startup of his own. "The idea was to bring in really ambitious, smart grads out of college and set them loose to be entrepreneurial, technical people to go out and pursue their own hypotheses," he said, adding that unlike a traditional role at a consulting firm, forward deployed engineers had to have not only top engineering chops, but also the expectation to set up a solution — rather than just make a recommendation. "Why go to McKinsey spending weeks building a deck that's not going to change an outcome and move the needle and might just sit on someone's desk?"
TechCrunch
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- TechCrunch
Meet LoveJack, the dating app designed for users to find love using just five words
As Kevin Malone from 'The Office' once said, 'Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick?' For Julia LeStage and Lisa Le, the creators of a new dating app called LoveJack, finding love online doesn't have to feel like filling out a mountain of paperwork. Sometimes, all you need are a few carefully chosen words to spark a connection. LoveJack profiles look like those on other blind dating apps, but with a twist. Instead of blurred or hidden profiles, users see five words chosen by potential matches. When users press and hold on their phone screens (the app doesn't use swiping mechanics), profile pictures are then revealed. The five words can be anything from personal traits and jokes to current feelings or even random details, such as the ingredients in their lunch sandwich— an entertaining tactic that we saw one beta user try during our testing. The idea is that the five-word constraint allows users to be creative while also challenging them to be concise and clever, encouraging more witty conversations and moving away from mundane questions like 'What do you do for a living?' or overused pickup lines. LeStage and Le decided to create LoveJack after being frustrated with the way online dating profiles often resemble job resumes—complete with posed photos, filters, and carefully crafted bios that can feel exaggerated. 'This is not LinkedIn. Where has the fun gone?' LeStage told TechCrunch, reflecting a sentiment shared by many online daters, which may explain why dating giants like Tinder have faced challenges in recent quarters. Techcrunch event Save now through June 4 for TechCrunch Sessions: AI Save $300 on your ticket to TC Sessions: AI—and get 50% off a second. Hear from leaders at OpenAI, Anthropic, Khosla Ventures, and more during a full day of expert insights, hands-on workshops, and high-impact networking. These low-rate deals disappear when the doors open on June 5. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | REGISTER NOW LeStage got the idea while working as a judge for the Webby Awards, which notoriously limits winners to five-word speeches. The app also takes inspiration from The New York Times' popular Wordle game. She shared with us that when she re-entered the dating scene, apps sucked the fun out of the experience, noting that traditional platforms emphasize superficial judgments based on appearance. So she decided to use the five-word challenge on her dates to spice things up, which helped her realize that people tended to use words that 'advertised' their way of thinking. 'It's the stories behind the words that matter,' LeStage explained. For instance, she spoke with someone who mentioned the word 'disco.' When she asked him more about it, she discovered that he had written about the history of disco. 'I was like, 'Well, aren't you Mr. Interesting?'' she said. LoveJack co-founders Julia LeStage (left) and Lisa Le (right) Image Credits:LoveJack Other standout features include the options to either 'Bet On' or 'Hold' a match. Betting is similar to liking a profile, but the key difference is that users must place a bet by entering a five-word opening line. This gives the match something interesting to respond to. Users are limited to a maximum of five matches per day, so they need to be strategic in their choices. This is where LoveJack's 'Hold' feature comes into play, allowing users to bookmark a profile if they're unsure about someone. Additionally, the five-word descriptions can be updated every day, adding a social aspect to the app. LoveJack archives all previous entries, allowing users to scroll through everything they've written. 'You can see in real time, day to day, how they're revealing themselves through their five-word updates…Your story is going to change every day, all day, like your mood and the weather,' LeStage added. In the future, there will also be a premium subscription that will include an 'All In' button, the app's version of a 'Super Like,' but in this case, it'll use all five bets on one person so they can't match with anyone else for the rest of the day. When it comes to unmatching someone, LoveJack says it tries to minimize ghosting by requiring users to write a preset message when they set up their profiles. The goodbye note is automatically sent to anyone they unmatch. Another interesting aspect of LoveJack profiles is that users are encouraged to use fake names to protect their identities. While using pseudonyms on dating platforms is common, it can elicit mixed reactions from users. Some individuals may question the authenticity of potential matches, while others might prefer to keep their personal details private until they become more familiar with the other person. LoveJack states that it implements a selfie verification process to confirm that the person behind the profile is indeed who they claim to be. Other safety features include reporting and blocking capabilities, as well as censorship of banned language and explicit photos, and an emergency feature that enables users to contact the police and safety hotlines. (These features were unavailable during our beta testing but are expected to be included in the official version.) LoveJack is set to launch its iOS app next month. It'll launch in London first, with plans to roll out to U.S. markets next, including Boston, New York, San Francisco, and others. An Android version of the app will launch in India in late summer. Starting today, users can join the waiting list for early access by signing up at
