The phrase ‘Age of AI’ is becoming palpably real. But have you considered what fundamental force drives this spectacular AI? It is Data. Since the 2000s, this data-driven digital transformation has fundamentally changed the world we live in.
If money is the lifeblood of a capitalist society, data is now the new oil and currency. And two giants read this new currency flow first, changing the landscape of the industry.
Today’s topic is the absolute heavyweights of the data age: Palantir and Snowflake.
These two companies are not just successful U.S. tech stocks. Their strategies are the most powerful textbook showing the present and future of data-dominated capitalism. Today, through the innovative behind-the-scenes stories of these two companies, we will share insights on how individuals must survive and take the lead in this era.
The Two Giants of the Data Industry: Palantir and Snowflake
These two companies are not direct competitors. However, they are leaders who have driven the market in their own ways within the same domain of data. Only by looking at both can we see the full picture of the data industry.
1. Palantir: The Company Born to Stop Terror
Palantir was co-founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel, the godfather of the legendary PayPal Mafia, and current CEO Alex Karp.
Their genesis is unique. It didn’t start to make money; it began with the shock of the 9/11 attacks. Peter Thiel asked the question, ‘Why couldn’t we stop this catastrophe?’ He believed that the attack could have been prevented if the scattered national intelligence and data had been properly analyzed.
This is the core of Palantir: They started not with money, but with solving a monumental ‘problem.’
Their initial funding came from Peter Thiel’s private funds and ‘In-Q-Tel,’ the venture capital arm of the CIA. Since their business naturally involved defense and intelligence agencies, this was a perfect strategic investment.
Palantir’s core technology is finding meaningful insights by connecting data dispersed across different systems. This capability was decisively proven during the operation to locate and eliminate Osama bin Laden. They aggregated and analyzed all data—intelligence reports, financial records, communications, and geographical information—and successfully pinpointed Bin Laden’s hideout.
The solution used at the time was ‘Gotham.’ Like the name of Batman’s crime-ridden city, it signifies clearing out crime and terror.
Palantir’s true weapon is ‘Ontology.’ In philosophy, it means ‘the study of being,’ but technologically, it’s defining the ‘relationship’ and ‘attributes’ between data points. It’s not just about stacking data; it’s the technology that links data like a net, defining what meaning each piece holds and how they influence each other.
They built a powerful ‘Moat’ (a competitive advantage) early on by dealing with the secret data of government agencies. This directly reflects Peter Thiel’s philosophy from Zero to One: ‘Don’t compete; monopolize.’
Later, Palantir expanded into the private sector with a solution called ‘Foundry.’ They established themselves as the ‘problem solvers’ who use data to resolve complex, tangled issues, such as financial fraud prevention and optimizing airline operations with Airbus’s ‘Skywise.’
2. Snowflake: The Pioneer Who Rejected the Giant Dinosaur
Snowflake’s story is the opposite of Palantir’s. Its founders were not people who originally intended to start a company.
Two French engineers, Benoît Dageville and Thierry Cruanes, were working at ‘Oracle,’ a giant data corporation that was the absolute leader in the data warehouse market.
The two men read the signs of the changing times: ‘The Cloud.’ They saw that Oracle’s approach was too heavy and outdated for the coming cloud era, where everything would be connected by the internet. They proposed changes within Oracle, but the giant, already making too much money, didn’t budge.
Eventually, in 2012, they left Oracle to start their own company. The name was ‘Snowflake.’ The idea was that data, like a snowflake under a microscope, is all uniquely shaped, and by gathering them, they would create a huge ‘Snowball.’
However, the technology was complex, and funding was scarce. At this critical time, Mike Speiser (Sutter Hill Ventures), who led the initial investment, took on the role of interim CEO, creating an environment where the founders could focus solely on development.
The later-recruited CEO, Bob Muglia, created the business model that changed Snowflake’s destiny.
It was the ‘separation of computing (processing) and storage’ and the ‘pay-as-you-go’ billing structure.
In the past, data warehouses required buying expensive, ‘all-in-one’ equipment where storage and computing power were bundled. Snowflake, however, utilized the cloud (AWS) to offer an innovative model: cheap data storage and the ability to rent computing resources and pay only when analysis was needed.
If Palantir started in a monopolistic market, Snowflake jumped into a market dominated by massive competitors like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. They became a market leader through overwhelming efficiency and openness, even creating an ecosystem called the ‘Data Marketplace’ where data could be bought and sold.
Their value was certified by the ‘Oracle of Omaha,’ Warren Buffett. Buffett has a golden rule of never participating in an IPO (Initial Public Offering). But in 2020, he broke this rule to participate in the Snowflake IPO. He recognized that Snowflake would become the core ‘infrastructure’ of the future data economy.
3. The New War of the Two Giants in the AI Age
Time passed, and at the end of 2022, ChatGPT’s emergence shook the world once again. Every company began feeling pressure to adopt AI.
Here, the destinies of the two companies temporarily diverged.
Palantir was ready. The ‘Ontology’ (data relationship network) they had spent decades building was the perfect training material for AI. Training their LLMs on their semantically perfect data reduced work that would have taken months to just days. Palantir began explosive growth through its AI Platform (AIP) and finally achieved profitability in 2023.
Snowflake, conversely, was slow to respond to AI. They focused on being a data warehouse for the ‘Cloud,’ not an AI company. The stock price fell, and a crisis loomed.
But Snowflake did not give up. They immediately changed direction. They acquired the AI search startup ‘Neeva’ and appointed its founder, Sridhar Ramaswamy, as the new CEO. They announced ‘Cortex AI’ and their own LLM, ‘Arctic,’ declaring an evolution from a data platform to an ‘AI Data Engine.’
| Category | Palantir | Snowflake |
| Core Asset | Data at the center of the business | Data at the center of the business |
| Target Customer | Corporations (B2B) & Government (B2G), not individuals (B2C) | Corporations (B2B) & Government (B2G), not individuals (B2C) |
| Business Scope | Providing platforms and solutions for data analysis, processing, and utilization | Providing platforms and solutions for data analysis, processing, and utilization |
| Future Direction | Leading the market by combining existing data platforms with AI technology | Leading the market by combining existing data platforms with AI technology |
| Founding Background | Established after 9/11 to solve the massive problem of ‘counter-terrorism’ by integrating scattered data | Established after witnessing the ‘inefficiency’ of traditional data warehouses (like Oracle) and creating a new structure for the cloud era |
| Core Concept | Ontology: Defining the ‘relationship’ and ‘meaning’ between data to derive complex insights | Separation of Compute and Storage: Separating ‘storage’ and ‘analysis’ costs for overwhelming efficiency and scalability (Pay-as-you-go) |
| Main Customers | Started with Government/Defense (Gotham), then expanded to private companies (Foundry) in finance and manufacturing | Primarily private companies needing cloud transition: various industries requiring data sharing and utilization |
| Business Model | ‘Solution Provider’: Engineers (FDEs) deeply analyze customer data and build customized systems | ‘Infrastructure/Ecosystem’: Pay-as-you-go (PaaS), building an ecosystem through the Data Marketplace |
| Market Position | Started in a monopolistic market (no competition in defense/security): ‘Zero to One’ strategy | Entered a fiercely competitive market (vs. Amazon, Google, MS): Dominating through overwhelming technical efficiency |
| AI Era Response | Very Fast: ‘Ontology’ structure was optimized for LLM training, leading to explosive growth (AIP) | Relatively Slow: Faced crisis but quickly catching up through CEO change and AI company acquisition |
So, What Does This Story Have to Do With Us?
The stories of Palantir and Snowflake are not just interesting analyses of overseas companies. They are directly connected to the survival strategies of all of us living in the age of data capitalism.
1. Are You a ‘Problem Solver’ or an ‘Efficiency Pioneer’?
Palantir secured a monopoly by solving the monumental and complex ‘problem’ of 9/11 terror. Snowflake observed the ‘inefficiency’ of Oracle and rode the new wave of the ‘Cloud’ to create a massive market.
This applies equally to your side hustle and self-improvement. What problem are you solving right now? Are you solving complex problems that others cannot? (The Palantir Way) Or are you capturing a new opportunity by making existing inefficient methods faster and cheaper? (The Snowflake Way) You must be clear on one of the two.
2. Are You Organizing Your ‘Data’?
Palantir was able to surge ahead in the AI era because they had pre-organized their data using ‘Ontology.’
The same goes for our lives. The information pouring in every day, our experiences, the records of our work. Are these just scattered ‘snowflakes,’ or are they meaningfully connected ‘snowballs’? Only those who organize and give meaning (Ontology) to their seemingly useless records and experiences (data) will be able to seize the opportunity when powerful tools like AI emerge.
3. Are You the ‘Driver’ or a ‘Passenger’ on the Wave of Change?
Snowflake’s founders refused to be ‘passengers’ staying on the comfortable ship of Oracle and instead became the ‘drivers’ who dove directly into the new wave of the Cloud. When Snowflake was late to AI, the immediate CEO change and course correction showed their determination to keep the steering wheel.
As AI and data reshape the world, we too easily try to become ‘passengers.’ We ignore the change, claiming it’s too fast and scary. But capitalism does not wait. You must read this flow of change, learn, apply it, and take the wheel yourself.
Palantir and Snowflake are asking us:
“In the age where data is power, are you in control of your data?”
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Oing contemplates realistic side hustles and survival strategies in the capitalist structure, together with you.
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