How Palantir’s CEO forged a connection with investors by writing spicy shareholder letters that quote philosophers and skewer ‘technocratic elites’

Earnings calls are typically a masterclass in how to get away with saying as little as possible. Executives ramble on with non-answers about their “momentum” and “promising pipelines,” or offer vague forecasts of “corporate headwinds.” More often than not, they’re “excited” (sometimes even “really excited!”) about their latest product or initiative.

Call it corporate propaganda. Or just plain pablum. It’s one of the reasons that Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir, the defense software and artificial intelligence company now worth nearly a half-trillion dollars, didn’t want to do earnings calls in the first place.

“I kind of thought the whole thing was BS,” Karp said in an interview at Palantir’s annual conference for its commercial software product in September.

Somewhere along the way, Kar