Title: The Early Days of Palantir: A Lesson in Startup Recruitin...
URL Source: https://www.bestblogs.dev/status/2032646703073947814
Published Time: 2026-03-14 02:35:13
Markdown Content: 
Amazing. In 2006 I went to Stanford with stacks of pizza to the Unix cluster at Sweet Hall with xerox fliers It said: Come join the next Google
We were a 12 person startup
The name of the startup? Palantir
#### Paul Graham
@paulg · 5h ago
This was the only newspaper ad Y Combinator ever ran, in the Stanford Daily. Also the only time I ever wrote ad copy.
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One Sentence Summary
Garry Tan shares a nostalgic anecdote about recruiting for Palantir at Stanford in 2006 when it was a 12-person startup.
Summary
Responding to Paul Graham's post about early YC advertisements, Garry Tan recounts his experience as an early employee at Palantir. He describes using 'unscalable' tactics—hand-delivering pizza and flyers to Stanford's Unix cluster—to recruit talent for what was then a tiny startup. This provides historical context on the grit required in the early stages of iconic tech companies.
AI Score
75
Influence Score 33
Published At Today
Language
English
Tags
Startup History
Palantir
Recruiting
Y Combinator
Entrepreneurship