Palantir's 'Rock Concert' AI Sales Strategy Is Rapidly Boosting Commercial Sales: 'We Can't Do Enough Of Them'

Apr 25, 202417:15 UTC

Palantir Technologies Inc PLTR doesn’t go about selling its software products in conventional ways. After refusing to hire a sales team for years, the company is now using rock concert-like boot camps to bring new customers on board.

Selling AI Software: Palantir has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom. The data firm’s software allows companies and governments to organize and analyze large amounts of data to improve efficiency in decision-making processes.

CEO Alex Karp has long refused to hire salespeople at Palantir due to the belief that the company’s software is so good, it sells itself. He even once said the only way Palantir would hire a sales team is if he were “hit by a bus.”

A new report from Bloomberg this week suggests that Karp has at least been hit with a fresh perspective on sales. Although the company still refuses to build a sales team to help capture booming demand, Palantir has adopted a new approach that involves software boot camps.

Software Boot Camps: The name “software boot camp” doesn’t really tell the whole story. These so-called boot camps can last anywhere from one to five days and are described as being one part hackathon, one part conference and one part party.

The events feature demonstrations from engineers, work sessions for those attending and presentations from current customers on how they use Palantir’s AI tools to improve efficiency.

On a recent conference call, Karp told investors and analysts that the company was making a push to sell its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) product through these boot camps.

“We can’t do enough of them ... We’re limiting the number of people who can come. It’s like a rock concert ... If you know somebody, we can get you backstage,” Karp said at the time.

Karp noted that Palantir held a total of about 500 boot camps in 2023, mostly in the second half of the year. The company is targeting five boot camps per day on average throughout 2024.

Palantir has attributed much of its recent U.S. commercial sales growth to the boot camp initiative. Analysts expect Palantir’s commercial revenue to exceed its total government revenue for the first time next year.

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PLTR Price Action: Palantir shares are up approximately 24% since the start of the year. The stock was down 0.51% trading at $21.47 Thursday at publication, per Benzinga Pro.

Photo: Spyro the Dragon from Shutterstock.