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Alex Karp: “I’ve never met someone successful who had a great social life at 20”

June 02, 2025

The CEO of Palantir is asked for his advice to young people in the age of AI. He responds with the following:

“Find the thing you’re uniquely good at, and then make sure your whole life is organized around allowing you to do it.”

The first failure mode Karp usually sees in young people at Palantir is not accepting what they’re actually good at. The second trap is not organizing their life around that ability.

He frequently tells new hires at Palantir:

“I’ve never met someone successful who had a great social life at 20. If that’s what you want, that’s great. But you’re not going to be successful, and don’t blame anyone else.”

Karp believes another important factor in this is partner selection:

“How are they going to feel when you dedicate the next ten years of your life to building what you think is valuable?”

He concludes:

“Most people have something they’re talented at and enjoy. Focus on that. Organize your whole life around that. Don’t worry so much about the money — that sounds like hypocrisy now but I never really did — and stay off the meth and you’ll do very well.”