An Ode to R2D2: Part 1 of 4

Leaving the Marines was the hardest thing I’ve done. It’s taken seven years to find the sense of purpose I lost when I got out. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the lessons I learned from a small, elite team at Palantir. If you’re reading this, you obviously know the brand, but you’ve probably never heard of the group. That’s the way they would want it.??

My first job after leaving the Marine Raiders was at Palantir. My title was R2D2, Droid. On Friday, I had been a pipe-hitter, velcroing skull patches to every square inch of my uniform. On Monday, I was a Star Wars character, wrapped in Lululemon. The only thing familiar about my new identity was that it came with a serial number. All R2s receive them after passing onboarding. Mine is 050.?

The road to R2D2 started eight Rip Its into another all-night targeting cycle, during the Battle of Mosul, in 2016. If you’ve never had a Rip It, it’s like a Red Bull, but you can also use it to clean a carburetor. Like most J3s (operations officers) running the same six-step process we used in WWII, I hadn’t slept in 72 hours. I was rabid, hallucinating, and hunting for the target package I’d asked for ten hours ago.?

I barged into the SCIF (sensitive compartmented information facility), mustered my characteristic monotone, and asked, “Where is my (insert stream of four-letter words) target package?” Then, something caught my eye. Amidst a sea of operator-approved approach shoes stood a lone pair of blue Allbirds.?

They belonged to Doug Proctor .?

Doug was an R2D2 from Palantir’s Palo Alto office. He’d just flown in on a red-eye to check-up on Palantir’s product at our site. I’d heard of Doug before, but had never met him. The SEALs called him Goldilocks, because he rocked a mass of curly, blond hair.?

Goldilocks roamed the team sites of northern Iraq, wielding software wizardry where it was needed most. After delivering outcomes, he’d share a tarmac-roasted Rip It with the operators, and be off on his way.?

Now, at zero-dark-thirty, in our windowless closet of a SCIF, Goldilocks stood up and said “How can I help?” He and the legend, Joe Kruse , rallied the targeting cell and started jamming on computers. Joe was the Palantir support rep embedded with our team, and one of the best engineers I’ve ever worked with.?

Minutes later, they delivered the target package. Six months later, I called Doug asking for help finding a job. He delivered that too.

R2D2 is a forge for founders and start-up leaders. I don’t know a single R2 that hasn’t founded a company, joined a start-up’s executive team, or risen to a senior leadership position at Palantir.?

The team’s founder, Kurt Schwarz , is a hiring genius and world-class leader. I’ve been on some elite teams, and this was the most humbling experience I’ve had.

His entire thesis for the team was to prepare leaders to found companies that solve wicked problems. In addition to our serial numbers, each R2 received a mentor, and a series of projects designed to teach us how to build and lead a technology company.?

My mentor was Emily Zhou , who patiently taught me, among other things, that tables are repositories for data, not objects thrown in a fit of rage. I learned a lot over the next year. The three most important lessons I learned were:

1. Be an outsider.??
2. Build v0 yesterday, and iterate.
3. Have no name.?

I’ll expound on these in Part 2-4.