Palantir vs Snowflake: Founders, CEOs and History
Palantir was founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel, Alexander Karp, Joe Lonsdale and is led by Alexander C. Karp. Snowflake was founded in 2012 by Benoit Dageville, Thierry Cruanes, Marcin Żukowski and is led by Sridhar Ramaswamy.
Company facts
Founders
Palantir
Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel came up with the idea for Palantir after 9/11, betting that the link-analysis methods PayPal used against fraud rings could help intelligence analysts find terrorist networks.
Alexander Karp
Alexander C. Karp has been Palantir's CEO and a director since 2004. He led the company through its September 2020 direct listing, its first GAAP-profitable year in 2023, S&P 500 inclusion in 2024, and the 2026 headquarters move to the Miami area.
Joe Lonsdale
Joe Lonsdale joined Palantir's founding team in 2003, shortly after finishing Stanford, and worked on early operations and business development.
Stephen Cohen
Stephen Cohen co-founded Palantir in 2003 as a Stanford computer science student and helped build its early engineering culture and software architecture.
Nathan Gettings
Nathan Gettings was part of Palantir's 2003 founding team and contributed engineering experience from PayPal's anti-fraud work to the company's early data-integration technology.
Snowflake
Benoit Dageville
Benoit Dageville co-founded Snowflake in 2012 and served as CTO and later President of Products. He co-designed the multi-cluster, shared-data architecture that separates storage from compute.
Thierry Cruanes
Thierry Cruanes co-founded Snowflake in 2012 and served as its chief technology officer, leading development of the core engine that runs SQL queries on cloud object storage.
Marcin Żukowski
Marcin Żukowski co-founded Snowflake in 2012 and brought his vectorized query processing research from Vectorwise into the Snowflake engine.
CEOs and their tenures
Palantir
- Peter Thiel2003–present
Co-Founder and Chairman
Chairs the board and holds Class F founder voting shares.
Source - Stephen Cohen2003–present
Co-Founder and President
Serves as President and a director, and holds Class F founder shares.
Source - Alexander C. Karp2004–present
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Has run Palantir for more than two decades, taking it from a venture-backed government contractor to a profitable company with $4.475 billion of 2025 revenue.
Source - Shyam Sankar2006–present
Chief Technology Officer and EVP
One of Palantir's longest-serving executives and a public advocate for defense procurement reform.
Source - David Glazer2019–present
Chief Financial Officer
Oversees financial reporting and guidance.
Source
Snowflake
- Bob Muglia2014–2019
Former CEO
Former Microsoft executive who led Snowflake from its 2014 public launch through its early commercial growth before Frank Slootman replaced him in 2019.
Source - Frank Slootman2019–2024
Former Chairman and CEO
Slootman joined as CEO in April 2019, led the September 2020 IPO and scaled the enterprise sales organization. He stepped down as CEO in February 2024 and later left the board.
Source - Sridhar Ramaswamy2024–present
Chief Executive Officer
Ramaswamy became CEO in February 2024, initiating a new era of aggressive product innovation and artificial intelligence integration, overseeing the strategic expansion of Snowpark and the Snowflake Marketplace to capture the next wave of enterprise data workl…
Source
Timeline: Palantir and Snowflake side by side
2003Palantir
Palantir founded
Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, Stephen Cohen, Joe Lonsdale and Nathan Gettings founded Palantir in Palo Alto to build data-fusion software for counterterrorism.
2005Palantir
In-Q-Tel investment
In-Q-Tel, the CIA's venture arm, invested about $2 million, giving Palantir early access to intelligence-community users.
2012Snowflake
Founding of Snowflake
Benoit Dageville, Thierry Cruanes, and Marcin Żukowski founded Snowflake in 2012, working in stealth until October 2014 to build a new database engine from scratch in C++ that would separate compute and storage.
2014Snowflake
Emergence from Stealth and Product Launch
Snowflake emerged from stealth in 2014, launching its multi-cloud data warehouse at the Strata + Hadoop World conference, immediately disrupting the market by offering a service that was easier to use, more scalable, and more cost-effective than any existing a…
2016Palantir
Court win against the U.S. Army
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled that the Army had to consider commercial products such as Palantir's in its DCGS-A procurement. The Federal Circuit upheld the ruling in 2018.
2020Palantir
Direct listing and move to Denver
Palantir moved its headquarters to Denver and listed directly on the NYSE on September 30, 2020, under the ticker PLTR.
2020Snowflake
Historic Initial Public Offering
Snowflake listed on the NYSE under ticker SNOW on September 16, 2020, pricing shares at $120 and raising about $3.4 billion, then the largest software IPO on record.
2021Snowflake
Introduction of Snowpark
Snowflake introduced Snowpark in 2021, a developer framework that allows data engineers and scientists to write code in Python, Java, and Scala, marking the company's strategic expansion beyond traditional SQL-based business intelligence into complex data engi…
2023Palantir
AIP launched
Palantir launched its Artificial Intelligence Platform and posted its first full year of GAAP profit, $209.8 million.
2024Palantir
S&P 500 entry and Nasdaq switch
Palantir joined the S&P 500 on September 23, 2024, and moved its stock listing from the NYSE to Nasdaq in November 2024.
2024Snowflake
Transition of CEO Leadership
Sridhar Ramaswamy became CEO in February 2024, succeeding Frank Slootman, initiating a new era of aggressive product innovation and artificial intelligence integration to capture the next wave of enterprise data workloads.
2025Palantir
$4.475 billion in revenue
FY2025 revenue rose 56% to $4.475 billion, and net income reached $1.625 billion.
2025Snowflake
FY2025 Revenue Reaches $3.626 Billion
Snowflake reported $3.626 billion in consolidated FY2025 revenue, generating $834 million in free cash flow and achieving a non-GAAP operating margin of 24%, demonstrating the extreme operating leverage of its consumption-based model and its successful navigat…
2026Palantir
Headquarters moves to Miami area
Effective February 17, 2026, Palantir's principal executive office became 19505 Biscayne Boulevard, Aventura, Florida.
2026Palantir
Q2 revenue up 93%
Q2 2026 revenue reached $1.935 billion, and Palantir raised its full-year guidance to $8.150-$8.158 billion.
2026Snowflake
Snowflake passes $4.6B in FY2026 revenue
Snowflake reported FY2026 revenue of $4.684B and Q1 FY2027 revenue of $1.391B as it expanded its data and AI platform.
2026Snowflake
Observe acquisition closes and growth accelerates
Snowflake closed its Observe acquisition in May 2026 and on September 2, 2026 reported Q2 fiscal 2027 revenue of $1.55B (+35%), raising FY2027 product revenue guidance to $6.07B.
Acquisitions
Snowflake
- Observe2026Undisclosed
- Natoma2026Undisclosed
- TensorStax2026Undisclosed
- Neeva2023Undisclosed
- Streamlit2022$800M
Questions about Palantir vs Snowflake
Who is the CEO of Palantir Technologies Inc. and Snowflake Inc.?
Palantir Technologies Inc. is led by Alexander C. Karp and Snowflake Inc. is led by Sridhar Ramaswamy. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was Palantir Technologies Inc. founded vs Snowflake Inc.?
Palantir Technologies Inc. was founded in 2003 — 9 years before Snowflake Inc., which was founded in 2012. Palantir Technologies Inc.'s longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger Snowflake Inc..
How many employees does Palantir Technologies Inc. have compared to Snowflake Inc.?
Palantir Technologies Inc. employs approximately 4,429 people, while Snowflake Inc. employs approximately 9,060. Snowflake Inc. has the larger workforce at 9,060 employees, compared to Palantir Technologies Inc.'s 4,429. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).
Where are Palantir Technologies Inc. and Snowflake Inc. headquartered?
Both Palantir Technologies Inc. and Snowflake Inc. are headquartered in United States, meaning they operate under the same primary regulatory and tax environment.
Who founded Palantir Technologies Inc. and Snowflake Inc.?
Palantir Technologies Inc. was founded by Peter Thiel, Alexander Karp, Joe Lonsdale, Stephen Cohen, Nathan Gettings. Snowflake Inc. was founded by Benoit Dageville, Thierry Cruanes, Marcin Żukowski.
Which company has a longer operating history — Palantir Technologies Inc. or Snowflake Inc.?
Palantir Technologies Inc. has been operating for approximately 23 years, making it the more established of the two companies. Snowflake Inc. has been in operation for around 14 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Palantir vs Snowflake overview