Stephen Cohen (entrepreneur)

Stephen Cohen
Born (1982-09-30) September 30, 1982
California, U.S.
Alma materStanford University (BS)
OccupationsEntrepreneur, president
Known forCo-founder and President at Palantir Technologies
Board member of
Palantir

Stephen Andrew Cohen (born September 30, 1982) is an American computer scientist and entrepreneur best known as a co-founder, president and secretary of Palantir Technologies,[1][2][3] a platform for analyzing integration and visualizing data used by governments and businesses.[4][5] He is credited with creating the initial prototype of Palantir in eight weeks.[6] Since then, he has interviewed over 4,500 candidates and continues to be actively involved in Palantir.[7] Previously to Palantir, Cohen worked with Peter Thiel at Clarium Capital.[2] He also served as an adviser to BackType prior to its acquisition by Twitter in 2011.[8] Cohen is a billionaire.[9] By 9 August 2026, Forbes estimated his net worth as $6.1 billion.[10]

Early life

Cohen was born on September 30, 1982, and is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. [11]

Cohen graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in computer science in 2005. While at Stanford he focused on machine learning, artificial intelligence, and natural language processing and did research with professor Andrew Ng, director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab.[12]

Career

Pre-Palantir experiences

Cohen earned a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Stanford University, completing his studies around 2003. Prior to co-founding Palantir, Cohen held the position of principal at Clarium Capital Management LLC, a global macro hedge fund established by Peter Thiel in 2002.[13] This role involved working closely with Thiel, whose prior experience at PayPal and investment philosophy influenced early data analytics initiatives that later informed Palantir's development.[14]

Cohen's time at Clarium provided exposure to quantitative analysis and financial modeling, bridging his academic background in software engineering with practical applications in data-intensive environments. These experiences positioned him to contribute technically to Palantir's prototype, which was developed shortly after under Thiel's initial funding in 2004 [15]

Palantir

Palantir Technologies was established in 2003 by Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal, who sought to adapt fraud detection software techniques to intelligence analysis for counterterrorism purposes following the September 11th attacks.[16] Thiel assembled a team including Alex Karp as CEO, Joe Lonsdale, a student from Stanford University, and Nathan Gettings, a former early PayPal engineer, incorporating the company in May of that year.[17]

According to Steinberger, In the beginning, Karp, Gettings, Cohen, and Lonsdale personally met every job seeker, and all four had to approve each hire.[18] In 2025, Nabeel Qureshi, a former Palantir engineer who left the company in 2023, told Business Insider that the hiring practice was that each candidate would be interviewed by one of the founders. Qureshi noted that Cohen would ask candidates about topics that were "impossible to prepare for", like philosophy, and tended to "pick a topic out of thin air."[19]

Recent developments and share sales

On September 30, 2020, Cohen sold nearly 4 million shares in conjunction with the company’s initial public offering, generating approximately $38 million in proceeds.[20] On February 20 and 21, 2025, Cohen sold shares totaling approximately $69.3 million. The transactions included 301,847 shares sold on February 21 at a price of $102.14 per share, amounting to $30.8 million. On the previous day, multiple sales were executed at prices ranging from $96.43 to $108.28 per share, generating proceeds of $38.4 million. In March 2025, he sold additional shares valued at over $310 million, representing around 23% of his total stake in the company, under a trading plan adopted in December 2024.[20]

Personal life

Cohen is known for his working discipline. Steinberger describes him as often retreating to the conference room without emerging for hours, and still pulling all-nighters.[21]

References

  1. ↑ Lin, Ed (October 2, 2024). "Palantir Chairman Peter Thiel Just Sold $457 Million of Stock. He's Done—for Now". Barrons.
  2. 1 2 "Palantir Technologies: Revealed". Business Insider. March 10, 2011. Archived from the original on February 8, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  3. ↑ Gorman, Siobhan (September 4, 2009). "How Team of Geeks Cracked Spy Trade - WSJ.com". Online.wsj.com. Archived from the original on April 16, 2019. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Super Crunchers". Forbes.com. March 14, 2011. Archived from the original on September 21, 2016. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  5. ↑ Vance, Ashlee (November 22, 2011). "Palantir, the War on Terror's Secret Weapon". Businessweek. Archived from the original on November 23, 2011. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Killer App". Archived from the original on May 3, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Path to Palantir - Stephen Cohen's talk at Stanford". Cs.stanford.edu. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  8. ↑ "BackType". Blog.backtype.com. January 16, 2011. Archived from the original on May 25, 2012. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  9. ↑ Steinberger, Michael (November 4, 2025). The Philosopher in the Valley: Alex Karp, Palantir, and the Rise of the Surveillance State. Simon and Schuster. p. 258. ISBN 978-1-6680-1297-0. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
  10. ↑ "Stephen Cohen". Forbes. Archived from the original on August 9, 2026.
  11. ↑ "Palantir's Jewish co-founders are helping Israel in its war against Hamas". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. October 12, 2023. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  12. ↑ "Andrew Ng's homepage". Cs.stanford.edu. Archived from the original on April 20, 2012. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Stephen Cohen: Positions, Relations and Network - MarketScreener". www.marketscreener.com. Retrieved June 6, 2026.
  14. ↑ "Stephen Cohen investment portfolio | PitchBook". pitchbook.com. Retrieved June 6, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Stephen Cohen". Forbes. Retrieved June 6, 2026.
  16. ↑ Montevirgen, Karl (May 31, 2026). "Palantir Technologies, Inc". Britannica Money. Retrieved June 6, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. ↑ "REGISTRATION STATEMENT ON FORM S-1". August 25, 2020.
  18. ↑ Steinberger 2025, p. 77.
  19. ↑ Goel, Shubhangi (May 14, 2025). "An engineer who worked for Palantir for 8 years says the company's interviews were 'impossible to prepare for'". Business Insider.
  20. 1 2 Phillips, Matt (March 18, 2025). "Palantir cofounder Cohen sells over 20% of his stake in planned sale". Sherwood News. Retrieved May 19, 2025.
  21. ↑ Steinberg 2025, p. 258.
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