What an Ex-Palantir Executive Learned Selling Terrorist-Hunting Software to Oil Companies
Lila (Ontiveros) Flores spent nearly six years helping grow Palantir’s commercial business from a dozen US customers to 615, and now she’s a board member at Woodforest National Bank, fielding calls all day and finally driving her daughter to school. Alex and Lila trace her path from the Goldman trading floor to a presidential campaign to Palantir, talk grit in the next generation, why smart people still avoid AI, and how a fix for airline plane swaps ended up running hospital beds in Covid.
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0:00:00 Life after Palantir
0:02:14 Bank boards and a nonlinear career
0:06:03 Exeter, Cornell and Goldman
0:08:58 A presidential campaign as a startup
0:11:10 Coming home to Houston
0:13:58 Grit and the next generation
0:20:05 AI sprawl and who needs to be in the room
0:22:39 DOGE and government getting a UI upgrade
0:27:16 Smart people who don't use AI
0:30:43 Building Palantir's commercial business
0:35:37 What Palantir actually does
0:40:28 Go to market with no sales team
0:45:40 From plane swaps to hospital beds
0:49:30 What she does all day now
0:56:53 Surfing the AI tidal wave
1:00:15 Regulation and suing the Army
1:03:05 Trust and slowing down
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Click here to watch a video of this episode.
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Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.
Apply today at collide.io
0:00:00 Life after Palantir
0:02:14 Bank boards and a nonlinear career
0:06:03 Exeter, Cornell and Goldman
0:08:58 A presidential campaign as a startup
0:11:10 Coming home to Houston
0:13:58 Grit and the next generation
0:20:05 AI sprawl and who needs to be in the room
0:22:39 DOGE and government getting a UI upgrade
0:27:16 Smart people who don't use AI
0:30:43 Building Palantir's commercial business
0:35:37 What Palantir actually does
0:40:28 Go to market with no sales team
0:45:40 From plane swaps to hospital beds
0:49:30 What she does all day now
0:56:53 Surfing the AI tidal wave
1:00:15 Regulation and suing the Army
1:03:05 Trust and slowing down
https://twitter.com/collide_ai
https://www.tiktok.com/@collide.io
https://www.facebook.com/collide.io
https://www.instagram.com/collide.io
https://www.youtube.com/@collide_io
https://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.social
https://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai
