> To expand on your point on Palantir just being a database, it's a good lesson to startup founders: solve the problem your user had.

Exactly. You can find this in almost any 'stodgy' business around. If you see very little computers around or only computers with glowing Word screens, you can be sure, if you find some business person to talk with, he or she can tell you what really would boost their business. And then you suddenly have a business if the competitors also do not have it (usually they don't). Gov is a good one as they are usually slow and not very creative (generally! don't want to step on toes but what I saw so far in the world shows me that this is generally true).