PALO ALTO, Calif.—Palantir Technologies Inc. appears to be a prosperous Silicon Valley spy-software machine. It crunches masses of data to find insights. Its analytics have been credited with helping track down Osama bin Laden. Its value by one measure is $20 billion, one of the highest among private tech companies, and its founders include famed investor Peter Thiel.
Behind this hot startup image, Palantir has struggled to live up to its reputation.
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