Engineering talent is the most precious resource for any

Hear now the words of Joe Lonsdale, who speaks with the clarity of one who has built and beheld the forging of great enterprises: “Engineering talent is the most precious resource for any technology company—Palantir and Addepar are successful first and foremost because of their top tech cultures, and the same is true for our best portfolio companies at 8VC.” This is no casual remark, but a declaration carved in the stone of experience, a truth tested by both triumph and failure. He tells us that above wealth, above strategy, above even the glitter of ideas, it is the builders, the ones who shape with code and craft with logic, who are the lifeblood of enduring greatness.

For from the dawn of time, civilizations have risen not because of kings alone, nor because of poets, but because of the engineers of their age. The masons of Egypt who set stones into pyramids, the Roman architects who bound roads and aqueducts across continents, the Chinese artisans who raised the Great Wall—these were the invisible giants, their hands unseen but their work eternal. And so too, in this new age, the engineers of silicon and algorithm hold the same power, though their temples are built not of stone but of code, not for gods of marble but for a humanity that demands speed, clarity, and vision.

Joe Lonsdale invokes Palantir and Addepar as shining examples, not because their wealth dazzles, but because their culture of engineers—restless, brilliant, unyielding—was their first foundation. It was not capital that gave them life, for money is but clay without sculptors. It was not luck, for fortune only favors the ready. It was the gathering of rare minds, disciplined and daring, who bound themselves together in pursuit of a vision greater than their own. And in this, the ancients would nod, for every empire is built upon the strength of those who labor wisely.

Consider the tale of Florence during the Renaissance. Gold and trade made it rich, yet what made it immortal was not its merchants but its engineers and artists—Brunelleschi, who raised the dome of the Duomo by solving problems no man before him dared attempt. His genius was not solitary, but was nurtured by a culture that celebrated mastery, precision, and relentless innovation. Without such talent, Florence would have been a city of coin and silk, forgotten by history. With it, she became a beacon of civilization.

Yet, Lonsdale warns us by implication: companies that neglect their engineers are castles built on sand. Many rulers delight in marketing and adornments, yet when the storm comes, only the unseen strength of technical culture holds. A company without great builders is like an army without soldiers, a kingdom without farmers—doomed to collapse under its own vanity. The ancients taught: “Do not despise the mason, lest your palace crumble.” In this modern age, it is: “Do not neglect the engineer, lest your vision perish.”

Thus, O children of enterprise, learn the lesson well: honor engineering talent, seek it, nurture it. If you are a leader, do not place them beneath layers of vanity and politics, but elevate them as the heart of your realm. If you are an engineer yourself, recognize your own sacred calling. Know that your labor is not merely technical but civilizational. Every line of code, every solved problem, is a stone in the cathedral of the future.

The practical action is clear: build cultures that revere the builder. Let excellence be celebrated, let mediocrity be challenged, let curiosity be fed, and let courage in solving the impossible be rewarded. For companies, like empires, are not sustained by slogans, but by those who dare to bend the raw material of the age into enduring form.

And so, let this teaching be inscribed in your heart: engineers are the lifeblood, culture is the shield, and talent is the treasure. Guard them, cultivate them, and your works shall endure. Neglect them, and though your banners may shine for a season, your kingdom will fade like dust in the desert wind.