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Palantir, 16 years and counting ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies

What is the life expectancy of a unicorn anyway?

That's because it was founded by billionaires and funded by the DoD...if you have infinite money, you can stay private for as long as you'd like.

Palantir isn't a startup, it's a defense company.

Valve (maker of Steam) is another company that has been private since 1996.

But Valve never was a startup. It was entierely self-funded by Newell and Harrington who had become rich after working from Microsoft.

Benioff remarks about governance don't really apply to Valve because even if Valve was poorly managed it would pretty much be Newell misusing its own money.

> because even if Valve was poorly managed

based on their culture deck it doesn't seem great.

Purely from the standpoint of maximizing value I mean.

Most people wouldn't consider Valve a startup because they haven't taken outside investment. They're just a private company.

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