Mark spent eleven years at Palantir as a forward deployed engineer. He deployed with the company’s first defense customers to Afghanistan and Iraq and later to the Horn of Africa, and was the technical lead across all of its special operations work.

Between deployments, Mark led Forward, Palantir’s first defense product and the basis for an $800M Army contract, and Mobile, used by federal law enforcement. He later worked on Project Maven, the Pentagon’s flagship AI program.

He has been investing since 2010, when he participated in Palantir’s Series D round, becoming the only employee to purchase preferred shares. He backed startups as an angel for more than a decade before starting FDVC in 2022.

Courtney spent twelve years at Palantir in Palo Alto, Los Angeles, and New York, across operational roles. She ran the front desk at headquarters, managed travel and corporate housing across 21 countries, built and supported Foundry apps for budgeting and expenses, then moved to procurement and contracts.

She started at FDVC part-time in 2024. Alongside it, she was embedded with ConductorAI, a portfolio company, building out its first recruiting and operations functions, a stretch she calls a masterclass in early company building. She joined full-time as Operating Partner in 2026. She oversees the firm’s operations and portfolio support, and contributes to everything else the firm does, including investing and investor relations.

Mike spent fifteen years at Palantir, joining as its first forward deployed engineer, a role that has since spread across the industry. He deployed to federal agencies on the East Coast, to military units in Afghanistan, and to Five Eyes partners in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. The work meant integrating the customer’s data, writing code from scratch in air-gapped rooms, and staying on for months after the install.

He later led threat intelligence engineering, which he started to protect the company’s people and its IP, and joined FDVC as a Venture Partner in 2022. He hosted Palantir’s internal-only podcast, and is writing a book about the company from the journal he has kept since his first day.