I dropped out of high school…Now I’m building the SpaceX of airp…
About This Episode
Blake Scholl, founder of Boom Supersonic, explains how he applied first principles thinking to revive commercial supersonic flight after the Concorde's retirement. He details his journey from a high school dropout and tech executive to teaching himself aerodynamics to build a 'SpaceX for airplanes.'
Episode Description
Show Notes
- 0:00Find your red line
- 4:29Problems hidden in plain sight
- 13:00The making of Boom Supersonic
- 23:00No rules of thumb
- 29:13Blake's favorite interview question
- 34:22Demo Day at YC
- 38:13Selling Richard Branson
- 47:46Being a dark matter founder
- 52:14What does the most ambition of yourself look like?
- 55:51Progressively overturning of the skeptics
- 1:01:06Working with Jeff Bezos at Amazon
Check Out Shaan's Stuff
- Shaan's weekly email
- Visit
- Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies!
- Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC
Check Out Sam's Stuff
Key Takeaways
Identify 'Bystander Effect' opportunities by investigating massive, unsolved problems that are ignored because everyone assumes someone else is already fixing them or they are impossible.
Convert qualitative narratives into quantitative data points to find hidden business opportunities, such as calculating that only a 10% fuel efficiency gain was needed to make supersonic flight economically viable.
Adopt the 'Dark Matter Founder' mindset by choosing the most ambitious project possible where the goal matters more than your insecurities, making you willing to fail honestly at a mission you are proud to pursue.