Supersonic Dreams: How Boom Aerospace is Revolutionizing Air Travel

Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, is on a mission to revolutionize air travel by bringing back supersonic passenger flights. In this in-depth conversation, Blake shares the fascinating story of how he went from being a tech entrepreneur with no aerospace background to leading a company that has $26 billion in orders for supersonic jets.

The Birth of a Supersonic Dream

Blake's journey into aerospace was unconventional. After selling his first company to Groupon and working at Amazon, he found himself dissatisfied with building incremental improvements in e-commerce. Inspired by the ambitious missions of companies like Google, Blake decided to pursue an idea that truly excited him - supersonic air travel.

"I put aside my resume and I'm like what would I most...another way to think about this is imagine going back to your 5-year-old self and saying here's what you get to do and what makes that kid just light up and say no way I get to do that," Blake explained.

Initially intimidated by the audacity of building supersonic jets, Blake started by exploring the idea of a convenience-oriented airline. But he quickly realized supersonic travel was his true passion.

"Okay, Blake, take a deep breath. Look at the supersonic thing. You know, in your heart of hearts, you'd love to do it. Got to find out why no one's doing it. I don't want to be 80 and look backwards and think, 'What if I'd looked?' So do it. Understand for myself why it's a terrible idea. And then move on," Blake recalled telling himself.

This approach of investigating an idea to prove it wrong, rather than right, can be a powerful way to overcome self-doubt and societal skepticism around ambitious projects.

Challenging Conventional Wisdom

One of the key lessons from Blake's story is the danger of accepting conventional wisdom without scrutiny. When researching why supersonic travel wasn't more prevalent, he encountered many qualitative claims that didn't stand up to quantitative analysis.

"Don't accept a qualitative answer to a quantitative question," Blake advised. He dug into the numbers behind claims like "supersonic flight is inherently more expensive" and "the market isn't big enough without flying over land."

By doing first principles analysis, Blake discovered that relatively modest efficiency improvements over the Concorde could make supersonic travel economically viable. This realization gave him the confidence to pursue the idea further.

Building Credibility as an Outsider

As someone with no aerospace background, Blake faced significant skepticism when starting Boom. He emphasized the importance of actually developing deep knowledge, rather than relying on credentials:

"I had to actually know what I was talking about...I got it got to a point where it was very hard to ask me a question that I hadn't thought about."

Blake spent a year intensively studying aerospace engineering, even revisiting calculus and physics fundamentals. This allowed him to engage credibly with industry experts and investors.

The Power of Pre-Orders

One of Boom's early breakthrough moments came when they secured a pre-order commitment from Virgin Group founder Richard Branson. Blake recognized that pre-orders were critical for proving product-market fit in capital-intensive hardware businesses.

He pursued Virgin aggressively, even crashing a SpaceShipTwo unveiling event to get a meeting with Branson. The resulting pre-order announcement transformed perceptions of Boom overnight.

"Monday we come out of stealth mode...the comments are just terrible. They're like, 'What idiot would name a jet company Boom?'...Tuesday, we get an email from Virgin that basically says we're in for the first 10. You can announce it tomorrow," Blake recounted.

This story highlights the importance of identifying and landing key early adopters who can lend credibility to an ambitious project.

The Talent Distillery Approach

One of Blake's most valuable lessons has been around building the right team. After experimenting with different hiring approaches, he developed what he calls the "talent distillery" model:

"Think of it as like 80/20 early to mid-career talent and 20% you know done it before...but a mistake is to think the 20% is in the leadership roles. Actually I think that's usually a mistake."

Blake found that pairing young, hungry talent with experienced mentors in advisory roles was more effective than trying to hire industry veterans into leadership positions. This allows for fresh thinking while still benefiting from deep expertise.

Insourcing vs Outsourcing

Another key insight Blake shared was around the dangers of excessive outsourcing. While partnering with established aerospace suppliers seemed like a way to gain credibility, it often led to challenges:

"Every other case we had a engineering outsource provider in some form or fashion, we had to rescue them," Blake noted.

He found that keeping core engineering in-house allowed for faster iteration and learning. Outsourcing can work for isolated, well-defined components, but it's risky for evolving systems that require tight integration.

Leveraging AI for Certification

One exciting development Blake highlighted was Boom's use of AI to accelerate the aircraft certification process:

"We should just take all of the FAA's regulations, advisory documentation, like everything you can find, like just basically just dump it in an LLM. And it turns out it can write certification documents quite well."

This approach is allowing Boom to complete certification documentation much faster and with a smaller, more creative team. It's an example of how cutting-edge technology can be applied to streamline even highly regulated industries.

Doing More with Less

A recurring theme in Blake's approach is the power of small, focused teams. He aims to build Boom's airliner with just a fraction of the headcount traditionally used:

"If a team is not complaining about being understaffed I know it's overstaffed," Blake explained. He views large team sizes as a vanity metric and focuses instead on maximizing productivity per person.

This lean approach, combined with modern tools and first principles thinking, may allow Boom to achieve its ambitious goals with far fewer resources than skeptics expect.

The Road Ahead

Boom is aiming to have its first passenger-carrying flight by the end of 2029. While acknowledging the challenges ahead, Blake is optimistic about the company's ability to restore supersonic travel:

"Our goal is to have the first passenger on the first airplane by the end of 2029. So, call it four and a half years. And there's there's no guarantee we'll get it done on that time frame. But also that's that is if you benchmark against timelines achieved by good old Boeing in the 1990s...people have achieved timelines like that before."

Lessons for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Blake's journey offers valuable lessons for anyone considering pursuing an ambitious idea:

1. Don't be constrained by your background or credentials. Deep knowledge matters more than formal qualifications.

2. Challenge conventional wisdom with rigorous analysis. Many "impossible" ideas are based on faulty assumptions.

3. Seek out key early adopters who can lend credibility to your vision.

4. Build teams that combine fresh talent with experienced mentors.

5. Be strategic about insourcing vs outsourcing. Keep core competencies in-house.

6. Leverage cutting-edge tools like AI to tackle traditional challenges in new ways.

7. Focus on doing more with less rather than building large teams.

8. Don't expect to feel confident. Courage means acting despite fear.

Perhaps most importantly, Blake encourages others to pursue their own ambitious dreams:

"Remember you are somebody and don't expect it to not be scary...Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is acting in spite of fear and you can just choose to be courageous. It's just a choice."

As Boom Supersonic continues its journey to revolutionize air travel, it serves as an inspiring example of what's possible when entrepreneurs dare to challenge the status quo and pursue seemingly impossible goals. The story of Boom is still being written, but it's already providing valuable lessons for the next generation of innovators looking to make their mark on the world.

Article created from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRuFxOvhGeY&pp=0gcJCY0JAYcqIYzv