The pitch that changed air travel forever: $3B in preorders, Richard Branson’s backing, and the return of supersonic flight | Blake Scholl (Boom Supersonic)
What does it take to challenge a century-old status quo in aviation? In this episode of The Eric Ries Show, I sit down with Blake Scholl, Founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, a company on a mission to bring back supersonic air travel—sustainably and affordably.
Blake doesn’t come from aerospace. He’s a computer scientist and former Amazon engineer who sold his startup, Kima Labs, to Groupon. What he does have is a clear mission, first principles thinking, and relentless execution. His story is a case study in how deep curiosity and iterative learning can outperform traditional credentials.
In our conversation, we explore how to navigate high-uncertainty environments, challenge industry inertia, and build world-class teams to do the seemingly impossible.
We cover:
• The “bystander effect” in innovation—and how to avoid it
• Why trying to disprove your idea is a founder's superpower
• The edge of understanding when the context changes
• The accidental pivot: How Boomless cruise came about
• Blake’s “confusion list,” a practice to gain clarity
• Why deep knowledge trumps credentials
• How Blake leveraged Wikipedia and SeatGuru to understand how the Concorde failed
• Boom's methodical approach to derisking each challenge
• The "talent distillery"—Boom's framework for building exceptional teams
• Tips for giving and asking for advice
• How Boom uses AI to cut through the minutia and do more with less
• Why accumulated learnings are a company's greatest asset
• And more!
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Where to find Blake Scholl :
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakescholl/
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Where to find Eric:
• Newsletter: https://ericries.carrd.co/
• Podcast: https://ericriesshow.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theericriesshow
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In This Episode We Cover:
(00:00) Intro
(02:43) How Boom is bringing back building commercial aircraft in the US
(04:30) The bystander effect in innovation
(07:30) The power of founder happiness and taking big bets
(12:10) How Blake shifted from building an airline to building a supersonic company
(14:07) Blake’s focus on first principles thinking
(16:17) How boomless cruise came about, and other accidental discoveries
(23:50) Blake’s practical exercise for gaining clarity
(25:15) Boom’s origin story
(31:10) How taking a bigger risk made Blake more comfortable with failure
(32:24) A case for entrepreneurship as a truth-seeking discipline
(33:47) How a founder’s deep understanding builds trust
(38:20) Why Concorde failed, and how Boom solved for those problems
(44:36) Boom’s plan for derisking each risk
(47:33) How Boom was able to get Richard Branson on board with pre-ordering for Virgin
(52:24) Boom’s relaunch after getting Virgin’s pre-order
(56:00) How Blake focuses on the end state
(59:22) The importance of aptitude and willingness to learn
(1:01:34) Why building a team was the hardest part for Boom
(1:06:32) Tips for getting better advice–and receiving it
(1:09:40) How Boom maintains mission alignment working with outside vendors
(1:14:04) Boom’s learnings from working with suppliers
(1:19:35) The current status of Boom
(1:20:57) How Boom uses AI to help with FAA certification and more
(1:23:00) The size of teams at Boom, and how using AI enables them to have less engineers
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You can find episode references at https://www.ericriesshow.com/
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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ .
Eric may be an investor in the companies discussed.
