Meet the Man Who’s Making Supersonic Flight Possible Again | Blake Scholl
Grit10 Maalis 2025

Meet the Man Who’s Making Supersonic Flight Possible Again | Blake Scholl

Guest: Blake Scholl, Founder & CEO of Boom Supersonic

“Passion and drive trumps knowledge and experience,” says Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl. Long before he was running Boom — which earlier this year successfully tested the world’s first privately-developed supersonic jet — he was enabling “the world’s most obnoxious spam cannon” at Groupon, or designing a barcode-scanning game for retail shoppers.

But eventually, Blake found the courage to be more audacious and do something closer to his lifelong love of aviation. He began educating himself about things he had never thought to learn, and tapping his LinkedIn network to get intros to the smartest people in the industry.

“If you imagine yourself on like the day of IPO, 99 percent of what you needed to know to get to that day, you didn't know on day one,” he says. “So, why not take 99 percent to 99.5 percent, and work on the thing you really want to exist, even if you don't know anything about it yet?”


Chapters:

  • (01:07) - Blake on Boom’s beginnings
  • (01:52) - Breaking the sound barrier
  • (05:23) - Concorde’s legacy
  • (09:36) - Navigating regulations
  • (12:08) - Boomless supersonic flight
  • (16:48) - The test flight
  • (20:11) - Day-of nervousness
  • (24:26) - Carrying passengers
  • (26:55) - Cost & wi-fi
  • (30:19) - “No middle seats”
  • (32:35) - Hard tech
  • (36:48) - What if Apple made a plane?
  • (39:08) - Blake’s career journey
  • (43:29) - The risk of failure
  • (49:12) - Finding the courage
  • (52:49) - Balancing life with Boom
  • (56:42) - Learning how to build a jet
  • (01:00:20) - The power of LinkedIn
  • (01:02:38) - Y Combinator Demo Day
  • (01:08:24) - Richard Branson
  • (01:11:38) - Dividing yourself
  • (01:14:19) - Being a focused dad
  • (01:20:05) - Exuberance vs. fear
  • (01:24:15) - Hiring slowly
  • (01:27:17) - What “grit” means to Blake


Mentioned in this episode: Chuck Yeager, ChatGPT, the Apollo program, Elon Musk, SpaceX and Falcon 1, Boom Overture, Starlink, Boeing, Airbus, iPhone, Jony Ive, Uber, Airbnb, Anduril, United Airlines, American Airlines, Eclipse Aviation, Tesla, Scott Kirby, Mike Leskinen, Inktomi, Yahoo!, Amazon, Pelago, Google Ads, Kima Labs, Barcode Hero, Groupon, iPad, Eric Schmidt, Steve Jobs, Khan Academy, Sam Altman, Loopt, Virgin Atlantic, Paul Graham, Michael Seibel, Ashlee Vance, Bloomberg, Hacker News, Jared Friedman, Sen. Mark Kelly, SV Angel, Ron Conway, Virgin Galactic, Lockheed Martin, Gulfstream, Jeff Bezos, Jeff Holden, and How It’s Made.


Links:

Connect with Blake

Connect with Joubin


Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(290)

The Sales Framework Every Founder Needs | Mark Roberge

The Sales Framework Every Founder Needs | Mark Roberge

"There's 20 fires going on at every moment in the office and you have enough water to put out four."Mark Roberge shares what it takes to build and scale a company, from finding product-market fit to k...

13 Heinä 1h 22min

Airwallex's Jack Zhang on Fintech, Failure, and Growth

Airwallex's Jack Zhang on Fintech, Failure, and Growth

In 2020, Airwallex lost nearly half its revenue overnight. Today it's worth $11 billion.Jack Zhang reflects on the decisions that kept the company alive, raising capital during uncertainty, and leadin...

29 Kesä 1h 11min

Why 80% of the Fortune 100 Chose Qualtrics | Ryan Smith

Why 80% of the Fortune 100 Chose Qualtrics | Ryan Smith

AI may change software overnight, but company building still takes time.Ryan Smith explains why, despite the pace of AI, “the race is going to be way longer than anyone thinks.”He reflects on Qualtric...

15 Kesä 1h 12min

What It Takes to Build Software for 171,000+ Restaurants | Aman Narang

What It Takes to Build Software for 171,000+ Restaurants | Aman Narang

Great software companies often come from understanding pain points at a very deep level.On Grit, Aman Narang shares how Toast built trust with 171,000+ restaurant operators by helping restaurants mana...

1 Kesä 1h 17min

What It Takes to Build a Generational Company | Anduril’s Trae Stephens

What It Takes to Build a Generational Company | Anduril’s Trae Stephens

Founder quality becomes more important as startups become easier to build.Trae Stephens, co-founder of Anduril and partner at Founders Fund, has spent years backing founders with strong conviction, in...

18 Touko 56min

How AIG Is Reinventing Insurance With AI | Peter Zaffino

How AIG Is Reinventing Insurance With AI | Peter Zaffino

What does it take to run a company where the business is risk itself?In conversation with Joubin Mirzadegan, Peter Zaffino shares what the role demands at AIG, including high stakes decisions, constan...

4 Touko 56min

From Airbnb to Linear: How Karri Saarinen Redefined Product Design

From Airbnb to Linear: How Karri Saarinen Redefined Product Design

In a market that hadn’t changed in decades, Linear didn’t win by being faster. They won by being more thoughtful.Karri Saarinen helped shape design at Airbnb and Coinbase before building Linear around...

20 Huhti 1h 17min

How Kevin Mandia Built the Most Trusted Name in Cybersecurity

How Kevin Mandia Built the Most Trusted Name in Cybersecurity

What does security look like when attackers use AI better than you do?Armadin recently raised $200M to build for the “attacker of the future,” where attacks are autonomous and harder to contain.On the...

6 Huhti 1h 2min

Suosittua kategoriassa Liike-elämä ja talous

sijotuskasti
psykopodiaa-podcast
mimmit-sijoittaa
rss-rahapodi
rss-karon-grilli
rss-sami-miettinen-neuvottelija
rahapuhetta
oppimisen-psykologia
rss-tarkeista-asioista-2
rss-inderes
rss-rahataito-podcast
hyva-paha-johtaminen
asuntoasiaa-paivakirjat
rss-perho-rajoilla
rss-rahamania
rss-rentotapaus
rss-ysin-muijat
rss-pinnan-alla-kiehuu
rss-tyoelaman-muodonmuutos
rss-paasipodi