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/

• X: https://x.com/bscholl

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Where to find Eric:

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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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Eric may be an investor in the companies discussed.