1 00:00:01,760 --> 00:00:05,320 Speaker 1: You're listening to Math and Magic, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:08,440 --> 00:00:11,800 Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what you've already done. What matters more 3 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: is what you can learn to do. Skills are variable 4 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:17,759 Speaker 1: in a way that passion is not. I have consistently 5 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:22,800 Speaker 1: found that following my passion and being willing to reinvent 6 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:25,840 Speaker 1: myself and learn new things takes me to places where 7 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:27,480 Speaker 1: I'm happier and able to do more than I ever 8 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: thought I could. I I'm Bob Pittman, and welcome to 9 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:37,519 Speaker 1: Math and Magic. Stories from the Frontier's Marketing. Businesses and 10 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:41,400 Speaker 1: industries grow from bold steps and from ignoring conventional wisdom 11 00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 1: and heard mentality. Our guest today embodies all that he's 12 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: taking Commercial aviation back in the Supersonic Flight is the 13 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic. Blake Shoal Blake is 14 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: a pilot with a lifelong fascination with aviation. He describes 15 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 1: himself as having been a socially awkward child, but clearly 16 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:05,839 Speaker 1: a smart one. He loved summer science camps and even 17 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: started a web hosting and consulting business while in high school. 18 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 1: He skipped his last year of high school and started 19 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:15,840 Speaker 1: college early. Went on to Amazon, tech startups and groupon 20 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: before he took matters into his own hands and followed 21 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 1: his passions and his dreams to start Boom Supersonic. Now 22 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: I have to disclose as we began that I've been 23 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 1: a pilot since I was sixteen. I have seven thousand 24 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: hours of flight time, have an airline transport pilot's license, 25 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: and until the pandemic hit when I skipped flight school 26 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:37,760 Speaker 1: for a few years, I flew left seat in a 27 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:40,520 Speaker 1: Falcon nine hundred for the last twenty years, as well 28 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:43,959 Speaker 1: as a helicopter. I'm a former board member of the 29 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and basically love everything about 30 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:52,000 Speaker 1: airplanes and flying. I'm a plane geek. As you can imagine, 31 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 1: I'm really excited to spend this episode with Blake. Welcome. 32 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 1: Great to be here, Bob. I guess you and I 33 00:01:56,720 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: are both playing crazy. Thank goodness, Blake. Before we dig 34 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: into the meat, I'd like to put you in perspective 35 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,840 Speaker 1: with a little feature we do called you in sixty seconds. Ready, 36 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:11,640 Speaker 1: let's do it. Do you prefer cats or dogs? Dogs? 37 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:16,760 Speaker 1: Cincinnati or Denver? Denver? Definitely introvert or extrovert. Introvert who 38 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:19,799 Speaker 1: plays an extrovert on TV, window or aisle. If it's 39 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 1: a long flight, I'll take aisle. If it's a shorter 40 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:26,680 Speaker 1: flight before the window. Amazon or Groupon Definitely Amazon pilot 41 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 1: or passenger pilot. All day long, Video games or board games, 42 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:36,239 Speaker 1: Board games, Arctic or Desert, Desert, Virgin Galactic or SpaceX, 43 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: SpaceX hands down, X fifteen or X one. Let's go 44 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: X one. Moon or Mars. Definitely the Moon. Favorite astronaut 45 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 1: Neil Armstrong. Secret talent, I don't know dad jokes except 46 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:54,960 Speaker 1: for Boom, your favorite plane, the SR seventy one Blackbird. 47 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:59,799 Speaker 1: Smartest person you know, Jeff Bezos, childhood hero, Bill Gates. Okay, 48 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:05,200 Speaker 1: final one. Most exciting airport where you've landed yourself. My best, 49 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:10,360 Speaker 1: most exciting, maybe not proudest landing story was at Mimmolous, Oregon. Wow, 50 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:14,000 Speaker 1: let's jump in and start with a history lesson. I 51 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: used to take the Concord when it had regular service 52 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:19,680 Speaker 1: to London. In Paris, I could wake up in Paris, 53 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:23,400 Speaker 1: have breakfast, leisurely, get to the airport for noon departure, 54 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:26,520 Speaker 1: and land in New York three hours earlier at nine am. 55 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: Truly magic. I have taken two of my three kids 56 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 1: on the Concord, and then before my youngest can make 57 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:37,760 Speaker 1: or flight get stopped. Can you tell us why Concord 58 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:42,240 Speaker 1: stopped and maybe why it never really had a real 59 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:47,040 Speaker 1: business plan my view, as Concord was stillborn, if we 60 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: started at the surface level, it shut down because it 61 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:53,400 Speaker 1: was too expensive to fly relative to the passenger demand 62 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:57,760 Speaker 1: a ticket on Concord adjusted inflation today it's upward of 63 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: twenty thousand dollars, and yet one hundred not necessarily very 64 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:04,640 Speaker 1: comfortable seats on the airplane to fill. And it's just 65 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 1: very difficult to find a hundred people who want to 66 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:10,840 Speaker 1: spend twenty grand to go somewhere really fast. So even 67 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:13,440 Speaker 1: on the most popular routes like the ones you're mentioned 68 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:16,000 Speaker 1: in New York, London and New York Paris, the airplane 69 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:19,760 Speaker 1: was typically half empty and it did not have the 70 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: economics or the range to achieve economies of scale. So 71 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 1: why did that happen? In my view, the deepest cause 72 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:32,280 Speaker 1: here is that this was a Cold War era glory project. 73 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:36,159 Speaker 1: This was not a commercial venture. Concord was established in 74 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:39,839 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty two via a treaty between the French and 75 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:43,760 Speaker 1: British governments, and the goal was really fly fast, try 76 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:46,839 Speaker 1: not to crash and show up the Russians. And it 77 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:50,239 Speaker 1: was at that level mission accomplished, but it was never 78 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: something that was designed to be commercially successful or commercially valuable. 79 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:58,720 Speaker 1: Very much akin to Apollo and in fact your nineteen 80 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 1: sixty nine first moon Land first Concord flight, neither of 81 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:06,800 Speaker 1: those had any sort of thought of economics or commercial viability. 82 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:11,279 Speaker 1: And while they both looked like tremendous technological progress. And 83 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:13,800 Speaker 1: as we sit here, if you want a lunar lander 84 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:16,160 Speaker 1: or a supersonic airliner, we got to go to a museum, 85 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:18,680 Speaker 1: not look up into the skies. And I think that 86 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:24,440 Speaker 1: goes back to the importance of commercial consideration on day's 87 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 1: zero and doing things for national prestige. Yeah, we can 88 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:31,239 Speaker 1: show up the Russians, but it's not really a bridge 89 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:33,760 Speaker 1: to change in the world. So let's give people who 90 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:37,119 Speaker 1: don't know much about Concord a little lesson. It flew 91 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: mock two. Oh, that's about thirteen hundred miles per hour. 92 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:44,360 Speaker 1: It flew up to sixty thousand feet. You could see 93 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:46,960 Speaker 1: sort of the curvature or the earth up there, and 94 00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 1: was a small cabin. The galley was in the middle, 95 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:51,240 Speaker 1: so there was a front and a back, but it 96 00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:54,520 Speaker 1: wasn't first class and coach or business, and he got 97 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:58,680 Speaker 1: incredibly warm in that cabin, especially around the galley as 98 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:02,040 Speaker 1: you were flying at What else should they know about Concord? Yeah, 99 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: I think that's all about right. It was a long, 100 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:09,599 Speaker 1: skinny airplane, a triangular delta wing, and expensive to fly. 101 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 1: And also a first impression of smallness that the boarding 102 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:16,760 Speaker 1: door was small. You have to duck to get in, 103 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:19,880 Speaker 1: and then before you even get to the passenger cabin 104 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:22,040 Speaker 1: there's the equivalent of maybe three or four rows of sea. 105 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:26,160 Speaker 1: It's worth of kind of Florida's ceiling equipment racks, and 106 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:29,960 Speaker 1: so it has sort of a first impression of a 107 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 1: really tight space before you even get back into the 108 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:38,040 Speaker 1: passenger cabin. And today you can see Concord. There's one 109 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:40,279 Speaker 1: at the Intrepid Museum on the Hudson River in New York, 110 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:42,479 Speaker 1: and there's one at the Air and Space Museum out 111 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:47,000 Speaker 1: of Dullas Airport in DC. So why did the airlines 112 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:51,120 Speaker 1: and consumers lose interest in supersonic or did they? I 113 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:57,159 Speaker 1: think there's always been tremendous consumer excitement and supersonic. The 114 00:06:57,200 --> 00:06:59,680 Speaker 1: problem was that it wasn't offered at a price or 115 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:03,320 Speaker 1: an experience or with the root network that made it 116 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:06,719 Speaker 1: make sense. And so twenty thousand dollars round trip New 117 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: York to London for most people, that's a bucket list item. 118 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:14,120 Speaker 1: It's not transportation. And if we look back at you 119 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 1: know what happened when we went in the fifties and 120 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: sixties from props to jets. There has always been consumer 121 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,600 Speaker 1: interest in more speed. And when more speed is offered 122 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 1: at a price point and in locations that people can 123 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:29,720 Speaker 1: really afford, it changes where we do business, it changes 124 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:32,160 Speaker 1: where we vacation, It even changes who we can fall 125 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:36,280 Speaker 1: in love with. But supersonic flight really only offered on 126 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 1: one airplane and never offered at a price point that 127 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:44,720 Speaker 1: was attainable to any other than a relatively small number 128 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:48,360 Speaker 1: of people. So let's go to the big question, why 129 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 1: will you succeed when the others failed? Well, it's certainly 130 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:55,040 Speaker 1: not guaranteed that will succeed. There's a lot of challenge 131 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: ahead of us. Fortunately, there's also some challenge in the 132 00:07:57,400 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: rearview mirror. I can talk about why I think the 133 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:03,080 Speaker 1: time is right and why if Boom doesn't succeed, it'll 134 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:05,680 Speaker 1: be our failure of execution, not a failure of opportunity. 135 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 1: You know, fifty years after Concorde was designed, we've had 136 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:14,200 Speaker 1: both significant progress in basic airplane technology and huge growth 137 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:18,000 Speaker 1: in the market. So imagine Concord twenty thousand dollar ticket. 138 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 1: If airlines were charging a quarter of that, say like 139 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 1: five grand on airplane on overture, that'd be incredibly profitable. 140 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:27,920 Speaker 1: And it has the legs not just to do a 141 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:31,800 Speaker 1: couple of headline routes, but it's economically viable one hundreds 142 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:34,600 Speaker 1: so not just New York London, but Seattle to Tokyo, 143 00:08:34,679 --> 00:08:38,120 Speaker 1: and La to Sydney and Miami to Madrid, just to 144 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:40,839 Speaker 1: give a few examples. And we're able to go build 145 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:46,319 Speaker 1: that airplane using only technologies that have been proven safe, reliable, 146 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 1: and efficient. So from a technological perspective, this is at 147 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 1: the same level as a Gabowing seven eight seven, meaning 148 00:08:54,960 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 1: it's a carbon fiber composite fuselage, it's got advanced turbofan engine, 149 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:02,800 Speaker 1: fly by wire, flight controls. We could keep nerding out 150 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:06,040 Speaker 1: about it. Every single thing on the airplane has a 151 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:09,440 Speaker 1: precedent of flying on other commercial airplanes and being accepted 152 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:13,200 Speaker 1: as safe by regulators around the planet. So your range 153 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:17,160 Speaker 1: is about twice what Concord was, not quite twice. It's 154 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:21,200 Speaker 1: forty two fifty nautical miles or about five thousand statute miles, 155 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:23,720 Speaker 1: and that's with all the seats filled and everyone checking 156 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:28,119 Speaker 1: a big heavy bag. And Concord was three thousand and change. 157 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:32,080 Speaker 1: So we've got not quite fifty percent more range. However, 158 00:09:32,559 --> 00:09:35,720 Speaker 1: with sixty five seats on the airplane and the operating 159 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:39,320 Speaker 1: cost and overall efficiency being better roots like La Sydney, 160 00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:42,480 Speaker 1: that's a very long route. So today that's a fourteen 161 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:45,400 Speaker 1: fifteen hour flight with overture, it's about eight and a 162 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:49,959 Speaker 1: half hours including stopping in Tahiti for gas. Wow, that's great. 163 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 1: And the speed is two O like Concord, slightly slower 164 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:57,760 Speaker 1: actually Mack one point seven. We initially aim to be 165 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:01,360 Speaker 1: a little bit faster, but as we learn more about 166 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:04,600 Speaker 1: the details, what we found was going very slightly slow 167 00:10:04,679 --> 00:10:10,840 Speaker 1: or generated significantly better economics, significantly better sustainability, and also 168 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:15,560 Speaker 1: allowed us to reduce the technological challenge, for example, being 169 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:19,360 Speaker 1: able to operate with improven material systems. That is I 170 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:22,600 Speaker 1: guess always to question is speed versus range? But it 171 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:25,040 Speaker 1: sounds like you still got a lot of speed. There'll 172 00:10:25,080 --> 00:10:27,600 Speaker 1: be an overture two, and our goal is to make 173 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:31,280 Speaker 1: it significantly faster. As an airplane nerd, I get very 174 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:34,960 Speaker 1: excited about that stuff, but as a passenger, I want 175 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:37,319 Speaker 1: to put this airplane in the hands of airlines and 176 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:40,720 Speaker 1: passengers as quickly as possible. And so a phrase they 177 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:43,640 Speaker 1: got drilled into me kind of growing up in tech, 178 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:47,480 Speaker 1: growing up in Silicon Valley was minimum viable product, and 179 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:52,120 Speaker 1: overture one is really a minimum viable supersonic airplane. We've 180 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:56,040 Speaker 1: kept it as small and simple as we can because 181 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:58,680 Speaker 1: we want to get it out as quickly as possible. 182 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:01,120 Speaker 1: I want to dig into some questions about the how 183 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:05,480 Speaker 1: and probably more importantly for this podcast, to management lessons 184 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:08,320 Speaker 1: you learn. But first I want to get some perspective 185 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:10,880 Speaker 1: on you by going back to your childhood. You grew 186 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:13,719 Speaker 1: up in Cincinnati. Your dad was an engineer, your mom 187 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:16,920 Speaker 1: was a French teacher. Paint the picture of growing up 188 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:19,439 Speaker 1: in the Midwest in the eighties and nineties. I was 189 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:22,160 Speaker 1: an only kid, so I sort of grew up by myself. 190 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:25,560 Speaker 1: Didn't have a lot of friends, and I spent a 191 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:28,440 Speaker 1: lot of time playing on my own, thinking on my own. 192 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:33,640 Speaker 1: I was obsessed with model trains throughout much of my childhood, 193 00:11:33,679 --> 00:11:36,120 Speaker 1: and as I got a little bit older, became obsessed 194 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:39,840 Speaker 1: with computers. And I love that gratification cycle of how 195 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:44,480 Speaker 1: easy it was to do something in software and be 196 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:48,559 Speaker 1: able to see a result quickly. I remember thinking about 197 00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:52,280 Speaker 1: airplanes and wanting to learn to fly, drawing little pictures 198 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 1: of cartoon airplanes that you know, I dream of building. 199 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:59,040 Speaker 1: So where did the love of airplanes come from? There 200 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:01,320 Speaker 1: must have been someone who planet that seed in there 201 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:04,520 Speaker 1: for you. If you believe my parents, It goes back 202 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:06,880 Speaker 1: to when I was six months old and they had 203 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:11,600 Speaker 1: taken me to this little airport in suburban Cincinnati to 204 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:14,640 Speaker 1: watch the Cessina's takeoff and land, and I had a 205 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:18,120 Speaker 1: little Fisher Price toy airplane. As they tell the story, 206 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:20,200 Speaker 1: that was the first time I made the connection between 207 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:21,720 Speaker 1: a toy thing and a real thing, and I just 208 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:24,840 Speaker 1: lit up. So I don't know, maybe it imprinted somehow, 209 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:28,040 Speaker 1: But as long as I can remember, like, I've found 210 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:34,560 Speaker 1: flight inspiring and it is such a uniquely human thing 211 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:36,160 Speaker 1: to be able to do. I mean, we weren't born 212 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:38,679 Speaker 1: to fly. We're you know, we're far heavier than air, 213 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:41,080 Speaker 1: and we don't have wings like birds. We had to 214 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:44,680 Speaker 1: go vent the airplane, and you know to this day 215 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:49,560 Speaker 1: looking down out the window, it's a uniquely human vantage 216 00:12:49,559 --> 00:12:53,360 Speaker 1: point where we can take in everything that we've built 217 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:56,360 Speaker 1: as humanity is, as well as the natural beauty of 218 00:12:56,400 --> 00:13:01,240 Speaker 1: the world, and doing it aboard one of the most complex, 219 00:13:01,559 --> 00:13:05,160 Speaker 1: safety critical machines ever created. It's like we're riding on 220 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:08,959 Speaker 1: the wings of Newton and the right brothers. You're looking 221 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:12,520 Speaker 1: down on the creation of Edison and Rockefeller and Ford, 222 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:16,120 Speaker 1: and it's just an incredibly unique thing and an incredibly 223 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:21,040 Speaker 1: human thing. More on math and magic right after this 224 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:27,600 Speaker 1: quick break. Welcome back to math and magic. Let's hear 225 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:33,960 Speaker 1: more from my conversation with Blake seul So. You have 226 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:38,040 Speaker 1: said you were a socially awkward kid. How did that 227 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:41,080 Speaker 1: contribute to your later success? Bob, That's not a question 228 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:43,880 Speaker 1: I think I've ever been asked before. It's really thought provoking. 229 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:47,520 Speaker 1: I have vivid memories of sitting by myself like an 230 00:13:47,559 --> 00:13:52,240 Speaker 1: elementary school, just thinking, and I remember being told, I 231 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:56,480 Speaker 1: think in first grade, that we couldn't fly faster than 232 00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:58,920 Speaker 1: the speed of light, and that didn't make any sense 233 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:01,480 Speaker 1: to him that I remember sitting by myself at recess 234 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:05,120 Speaker 1: and elementary school, thinking about how we could fly faster 235 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:07,800 Speaker 1: than the speed of light. I didn't understand anything about 236 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:11,040 Speaker 1: aerospace or physics or rockets, and so I didn't know 237 00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:13,120 Speaker 1: that rockets were, you know, not empty on the inside. 238 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:16,200 Speaker 1: I remember there's like Russian dolls that are nested, you know, 239 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:18,240 Speaker 1: you take one apart and then there's another doll on 240 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 1: the inside to take it apart there on the inside. 241 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:22,160 Speaker 1: Like I remember thinking about like, well, couldn't you build 242 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:24,640 Speaker 1: a rocket like that? And it'd be like one nest 243 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:26,640 Speaker 1: that inside, the next nest that inside the next. And 244 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:28,840 Speaker 1: it seemed like if we had a contraption like that, 245 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:32,400 Speaker 1: well couldn't you go arbitrarily fast? And I look back 246 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:33,960 Speaker 1: now and it's like, you know, not only did I 247 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:36,640 Speaker 1: not understand physics and relativity, Like I didn't understand that 248 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:39,200 Speaker 1: rockets they had stuff on the inside that there was 249 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:41,000 Speaker 1: not like they were empty. You could put another rocket 250 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:45,040 Speaker 1: in there. So it was incredibly naive. But I spent 251 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:47,640 Speaker 1: a lot of time because I guess I didn't have friends, 252 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:51,560 Speaker 1: just kind of by myself thinking, so let's talk about 253 00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:55,400 Speaker 1: science camps. What's the power of a science camp? What 254 00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:59,120 Speaker 1: do they mean to you. The single biggest thing I 255 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:02,880 Speaker 1: think it meant to me was a chance to see 256 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:05,480 Speaker 1: what a good education could actually be, like, how engaging 257 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:07,880 Speaker 1: it could be, and how fun it was to be 258 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:10,760 Speaker 1: around other kids that I considered my peers like. I 259 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:13,960 Speaker 1: did not like school growing up. I was bored, was 260 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:17,320 Speaker 1: not engaging. I'm so grateful to Mom and Dad. And 261 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:20,640 Speaker 1: mom researched all this back when there was no internet 262 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:21,960 Speaker 1: and she had to go to the public library to 263 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:23,960 Speaker 1: kind of figure out what was out there. But she 264 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:28,440 Speaker 1: sent me to programming camps and electrical engineering camps and 265 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 1: various Today we call it STEM type stuff. And I 266 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:34,120 Speaker 1: loved it. It was a chance to be challenged, a 267 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 1: chance to learn, and the teaching was great, and I 268 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:39,840 Speaker 1: got to hang out with other kids that were like 269 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:43,600 Speaker 1: me that I just didn't really have in suburban Cincinnati, 270 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:46,840 Speaker 1: a public school kind of environment. So tell us the 271 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:50,280 Speaker 1: story of how you skipped your last year of high school. 272 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:54,560 Speaker 1: Got a scholarship to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. So 273 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:58,760 Speaker 1: went to public high school in suburban Cincinnati. Did not 274 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:04,200 Speaker 1: love it, felt mostly socially disconnected, felt mostly academically disconnected. 275 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:07,640 Speaker 1: And my high school girlfriend was a great ahead of me, 276 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:10,120 Speaker 1: so she was gonna exit high school a year before 277 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:13,040 Speaker 1: I was, and I think she said, like, hey, she'd 278 00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:15,560 Speaker 1: figure out how to do that too. And on my 279 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:19,240 Speaker 1: short list of schools that were my dream schools was 280 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:23,400 Speaker 1: Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, and it turned out they had this, 281 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:27,560 Speaker 1: in my view, brilliant program where you could apply as 282 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:32,960 Speaker 1: a junior basically ride an essay about why high school 283 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:35,120 Speaker 1: sucks and there's nothing left for you there. Then they 284 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:37,000 Speaker 1: would run you through an interview, which I think was 285 00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:39,600 Speaker 1: basically a maturity test, and if you passed the maturity 286 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:42,320 Speaker 1: test and they liked your essay, they would just treat 287 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:45,400 Speaker 1: you like you're a high school senior. And they let 288 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:48,720 Speaker 1: me come be a freshman without ever finishing high school, 289 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:51,880 Speaker 1: without ever getting a ged, and I was like every 290 00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:54,320 Speaker 1: other freshman in campus. I look backwards and it was 291 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:57,760 Speaker 1: one of the best things I've ever done. And obviously 292 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:01,120 Speaker 1: you did well at university. I did all right. I 293 00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:03,680 Speaker 1: also rushed through. I did my undergrad in three years, 294 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:06,720 Speaker 1: but I did actually graduate that time. So you dropped 295 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:09,600 Speaker 1: out of high school, Soldier High School, Ara Business, and 296 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:12,359 Speaker 1: off you went to college, and there I think you 297 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:14,920 Speaker 1: took your first flying lesson two thousand and eight, you 298 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:17,760 Speaker 1: got your private pilots license two eleven, you got your 299 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:20,439 Speaker 1: instrument rating. Do you still fly today and what do 300 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:22,960 Speaker 1: you fly? Yeah? I still fly today all my time. 301 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:27,320 Speaker 1: Recently isn't a serious SR twenty two t which for 302 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:30,399 Speaker 1: the folks who don't know, is it's basically, in my opinion, 303 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:33,120 Speaker 1: the best single engineer plane you can get today. So 304 00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:36,280 Speaker 1: it's a four or five seed airplane, single engine propeller, 305 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:40,000 Speaker 1: has the legs to go maybe at tops one thousand miles, 306 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:42,880 Speaker 1: but it's a real nice little airplane, great for kind 307 00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:47,320 Speaker 1: of regional trips and for the layman, sounds really exciting. 308 00:17:47,359 --> 00:17:50,920 Speaker 1: It has a parachute, right it does. If something goes 309 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:54,760 Speaker 1: really badly wrong, there's a handle that you can pull 310 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:58,240 Speaker 1: and a rocket fires out the back of the airplane 311 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:01,879 Speaker 1: and a parachute wrap inflates and the entire airplane just 312 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:06,440 Speaker 1: flows to the ground. And this is saved dozens, if 313 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:09,000 Speaker 1: not it's probably approaching one hundred lives now that have 314 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:11,840 Speaker 1: been saved through the ballistic parachutes as they call them. 315 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:14,240 Speaker 1: In fact, one of the Sirius is based here in 316 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 1: Centennial that I used to fly was in a mid 317 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:22,840 Speaker 1: air collision about a year ago, and typically midair collisions 318 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:26,720 Speaker 1: like everybody dies, it's really bad. And in this case, 319 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:29,879 Speaker 1: the Sirius was able to pull the parachute miraculously. The 320 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,760 Speaker 1: air planet collided with landed straight ahead and was fine. 321 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:35,159 Speaker 1: It was really a miracle day where everyone lived in 322 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:39,280 Speaker 1: part because of the parachute on the Sirius. After college, 323 00:18:39,359 --> 00:18:41,840 Speaker 1: you started as a software engineer at Amazon in two 324 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:44,040 Speaker 1: thousand and one. You left in two thousand and seven. 325 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:47,760 Speaker 1: What lessons did you learn at Amazon that you still 326 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:51,000 Speaker 1: use today. We can probably talk for hours and not 327 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:53,600 Speaker 1: days on things I learned at Amazon. One of them 328 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:57,959 Speaker 1: was something that Jeff would just drill into everyone's mind, 329 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:02,440 Speaker 1: which was, if you wanted to build something enduring, don't 330 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:05,439 Speaker 1: focus on what's new and trendy. Focus on what's going 331 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:07,520 Speaker 1: to stay the same over a long period of time. 332 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:11,240 Speaker 1: In the context of Amazon, he would talk about selection 333 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:15,080 Speaker 1: and availability and price as being things that people would 334 00:19:15,119 --> 00:19:18,800 Speaker 1: always care about and therefore being things where you could 335 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:22,320 Speaker 1: make significant investments over a period of decades and trust 336 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:24,760 Speaker 1: that you're going to be creating something of value. You 337 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:26,800 Speaker 1: know that thinking directly applies to Boom because you know, 338 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:28,840 Speaker 1: people are going to always want flights that are faster 339 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:32,159 Speaker 1: and more affordable and more convenient. On those are vectors 340 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:34,320 Speaker 1: in which we can invest over a period of decades 341 00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:37,200 Speaker 1: to build something great. Another one that comes to mind 342 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:43,280 Speaker 1: was this notion of individuals and companies doing things that 343 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:45,879 Speaker 1: they didn't have the resume for. You know, so when 344 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:47,840 Speaker 1: I joined Amazon, it was always a debate is it 345 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:49,960 Speaker 1: a bookstore or is it a software company? And I 346 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:51,560 Speaker 1: got to be there. I didn't work directly at it. 347 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:53,879 Speaker 1: I got to be there when they built aws, and 348 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:56,720 Speaker 1: I got to be there when they built Kindle and 349 00:19:56,880 --> 00:20:00,840 Speaker 1: Amazon the retailer slash software company, and have the resume 350 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:03,160 Speaker 1: to do any of those things, and yet they did. 351 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:05,520 Speaker 1: They figured it out. And that left me with sort 352 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:09,800 Speaker 1: of the very distinct impression that it doesn't matter what 353 00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:11,879 Speaker 1: you've already done. What matters more is what you can 354 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:15,320 Speaker 1: learn to do. Skills are variable in a way that 355 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:18,600 Speaker 1: passion is not. And so I have consistently found that 356 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:23,439 Speaker 1: following my passion and being willing to reinvent myself and 357 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:26,280 Speaker 1: learn new things takes me to places where I'm happier 358 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:28,120 Speaker 1: and able to do more than I ever thought I could. 359 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:30,920 Speaker 1: You did a couple of tech startups, and in twenty 360 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:34,000 Speaker 1: twelve you were acquired by Groupon. Could not have been 361 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:37,920 Speaker 1: a hotter company at the time. A couple of questions, 362 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:40,479 Speaker 1: what did you do there, why did you learn? And 363 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:43,800 Speaker 1: why did groupon lose its mojo? To set the stage 364 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:46,399 Speaker 1: here a little bit, So it was twenty twelve, I 365 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:50,080 Speaker 1: had founded my first company was called Keema Labs, and 366 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:53,520 Speaker 1: I looked back and that was really a case study 367 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:57,159 Speaker 1: and everything not to do. But it was twenty twelve. 368 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:01,120 Speaker 1: The valley was hot, and if you had a decent team, 369 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:03,439 Speaker 1: you could basically sell it for team and technology. And 370 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:07,680 Speaker 1: so groupon bought my startup for team and technology and 371 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:10,480 Speaker 1: they put me on what in my view should have 372 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:13,199 Speaker 1: been group On two point zero. And so if you 373 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:17,000 Speaker 1: think back about the foundation of Groupon with this local coupons, 374 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:20,199 Speaker 1: there were so many at that time business plans that 375 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:24,560 Speaker 1: were pitched that were about reinventing how we transact with 376 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:26,320 Speaker 1: a local business. But they all had a chicken and 377 00:21:26,359 --> 00:21:30,160 Speaker 1: egg problem because they needed a digital connection to local businesses, 378 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:32,720 Speaker 1: and they did it a digital connection to consumers. Group 379 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:34,840 Speaker 1: On crack the chicken and egg problem basically with a 380 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:38,680 Speaker 1: viral coupon the company was super hot. But Andrew Mason, 381 00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:43,040 Speaker 1: who was basically the founding CEO, had a really compelling 382 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:46,760 Speaker 1: vision about how to take that collection of chickens and 383 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:50,000 Speaker 1: eggs and parlay it into something really inspiring, really great. 384 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:54,280 Speaker 1: That was about reinventing the way we would transact at 385 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:56,439 Speaker 1: a local business. So they bought my company, and then 386 00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:58,480 Speaker 1: we went off and we bought another company that was 387 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:01,520 Speaker 1: a iPad based wint A sales start up. What we 388 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:03,439 Speaker 1: were going to go do is basically bring all that 389 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:06,920 Speaker 1: onto the internet. So the vision was something like, imagine 390 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:09,320 Speaker 1: you go online and you book a restaurant reservation, and 391 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:11,600 Speaker 1: when you book your reservation, it says, hey, would you 392 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:14,240 Speaker 1: like some calamari and a picture of margaritas on the 393 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:16,520 Speaker 1: table when you arrive? And you know who doesn't say 394 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:20,240 Speaker 1: yes to that? And because the consumer front end would 395 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:22,400 Speaker 1: connect to the restaurant back in, the whole thing could 396 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:25,040 Speaker 1: work seamlessly. You know, it's like ten months for your reservation. 397 00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:28,159 Speaker 1: The bartender starts making your drink and they start frying 398 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:30,439 Speaker 1: up your calamari, and you can sit down, you can 399 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:32,240 Speaker 1: have your whole meal, you can interact with a server, 400 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:34,359 Speaker 1: you can order on your phone, kind of whatever, is 401 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:36,919 Speaker 1: the right experience, and then when you're done, you just 402 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:39,520 Speaker 1: get up and walk out and it's all built to 403 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:43,320 Speaker 1: your group On account. That was the vision. And in 404 00:22:43,359 --> 00:22:47,640 Speaker 1: my view, it's so sad because groupon could have built 405 00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:49,760 Speaker 1: these things that I think the world still needs to 406 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:51,879 Speaker 1: exist that no one's built yet, like the experience I 407 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:55,160 Speaker 1: just described, and they could have parlayed the attraction around 408 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:58,479 Speaker 1: the coupon's business into building that and it would be 409 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:01,639 Speaker 1: a you know, a multi at least a deca billion 410 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:05,480 Speaker 1: dollar company today if if that had happened. But instead 411 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:07,600 Speaker 1: there were, in my view, sort of a series of 412 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:10,200 Speaker 1: missteps that all started with a company going public before 413 00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:15,960 Speaker 1: it was ready, and all of that visionary stuff got 414 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:19,840 Speaker 1: shut down and the company got stuck as a internet 415 00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:23,960 Speaker 1: coupon company with a very degraded brand and not a 416 00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:28,920 Speaker 1: very inspiring future. So you left twenty fourteen, and that 417 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:32,760 Speaker 1: begins this journey in the Supersonic. Give us the story. 418 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:36,720 Speaker 1: What were the big hurdles to get this thing started? Yeah, well, 419 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:39,359 Speaker 1: the tail into my time at group On. There the 420 00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:42,320 Speaker 1: process of shutting down the visionary stuff I was talking about. 421 00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:44,440 Speaker 1: My VP asked me to come and run a big 422 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:46,480 Speaker 1: piece of the core business, and so I was running 423 00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:49,280 Speaker 1: relevance and email and a lot of what was the 424 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:53,919 Speaker 1: core of Groupon, and it was so uninspiring. You know, 425 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:57,280 Speaker 1: I was paid very well. In my mind, I said, Okay, 426 00:23:57,400 --> 00:23:59,800 Speaker 1: the money I'm saving from this gets sucked away and 427 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:03,600 Speaker 1: I called the fun fund, and beyond a certain dollar amount, 428 00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:05,359 Speaker 1: I was allowed to spend that money on anything I wanted, 429 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:07,600 Speaker 1: and in my head that was to buy an airplane fund. 430 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:10,679 Speaker 1: I actually never bought the airplane, but the savings for 431 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:13,840 Speaker 1: the airplane became the seed capital for Boom. I left 432 00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:16,080 Speaker 1: Group on. I think I decompressed for a couple of weeks, 433 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:18,520 Speaker 1: but I knew I wanted to do another startup, and 434 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:21,119 Speaker 1: I thought back to everything I had learned doing the 435 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:25,040 Speaker 1: first one, and in particular the decision to sell the 436 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:27,679 Speaker 1: company when I had a chance to, and that the 437 00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:32,000 Speaker 1: lesson I learned from that was that as an ambitious founder, 438 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:35,800 Speaker 1: that effort level feels the same regardless of what I'm doing. 439 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:38,719 Speaker 1: But what isn't the same is whether I'm really motivated 440 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:41,200 Speaker 1: by what I've set out to do. And you know, 441 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:43,399 Speaker 1: I sold the first company because it was really hard 442 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:46,800 Speaker 1: and I didn't love what we were building. For my 443 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:48,359 Speaker 1: next start off, I wanted to do one where I 444 00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:50,160 Speaker 1: would never get up in the morning, no matter how 445 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:52,880 Speaker 1: hard it was, I would never ask the question why 446 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:55,600 Speaker 1: did I get myself into this? And I would always 447 00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:58,640 Speaker 1: note was worth it. And so at this point I said, 448 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:02,639 Speaker 1: I'm going to organize all my ideas in descending order 449 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:06,320 Speaker 1: of how happy I will personally be if it works, 450 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:08,600 Speaker 1: and I'll forget everything else, whether I have the resume 451 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:11,720 Speaker 1: for it, whether it's a good idea, whether it's physically possible. 452 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:14,040 Speaker 1: And I thought I'd worked on that list, and I'll 453 00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:17,120 Speaker 1: work on the most exciting thing that's not impossible. And 454 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:19,439 Speaker 1: so for me, anything with an airplane, and it just 455 00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:21,760 Speaker 1: goes straight to the top of that list. I had 456 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:25,480 Speaker 1: had a Google alert on supersonic jet since my mid twenties, 457 00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:28,119 Speaker 1: and I sort of set a personal lifetime goal of 458 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:30,439 Speaker 1: flying fashion the speed of sound because I was I 459 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:32,920 Speaker 1: never got to fly on Concord. It shut down when 460 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:35,160 Speaker 1: I was twenty two, and so I thought, Okay, take 461 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 1: a deep breath. I'm sure there's a really good reason 462 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:40,840 Speaker 1: why no one's building supersonic jets, but I want to 463 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:43,680 Speaker 1: discover for myself what that is. I'll do two weeks 464 00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:45,959 Speaker 1: of research, get it out of my system, and then 465 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:49,359 Speaker 1: I'll move on to the next idea. And as luck 466 00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:52,560 Speaker 1: has it, I never never got off that top idea. 467 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:58,160 Speaker 1: I kept finding a whole bunch of stale, conventional wisdom 468 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:03,720 Speaker 1: that didn't stand up to a fresh, quantitative look at 469 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:07,600 Speaker 1: what was really possible. So what was the group think 470 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:13,080 Speaker 1: about why no supersonic airlines anymore? Well, I think it's 471 00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:15,840 Speaker 1: an instance of something called the bystander effect. And if 472 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:18,040 Speaker 1: you don't know bystander effect, it's a term out of 473 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:22,120 Speaker 1: social science that sort of refers to this idea that 474 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:25,480 Speaker 1: if there's an emergency, someone's in trouble, and you know 475 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:27,680 Speaker 1: only one or two people are around, they'll tend to 476 00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:30,080 Speaker 1: jump in and help. But if there are a large 477 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:34,640 Speaker 1: number of people observing some kind of a problem, everyone 478 00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:37,919 Speaker 1: tends to assume everyone else has it and the right 479 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:41,360 Speaker 1: people are already on the problem. And the bizarre consequence 480 00:26:41,359 --> 00:26:45,080 Speaker 1: of this is that really large, obvious things can go 481 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:48,360 Speaker 1: unaddressed for long periods of time because everybody assumes it's 482 00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:50,479 Speaker 1: either impossible or the right people are already on it. 483 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:53,560 Speaker 1: I think supersonic flight was one of those I mean, 484 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:57,680 Speaker 1: who wouldn't want a faster airplane. Literally everybody would benefit 485 00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:00,560 Speaker 1: from flights that are faster and more convenient. So there 486 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:04,240 Speaker 1: was this implicit assumption that there had to be something 487 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:06,720 Speaker 1: wrong with that idea or else somebody would be doing it. 488 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:08,880 Speaker 1: And then you could go on YouTube and there were 489 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:14,280 Speaker 1: plausible sounding but not actually correct explanations, like you know, 490 00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:16,600 Speaker 1: one thing that was said was you have to solve 491 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:20,000 Speaker 1: the sonic boom problem in order to find a market. 492 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:22,520 Speaker 1: Another was that when supersonic came back, you would have 493 00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:25,440 Speaker 1: to be a private jet for the ultrawealthy, not an airliner. 494 00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:28,879 Speaker 1: Another was that it would inherently cost more and that 495 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:32,800 Speaker 1: people wouldn't pay more. And it turns out none of 496 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:36,960 Speaker 1: that is true. None of it stands up to relatively 497 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:40,200 Speaker 1: simple first order analysis that you know, I could do 498 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:44,080 Speaker 1: with a spreadsheet and data that I found in Wikipedia. 499 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:45,719 Speaker 1: And you know, one of the lessons I learned from 500 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:50,760 Speaker 1: that experience is never accept a qualitative answer to a 501 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:55,240 Speaker 1: quantitative question. And so there were all these qualitative explanations 502 00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:59,640 Speaker 1: of why supersonic flight wasn't commercially viable, but really it's 503 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:01,520 Speaker 1: a question should have like, okay, well how fast is 504 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:04,240 Speaker 1: the airplane and what roots would it fly on. What 505 00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:06,400 Speaker 1: would affares have to be for it to be profitable, 506 00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:09,080 Speaker 1: and how many people could afford to fly on those roots? 507 00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:10,600 Speaker 1: And how much demand is there? And then that and 508 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:12,440 Speaker 1: what's it going to cost to develop? And you know, 509 00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:15,560 Speaker 1: it's numbers, numbers, numbers, numbers, numbers that really say, doesn't 510 00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:17,960 Speaker 1: make any sense. And so there were all this a 511 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:22,280 Speaker 1: qualitative dismissal that didn't stand up to running the math. 512 00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:26,600 Speaker 1: The reality was that boom could have been founded probably 513 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:30,920 Speaker 1: ten or fifteen years before it actually was, but nobody looked, 514 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:35,640 Speaker 1: nobody ran the math. So why didn't Boeing do this? Oh, 515 00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:40,800 Speaker 1: that's a fascinating question. Bowing certainly could do this. In fact, 516 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:43,280 Speaker 1: they invented the key technology for it. All of the 517 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:50,120 Speaker 1: key enabling technology for mainstream commercial SuperSonics really debuted on 518 00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:54,240 Speaker 1: the seven eight seven Dreamliner that Bowing built. Technologically they're 519 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:58,280 Speaker 1: capable of this. But it's a classic innovator's dilemma situation, 520 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:03,000 Speaker 1: so that the pace of innovation on subsonic aircraft. It 521 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:08,320 Speaker 1: has become so well subsonic that when Boeing or same 522 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:11,239 Speaker 1: things trade Airbus, when they develop a new airplane, they 523 00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:15,280 Speaker 1: invest billions of dollars to build a relative commodity that's 524 00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:17,480 Speaker 1: a low margin product that they're going to have to 525 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:19,720 Speaker 1: keep in production for decades to come in order to 526 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:23,080 Speaker 1: earn back their investment. And so that the last thing 527 00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:26,040 Speaker 1: that a big company wants to do is come out 528 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:29,239 Speaker 1: with a new product that's going to cannibalize sales of 529 00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:33,239 Speaker 1: the existing product before they earn back their investment. And 530 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:36,120 Speaker 1: so if Bowing did what we're doing, it would suck 531 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:39,520 Speaker 1: the most profitable passengers out of the front of the 532 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:42,520 Speaker 1: seven eight sevens before they earn back their seven eight 533 00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:45,040 Speaker 1: seven investment. And so if you look at what their 534 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:48,720 Speaker 1: productive filament really is, they're focused on building replacement cycle products, 535 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:55,640 Speaker 1: not cannibalization cycle products. And so technologically could they do it, Yeah, absolutely, 536 00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:57,160 Speaker 1: you know, I think we can do it faster and 537 00:29:57,200 --> 00:29:59,640 Speaker 1: better as a focused startup. But they could absolutely do it, 538 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,040 Speaker 1: but they don't have the business motivation to do it 539 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:08,640 Speaker 1: because it would cannibalize the cash cows. So you're building 540 00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:12,600 Speaker 1: this fascinating startup, You've got a prototype in place, the 541 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:15,680 Speaker 1: XB one. I think you're going to fly the plane, 542 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:19,520 Speaker 1: your first plane in this twenty twenty six. What I'm 543 00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:23,200 Speaker 1: interested in is you've been hiring these people to share 544 00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:25,880 Speaker 1: this dream with you, to go on this journey. I 545 00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:29,560 Speaker 1: read somewhere about your favorite interview question, could you tell 546 00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:33,360 Speaker 1: us what it is? Yeah, So to put this in context, 547 00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:36,800 Speaker 1: as we were saying before, I'm a software engineer by training, 548 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:41,920 Speaker 1: and on day zero at Boom, my only knowledge of 549 00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:44,800 Speaker 1: airplanes was how to fly a very little one. I 550 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:46,800 Speaker 1: knew I would need to learn a lot, and I 551 00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:49,760 Speaker 1: would need to learn to hire people who knew a 552 00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:52,720 Speaker 1: lot more than I did about their domains. And so 553 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:55,040 Speaker 1: what I found was I could ask people to teach 554 00:30:55,080 --> 00:31:02,640 Speaker 1: me something, and it was shockingly easy to discover whether 555 00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:04,680 Speaker 1: people really knew what they were talking about, because I 556 00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:06,120 Speaker 1: could just walk away from that interview it said do 557 00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:09,600 Speaker 1: I understand it or not? And what I found was 558 00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:18,240 Speaker 1: most people operate on rules of thumb, not real deep understanding. 559 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:21,040 Speaker 1: And if you're doing something that's been done over and 560 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:24,200 Speaker 1: over again, rules of thumb work. But if you're going 561 00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:29,160 Speaker 1: to break from tradition, you have to operate from first principles, 562 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:32,720 Speaker 1: what's physically possible, what's financially viable. Knowing a rule of 563 00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:35,840 Speaker 1: thumb doesn't cut it. And so in asking people teach 564 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:37,920 Speaker 1: me something and then kind of iterating with them in 565 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:39,840 Speaker 1: the conversation to see where I could really get my 566 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:42,360 Speaker 1: head around it. I could separate out the people who 567 00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:44,840 Speaker 1: are first principles thinkers from the people who only had 568 00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 1: rules of thumb, And the result was we were able 569 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:51,840 Speaker 1: to build a culture of people who are first principles 570 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:57,360 Speaker 1: thinkers and great communicators. So you have done for a 571 00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:00,880 Speaker 1: startup sort of amazing work. You got a two billion 572 00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:05,280 Speaker 1: dollar pre order from virgin for ten aircraft by two sixteen. 573 00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:09,360 Speaker 1: Following two fifteen, you'd only raise seven hundred thousand dollars, 574 00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:11,440 Speaker 1: and you went on to get an order from the 575 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:15,360 Speaker 1: US Air Force, American Airlines, United Airlines. Tell me how 576 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:17,640 Speaker 1: on earth you did that one step at a time, 577 00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:20,320 Speaker 1: and so yeah, to recap where we are today, there's 578 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,360 Speaker 1: an order from American and United and a pre order 579 00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:27,560 Speaker 1: from japan Airlines. We say order when we mean there's 580 00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:31,000 Speaker 1: a nonrefundable deposit that's unplaced, and a pre order is 581 00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:33,800 Speaker 1: kind of more like an option. Maybe the story of 582 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:35,880 Speaker 1: the United deal is kind of the best one to 583 00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:40,760 Speaker 1: tell here. So this was this came together starting late 584 00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:43,640 Speaker 1: twenty twenty, kind of going into twenty twenty one. We 585 00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:46,920 Speaker 1: announced the United Order in the summer of twenty one, 586 00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:49,760 Speaker 1: and the way it got started was we were actually 587 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:52,920 Speaker 1: out raising a round of capital and I was talking 588 00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:55,600 Speaker 1: with an investor and he had been doing kind of 589 00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:58,000 Speaker 1: due diligence checks on boom claim people he knew in 590 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,840 Speaker 1: the industry, asking what they thought, and he calls me up. 591 00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:03,760 Speaker 1: He says, Blake, I'm going to invest, but I'm also 592 00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:06,680 Speaker 1: going to introduce you to this guy at United who 593 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:09,320 Speaker 1: does not think what you're doing makes a whole lot 594 00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:11,520 Speaker 1: of sense. See if you can convince them to just 595 00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:14,280 Speaker 1: not be a detractor. And so I was like, okay, 596 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:16,520 Speaker 1: and I took the intro and it was sort of 597 00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:22,240 Speaker 1: the mission of neutralize the detractor. And the conversation started 598 00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:25,400 Speaker 1: with a focus on sustainability, something like, you know, look, 599 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:28,479 Speaker 1: I love what you're doing here, but at United we 600 00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:31,720 Speaker 1: really value sustainability and so obviously we would never do this, 601 00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:35,760 Speaker 1: And you know, I explained that sustainability was actually one 602 00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:39,239 Speaker 1: of the best reasons to do supersonic because we were 603 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:41,920 Speaker 1: designing overture, you know, from the ground up, to be 604 00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:45,680 Speaker 1: compatible with a one hundred percent sustainable aviation fuel and 605 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:47,600 Speaker 1: it could actually be the first airplane in their fleet 606 00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:51,240 Speaker 1: that would operate on net zero carbon. So from that conversation, 607 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:53,920 Speaker 1: everything's sort of leapt forward. And it was just a 608 00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:57,280 Speaker 1: little bit more than six months from the very first 609 00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:01,280 Speaker 1: conversation with United to being able to announce their order 610 00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:04,200 Speaker 1: of jets. It started with trying to neutralize a detractor 611 00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:09,319 Speaker 1: and then ultimately turned into our anchor customer for overture. Well, 612 00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:13,040 Speaker 1: let's unpack some of your career in life lessons. You 613 00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:17,080 Speaker 1: were an Amazon before Amazon truthly was really Amazon. You 614 00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:19,680 Speaker 1: were at a few tech startups after that, as we 615 00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:22,000 Speaker 1: talked about, and then groupon you even had your own 616 00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:26,160 Speaker 1: startup in high school. What kind of mindset is necessary 617 00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:30,319 Speaker 1: to lead a successful startup? Working on something I care 618 00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:33,359 Speaker 1: about that I want to create in the world has 619 00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:36,160 Speaker 1: been I think the most important things. If I look 620 00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:40,799 Speaker 1: back at the biggest successes I've had, it was when 621 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:43,360 Speaker 1: I took on things that I really wanted to work, 622 00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:46,240 Speaker 1: that I wanted to create, and where I was willing 623 00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:49,480 Speaker 1: to put aside my fears of whether I would succeed 624 00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:53,200 Speaker 1: or not and just run at the problem. Boom is 625 00:34:53,239 --> 00:34:56,799 Speaker 1: a good case study in that, and that on day zero, 626 00:34:57,000 --> 00:34:59,280 Speaker 1: I didn't have the resume to build an aviation company, 627 00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:02,479 Speaker 1: let alone a super not a jet company. And it 628 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:05,279 Speaker 1: was kind of a heady thing to go do because 629 00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:08,440 Speaker 1: I knew either we'd fail or we would do something 630 00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:10,520 Speaker 1: that really would change the world. There wasn't a whole 631 00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:13,440 Speaker 1: lot of in between. And I struggled with that for 632 00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:17,560 Speaker 1: a while and ultimately decided that the people who take 633 00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:23,839 Speaker 1: on big missions and succeed, we know their names. That's 634 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:28,480 Speaker 1: the right Brothers, that's Bill Gates, that's Steve Jobs, etc. 635 00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:32,520 Speaker 1: And the ones who try and they don't succeed, we 636 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:36,160 Speaker 1: don't know their names. They're lost to history, but they 637 00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:39,080 Speaker 1: know they gave it. They're all And the thing I 638 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:41,880 Speaker 1: told myself in twenty fourteen was the only way to 639 00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:44,360 Speaker 1: know what I could do would be to give it 640 00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:48,480 Speaker 1: a try, and I wanted to pick a mission where 641 00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:51,360 Speaker 1: I would rather try and fail than not try period. 642 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:57,879 Speaker 1: So most companies starting out, culture becomes really important. It's 643 00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:00,760 Speaker 1: really the glue. Some people call it the operating system 644 00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:04,839 Speaker 1: that binds everything together. Core values I've observed that really 645 00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:08,680 Speaker 1: seem to be essential or urgency, focus, and curiosity. How 646 00:36:08,680 --> 00:36:13,520 Speaker 1: do those three work together for you? Urgency, focus, and curiosity, 647 00:36:13,840 --> 00:36:17,279 Speaker 1: those are three really important values thinking about how this 648 00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:20,760 Speaker 1: play out At Boom, We've challenged ourselves to do quickly 649 00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:22,600 Speaker 1: something that a lot of people say you can't do 650 00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:24,520 Speaker 1: at all. And you know, how quickly can we get 651 00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:27,360 Speaker 1: to hardware? How quickly can we learn something? Can we 652 00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:30,080 Speaker 1: go sell an airplane before we've ever even built one yet? 653 00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:32,880 Speaker 1: Focus is like the secret weapon of a startup, like 654 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:35,480 Speaker 1: what we're talking about earlier with Bowing and why Bowing's 655 00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:39,920 Speaker 1: not doing supersonic They have the problem of an established 656 00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:42,400 Speaker 1: business that they don't want to disrupt. And one of 657 00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:45,560 Speaker 1: the biggest luxuries and benefits of a startup is you 658 00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:49,160 Speaker 1: exist in the world for one purpose. We're here to 659 00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:52,479 Speaker 1: make supersonic flight a reality and make it mainstream. And 660 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:56,800 Speaker 1: that luxury of focus enables us to put our brains 661 00:36:56,800 --> 00:36:59,239 Speaker 1: and our best people on the things that matter most 662 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:02,920 Speaker 1: and then last, but not least, necessity of learning. And 663 00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:06,080 Speaker 1: I think curiosity and first principles thinking really go together. 664 00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:09,680 Speaker 1: Why do things work the way they do today? What 665 00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:12,520 Speaker 1: would be possible if things were different? What could we change? 666 00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:16,600 Speaker 1: But also that a mindset of being willing to be 667 00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:20,000 Speaker 1: wrong and to change our minds quickly really matters. One 668 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:21,840 Speaker 1: of my sayings is that if you want to be 669 00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:24,600 Speaker 1: right a lot. One of the best things to do 670 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:27,719 Speaker 1: is to stop being wrong quickly, and so that requires 671 00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:31,560 Speaker 1: listening to reality, listening to evidence, listening to people around us. 672 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:36,520 Speaker 1: And when we discover that our previous view or previous 673 00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:39,839 Speaker 1: strategy was wrong, that's not something to be ashamed of. 674 00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:43,200 Speaker 1: That's something to be excited about. That's called learning. One 675 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:45,040 Speaker 1: of the things that I'm working really hard to make 676 00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:48,040 Speaker 1: part of the Boom culture is that it's okay to 677 00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:51,320 Speaker 1: change your mind, because changing your mind is called learning. 678 00:37:52,239 --> 00:37:55,320 Speaker 1: What do you say when people say it won't work. 679 00:37:55,680 --> 00:37:58,279 Speaker 1: You just gave us an example of unite it. Tell 680 00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:00,120 Speaker 1: me a little bit more about how you use that 681 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:04,000 Speaker 1: culturally in your company. But there are plenty of skeptics, 682 00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:07,360 Speaker 1: and they have good reason. It's been more than a 683 00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:12,040 Speaker 1: century since the last entrepreneurially founded commercial aircraft company, which 684 00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:14,799 Speaker 1: was Douglass Aircraft in nineteen twenty one, and you know, 685 00:38:14,800 --> 00:38:16,800 Speaker 1: they got to start with a single engine propeller plane. 686 00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:21,040 Speaker 1: And we're saying we're going to build a transoceanic, supersonic 687 00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:25,240 Speaker 1: passenger airplane as a new company. So there's plenty of challenge. 688 00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:29,120 Speaker 1: But the thing that gives me heart is On one hand, 689 00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:32,200 Speaker 1: this absolutely should exist. You know, it's hard to imagine, 690 00:38:32,520 --> 00:38:36,520 Speaker 1: say in twenty fifty, twenty sixty, that we're still flying subsonic. 691 00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:40,239 Speaker 1: It needs to come, it's inevitable, and it really needs 692 00:38:40,239 --> 00:38:42,920 Speaker 1: to come from a new entrant. And so we say, great, 693 00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:46,600 Speaker 1: what would a successful attempt at this have to look like? 694 00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:50,440 Speaker 1: You know, it's going to require an ambitious team. It's 695 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:54,360 Speaker 1: going to require really talented individuals. It's going to require 696 00:38:54,880 --> 00:38:59,520 Speaker 1: an ability to be persuasive of customers, of investors, of 697 00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:04,680 Speaker 1: supply liars. It's going to require deep passion for mission 698 00:39:04,719 --> 00:39:07,360 Speaker 1: and deep belief because the journey will be long and hard, 699 00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:12,280 Speaker 1: and persevering through it is going to be necessary for success. 700 00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:14,600 Speaker 1: There are plenty of big challenges ahead of us, but 701 00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:17,600 Speaker 1: also some that are in the rearview mirror. We've built 702 00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:22,239 Speaker 1: and tested histories first independently developed supersonic jet. We've pre 703 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:26,680 Speaker 1: sold twenty six billion in Overture airplanes and order in 704 00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:30,000 Speaker 1: orders and pre orders. North Carolina has contributed two hundred 705 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:32,480 Speaker 1: million dollars with the project and is funding build out 706 00:39:32,480 --> 00:39:36,840 Speaker 1: of the Overture superfactory in Greensboro. And so there are 707 00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:39,960 Speaker 1: plenty of quote unquote impossible things left to do. But 708 00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:42,600 Speaker 1: I look backwards and we've already done some things that 709 00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:46,400 Speaker 1: everybody said we couldn't do. You're the founder and CEO 710 00:39:46,640 --> 00:39:50,280 Speaker 1: of Boom Supersonic, which you're also a human with a family. 711 00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:54,399 Speaker 1: How do you integrate those two? It's challenging and sort 712 00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:57,160 Speaker 1: of some of the worst moments personally or what I 713 00:39:57,200 --> 00:40:00,000 Speaker 1: feel like, I really need to be in two places 714 00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:02,880 Speaker 1: at the same time, and I just have to choose. 715 00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:05,160 Speaker 1: I try to make it win win as much as 716 00:40:05,160 --> 00:40:09,640 Speaker 1: I can. And just to give one story, earlier this year, 717 00:40:09,719 --> 00:40:12,359 Speaker 1: I got to personally fly Supersonic for the first time 718 00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:15,080 Speaker 1: on a T thirty eight along with our chief test 719 00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:18,399 Speaker 1: pilot down in the Mojave Desert, And so I flew 720 00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:22,520 Speaker 1: myself down to Mahave in the Sirius and brought my 721 00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:24,879 Speaker 1: kids along for it. We made it into a little 722 00:40:24,920 --> 00:40:26,799 Speaker 1: bit of a family vacation. They got to have an 723 00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:30,239 Speaker 1: experience flying with me, and we got to have a 724 00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:34,880 Speaker 1: lot of conversations, you know, afterwards, about how I've chosen 725 00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:37,520 Speaker 1: what I work on, and you know, I hope it 726 00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:40,279 Speaker 1: will inspire them to go off and do things that 727 00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:44,120 Speaker 1: they love that will be meaningful to them. So that's 728 00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:46,920 Speaker 1: one of the better stories. So let's move to some advice. 729 00:40:47,600 --> 00:40:51,040 Speaker 1: What's the best advice you've ever received? I've been Look, 730 00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:53,120 Speaker 1: you have a lot of good pieces of advice if 731 00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:57,640 Speaker 1: I think about the ones that had been most pivotal, 732 00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:01,120 Speaker 1: you know, for the success I've had, a lot of 733 00:41:01,160 --> 00:41:03,319 Speaker 1: it comes down to people encouraging me to believe in 734 00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:06,719 Speaker 1: myself when I wasn't sure. It's so easy for me 735 00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:09,759 Speaker 1: to have self doubt and to say, Okay, what can 736 00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:11,680 Speaker 1: I do? Am I going to succeed at this? Should 737 00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:15,120 Speaker 1: I try something easier? Should I expect that someone better 738 00:41:15,120 --> 00:41:17,720 Speaker 1: than I am you can go off and do these things. 739 00:41:18,239 --> 00:41:21,239 Speaker 1: And I've been lucky to have some friends and mentors 740 00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:24,560 Speaker 1: at critical junctures when I wasn't sure who said, no, 741 00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:26,319 Speaker 1: I think you can do this. You should definitely give 742 00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:29,799 Speaker 1: it a try. That helped give me the courage to 743 00:41:29,880 --> 00:41:34,120 Speaker 1: be more bold. So, if you could, what advice would 744 00:41:34,160 --> 00:41:36,799 Speaker 1: you give your twenty one year old self? Aim high, 745 00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:42,200 Speaker 1: stay curious. Whenever you face a choice between doing something 746 00:41:42,239 --> 00:41:44,640 Speaker 1: easier and doing something harder, do the harder things so 747 00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:47,640 Speaker 1: long as it's something that you're passionate about and don't 748 00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:50,799 Speaker 1: spend your time on missions you don't love. So we 749 00:41:50,920 --> 00:41:53,520 Speaker 1: end each episode of Math and Magic with a shout 750 00:41:53,520 --> 00:41:58,439 Speaker 1: out to heroes, influencers, and mentors in business. I think 751 00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:00,560 Speaker 1: it is the combination of the math and the magic 752 00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:05,440 Speaker 1: that leads to success. Analytical understanding the math part, and 753 00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:10,160 Speaker 1: the sheer creativity built on that understanding that excites consumers 754 00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:14,719 Speaker 1: builds fantastic products. You get two shout outs, one for 755 00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:18,480 Speaker 1: the math person and one for the creative Who are they? 756 00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:22,520 Speaker 1: On the math side, it's Jeff Bezos and on the 757 00:42:22,560 --> 00:42:26,799 Speaker 1: creative side it is Steve Jobs who showed that we 758 00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:30,320 Speaker 1: could build products that people would fall in love with. Blake, 759 00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:32,640 Speaker 1: thanks so much for letting me go deep in the 760 00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:37,279 Speaker 1: airplanes and indulging my inner plane geek, and thanks for 761 00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:41,840 Speaker 1: bringing supersonic travel back for us non military types. We 762 00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:43,799 Speaker 1: wish you the best and I hope you'll let me 763 00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:47,600 Speaker 1: come fly your SIMS sometime. And congrats on all your success. 764 00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:50,160 Speaker 1: Thank you, Bob. Yeah, looking forward to doing some hang 765 00:42:50,239 --> 00:42:56,879 Speaker 1: or flying together. Here are a few things I've picked 766 00:42:56,960 --> 00:42:59,880 Speaker 1: up in my conversation with Blake. One, do what you 767 00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:02,960 Speaker 1: love at Boom. Blake is creating what many thought was 768 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:07,000 Speaker 1: impossible because of his lifelong interest in aviation. He's proof 769 00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:09,440 Speaker 1: that if you follow your passion and you're willing to 770 00:43:09,440 --> 00:43:13,800 Speaker 1: reinvent yourself, you'll succeed. As Blake said, skills are variable. 771 00:43:14,040 --> 00:43:18,080 Speaker 1: Passion is not two know what you don't know. Learning 772 00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:21,200 Speaker 1: new skills are essential parts of building a business. Don't 773 00:43:21,200 --> 00:43:24,200 Speaker 1: worry if your ideas keep changing, as Blake says, that's 774 00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:26,680 Speaker 1: not a sign of chaos. It's a sign that you're 775 00:43:26,680 --> 00:43:30,880 Speaker 1: getting closer to the right answer. Three. Never accept a 776 00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:36,399 Speaker 1: qualitative answer to a quantitative question. As Blake explains, if 777 00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:40,280 Speaker 1: he listened to all the qualitative explanations about why supersonic 778 00:43:40,360 --> 00:43:47,160 Speaker 1: flight wasn't commercially viable, boom wouldn't exist. I'm Bob Pittman. 779 00:43:47,480 --> 00:43:58,920 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. That's it for today's episode. Thanks so 780 00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:02,040 Speaker 1: much for listening to Math and Magic, a production of iHeartRadio. 781 00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:05,160 Speaker 1: The show is hosted by Bob Pittman. Special thanks to 782 00:44:05,239 --> 00:44:08,839 Speaker 1: Sydney Rosenbloom for booking and wrangling our wonderful talent, which 783 00:44:08,880 --> 00:44:12,680 Speaker 1: is no small feat. Our editor Emily Marinoff, our engineer 784 00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:16,960 Speaker 1: Jessica Cranchich, our executive producers Nikki Eatore and Ali Perry, 785 00:44:17,440 --> 00:44:21,120 Speaker 1: and of course Gail Raoul Eric Angel, Noel, and everyone 786 00:44:21,160 --> 00:44:24,839 Speaker 1: who helped bring this show to your ears. Until next time,