How Blake Scholl Built The First Independent Supersonic Jet

Scholl describes XB-1 as the first independently developed supersonic plane and a prototype for learning how to build a passenger jet. He compares its role to SpaceX’s Falcon 1, which helped prove the way to a larger vehicle. Boom’s planned Overture airliner is designed for about 65 passengers at Mach 1.7, with a goal of carrying passengers by 2029.

Scholl says Concorde’s problem was economics: its tickets cost about $20,000 in today’s money, and its roughly 100 seats often flew half empty. Boom aims for Overture’s first version to offer business-class fares, with examples including Tokyo to Seattle in four and a half hours and New York to London in about three hours and 45 minutes. The host says Boom has developed a way to keep sonic booms from reaching the ground and describes the plane as intended to use 100% sustainable fuel.

After working in software at Amazon and starting a barcode-scanning game company, Scholl realized that building around what he already knew gave him competence but little sense of purpose. A lifetime goal of flying supersonic led him to investigate why Concorde had ended and whether a more economical passenger jet was possible. He studied airplane design, refreshed his calculus and physics, and built spreadsheet models of air travel routes and aircraft performance.

A Stanford professor told Scholl that his early technical assumptions were conservative, which pushed him to recruit aerospace engineers. Starting without industry connections, Scholl asked each person he met to recommend five people who might be right for the work, then repeated that process to find Boom’s initial team. About 50 people built XB-1; Scholl says a small, experienced team helped them learn through a test aircraft before attempting a larger one.

Scholl says founder motivation is crucial, especially when hard problems and self-doubt make progress difficult. He argues that founders should choose work they find meaningful, since passion can help them build skills they lack. Boom’s experience, he says, shows that ambitious ideas may be achievable even when founders lack conventional credentials.