Blake Scholl on Supersonic Flight and Fixing Broken Infrastructure - Live at the Progress Conference
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
This episode features Blake Scholl, CEO and founder of Boom Supersonic, discussing his mission to bring back civilian supersonic flight and his broader philosophy on improving dysfunctional systems. (00:01) Scholl shares his systematic approach to identifying and solving problems that everyone else has learned to accept, from airport design to traffic congestion. (01:17) The conversation covers his underground airport terminal concept, why he believes every road should have tolls, and how Amazon's long-term thinking differs from short-term decision making he observed at Groupon. (14:27) Scholl explains why the Concorde and Apollo program, while technologically impressive, were essentially expensive tech demos rather than sustainable products, and how Boom is taking a commercially-driven approach to supersonic travel. (18:38)
- Main Theme: Systematic innovation and challenging accepted dysfunction in everything from aerospace to infrastructure design
Speakers
Blake Scholl
Blake Scholl is the founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, one of the leading figures working to bring back civilian supersonic flight. He previously worked at Amazon and Groupon, where he gained insights into long-term versus short-term decision making that shaped his approach to building companies. Scholl has been a private pilot since his undergraduate years and is known for his systematic approach to improving dysfunction across various industries and systems.
Tyler Cowen
Tyler Cowen is an economist, professor, and host of Conversations with Tyler. He is known for his wide-ranging intellectual curiosity and ability to draw insights from diverse fields and experiences.
Key Takeaways
Question What Everyone Accepts as Normal
Scholl emphasizes that we live in a world full of radically improvable things that we've learned to accept. (07:15) He uses traffic as an example, noting that the average American sits more than a working month per year in traffic, yet we've socialized this problem rather than implementing pricing mechanisms. The key insight is developing the ability to see dysfunction that others have normalized and asking what would need to be true for seemingly stupid systems to actually make sense. (31:02) This reverse-engineering approach often reveals underlying incentive structures, like how aerospace manufacturing is spread across congressional districts to maximize votes rather than efficiency.
Long-Term Decision Making With Short-Term Vigilance
From his time at Amazon, Scholl learned the importance of making long-term decisions while maintaining short-term operational excellence. (14:27) Amazon would analyze discounted cash flows and make decisions that hurt short-term quarterly results but created long-term value, like buying discounted CDs that would make Q4 look terrible but Q1 amazing. This contrasted sharply with Groupon's approach of "send more email" to fix soft quarters, creating a destructive cycle. The practical application is using customer centricity as the cultural trump card for resolving any business debate, ensuring decisions serve long-term value creation.
Reduce the Cost of Change and Iteration
Scholl's manufacturing philosophy centers on dramatically reducing the time and cost of iteration. (29:26) When aerospace suppliers quoted six months and a million dollars for turbine blades that could be made in 24 hours, Boom decided to bring all manufacturing steps under one roof. This vertical integration allows engineers to test more ideas and take more risks because failure doesn't cost six months of waiting. (31:06) The principle applies beyond manufacturing: when change is expensive, people become conservative and risk-averse, but when iteration is cheap, creativity flourishes.
Master New Domains Through First Principles Thinking
Scholl advocates for switching domains regularly rather than becoming a deep expert in one area, as experts often become "steeped in the status quo." (33:02) His technique involves keeping a "confusion list" - writing down everything you don't understand and systematically removing one item per week through focused study. (33:38) The key is developing internal awareness of when you're clear versus confused about a concept. This approach forces first principles thinking and prevents the tunnel vision that comes with deep expertise in established systems.
Build Products, Not Tech Demos
Scholl argues that both the Concorde and Apollo program, while technologically impressive, were essentially expensive tech demos rather than sustainable products. (18:56) The Concorde flew only 52% full across 27 years, with tickets costing $20,000 in 1970s money for uncomfortable seats. (19:39) Government-led innovation tends to optimize for demonstration rather than commercial viability. True innovation requires commercially-driven development that focuses on economics and customer value from the start, creating sustainable markets rather than prestigious but impractical achievements.
Statistics & Facts
- The average American sits more than a working month per year in traffic, yet we continue to give away road access for no variable cost. (07:15) Scholl uses this statistic to illustrate how we've accepted dysfunction in infrastructure rather than implementing pricing systems.
- Concorde flew only 52% full across 27 years of service, even on the most popular New York to London route, with tickets costing $20,000 adjusted for inflation. (19:39) This demonstrates why only 14 Concordes ever entered commercial service.
- Boeing and Airbus last launched an all-new airplane program in 2004 - 21 years ago with no new aircraft designs since then. (22:11) This highlights how the aerospace industry has stagnated compared to other technology sectors.
