Featured Founder: Blake Scholl
This month we feature Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic (Growth).
What made you decide now was the time to bring back supersonic commercial travel?
Today, there’s both the market demand and the technology to enable mainstream supersonic travel. Technology and materials have advanced enough in the last 50 years that we can build faster and more efficient supersonic airplanes while taking care of the planet. Additionally, business and leisure travel has continued to grow, and travelers are willing to pay for speed.
What did you love about air travel/airplanes growing up?
I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. I always loved planes and my initial passion for flying was nurtured by trips to the airport to watch planes with my family. We drew pictures of airplanes I wanted to build, and together, we made plans to build exciting new machines. Finally, in college, I started taking flying lessons, which cemented my commitment to aviation.
What drove you to move from software to the physical world?
Early in my career, I saw how software, and generally technology, was getting faster and better. Just about everything in the digital world drastically improved in a short period of time. However, when I look to aviation, we have actually gone backwards in terms of speed and experience. I saw an opportunity to leverage advancements in technology and make travel faster and better through Boom.
If you could invite anyone, living or dead, on the inaugural Overture flight, who would you choose and why?
Wilbur and Orville Wright would have to be passengers on the inaugural Overture flight. The Wright Brothers are a story of courage — they defied conventional wisdom, made significant breakthroughs, and went through immense personal hardship to develop the airplane. I’d like to be able to say thank you and show them how far we have come thanks to their early achievements.
What was the least expected challenge you’ve overcome to reach this point?
We’ve convinced airlines that supersonic travel can be accessible, sustainable, and economically viable at scale — even before Overture has taken to the skies.
What social causes do you care about and why?
Boom and spending time with my family are the biggest priorities in my life. I’m driven by the social impact that I know will be achieved through making the world more accessible. Supersonic travel will unlock a world for our children where nothing is foreign — instead of reading it in a book or learning about it through TV or online, people and cultures are actually experienced.
Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, human augmentation, and agriculture.
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