Breaking the Sound Barrier with Blake Scholl from Boom Supersonic | E2186
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 30 September 2025
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today’s show:
How do you get investors excited about jets when they’re hyper-focused on new AI tools?
In a fresh TWiST 500 interview, Alex sits down with Blake Scholl of Boom Supersonic to talk about the Overture, the world’s fastest plane that recently broke the sound barrier over the Mojave Desert. (That’s a first for a private company, rather than a military or government.)
Hear about the secrets to avoiding a noisy and disruptive sonic boom, using satellites to set the most efficient routes, designing the Overture’s complex engine, dispelling the common myth that hardware startups are money pits and much much more.
PLUS we’ve got two brand new companies entering our Gamma Pitch Deck Competition. Time to see how they stack up to our first impressive entrant, Where2Wheel.
Timestamps:
(02:22) Introducing Blake Scholl from Boom Supersonic
(04:03) How Boom is improving on the classic Concorde experience
(08:29) How hyper-fast Overture flights could change passenger behavior
(10:02) Gusto. Check out the online payroll and benefits experts with software built specifically for small business and startups. Try Gusto today and get three months FREE at Gusto.com/twist.
(11:10) The long road to breaking the speed barrier
(14:34) How satellites could help guide Boom’s planes
(16:37) The next milestones to check off Blake’s list
(19:13) Breaking up the jet engine duopoly
(20:57) Nexos.ai Stop Shadow AI in its tracks with the unified platform for secure AI adoption and productivity. Try it with a free 14-day trial at nexos.ai/twist.
(24:28) How 3D printing speeds up the R&D process
(30:26) DevStats translates complex engineering metrics into a shared language everyone at your company can understand. Get 20% off by going to https://www.DevStats.com/twist(34:10) Gamma Pitch Deck Competition: Confy vs. The Drive AI
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Thank you to our partners:
- Gusto. Check out the online payroll and benefits experts with software built specifically for small business and startups. Try Gusto today and get three months FREE at Gusto.com/twist.
- Nexos.ai Stop Shadow AI in its tracks with the unified platform for secure AI adoption and productivity. Try it with a free 14-day trial at nexos.ai/twist.
- DevStats translates complex engineering metrics into a shared language everyone at your company can understand. Get 20% off by going to https://www.DevStats.com/twist
Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I think that's thing people don't appreciate is like the amount of space you want in transportation is inversely proportional to how long it takes. |
| 0:06.3 | Like if you're on a boat going across an ocean, you have a suite. |
| 0:10.6 | And it is a hotel room on a boat, right? |
| 0:13.2 | If you had a literal transporter beam, you don't sit down. |
| 0:17.8 | So, you know, and everything else is kind of somewhere in the middle. |
| 0:21.5 | This week in startups is brought to you by DevStats. |
| 0:25.8 | Check out DevStats today and get 20% off, plus access to their dedicated Slack channel. |
| 0:31.1 | Just go to DevStats.com slash twist. |
| 0:35.7 | nexos.ai. |
| 0:37.2 | Stop Shadow AI in its tracks with the unified platform for secure AI adoption and productivity. |
| 0:43.6 | Try it with a free 14-day trial at nexos. |
| 0:46.2 | a.i slash twist. |
| 0:48.2 | That's nexos. |
| 0:49.9 | a.i slash twist. |
| 0:51.8 | And gusto. |
| 0:53.7 | Check out the online payroll and benefits experts with software built specifically for |
| 0:58.0 | small business and startups. |
| 0:59.9 | Try Gusto today and get three months free at gusto.com slash twist. |
| 1:05.3 | Hello and welcome back to Twist everybody. |
| 1:08.0 | This is Alex and today we have three founder interviews for you. |
| 1:11.7 | First up, boom, one of my favorite companies on the Twist 500. This is a startup that wants to bring supersonic travel back to the people. If you yearn for the days of the Concord, well, this is a company you should care about. I got the CEO to come on the show and tell us how much progress they've made, how much more work is still ahead of them, when we're going to get to take one of these jets, |
| 1:31.3 | and of course, how much more money do they need? It's all rather bullish, and I am stoked for boom. |
... |
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