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February 11, 2025 • 55min
The insane story of Blake Schroll: the high school dropout who’s building supersonic jets
My First Million
In this episode, Sam Parr and Shaan Puri discuss three incredible entrepreneurial stories that exemplify "high agency" - a trait they identify as increasingly important for successful founders. The stories range from aerospace innovation to toy manufacturing to electric bikes, demonstrating how high agency founders can succeed across diverse industries.
The insane story of Blake Schroll: the high school dropout who’s building supersonic jets
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Key Takeaways
- High agency is emerging as a key trait of successful entrepreneurs - taking action and making things happen rather than waiting for permission or perfect conditions
- The episode shares three remarkable stories of founders with extreme levels of agency and hustle:
- Blake from Boom Supersonic building the first commercial supersonic jet company since Concorde
- Nick Mowbray building a multi-billion dollar toy empire from scratch in China
- Andy creating Fly E-Bike and disrupting NYC's delivery ecosystem
- Common themes across the stories:
- Starting with limited knowledge but extreme determination
- Finding unconventional solutions to seemingly impossible challenges
- Maintaining persistence despite numerous setbacks
- Taking massive action rather than waiting for perfect conditions
Introduction
In this episode, Sam Parr and Shaan Puri discuss three incredible entrepreneurial stories that exemplify "high agency" - a trait they identify as increasingly important for successful founders. The stories range from aerospace innovation to toy manufacturing to electric bikes, demonstrating how high agency founders can succeed across diverse industries.
Topics Discussed
Boom Supersonic Story (0:00)
The episode begins with the story of Blake, founder of Boom Supersonic, who is working to bring back commercial supersonic flight.
- Background and Early Career:
- Dropped out of high school but got into Carnegie Mellon through a special program
- Worked at Amazon under Jeff Bezos, building automated Google Ads system
- Left successful career at Amazon at age 24 to pursue entrepreneurship
- Starting Boom:
- Identified opportunity by realizing supersonic technology only needed 30% improvement
- Got validation from Stanford professor that physics supported the concept
- Used personal savings to fund initial team and development
- Key Strategic Moves:
- Joined Y Combinator despite being unconventional hardware company
- Built impressive physical models to aid visualization
- Secured Virgin as customer through creative networking
Nick Mowbray's Toy Empire (31:54)
The hosts discuss Nick Mowbray, whom Sam considers the most impressive founder he's ever interviewed.
- Company Overview:
- Built multi-billion dollar toy company with no outside investment
- Generates billions in revenue and ~$1B in annual profit
- Expanded into diapers and hair care successfully
- Early Days:
- Moved to China at age 18/19 with brother
- Literally built factory shed by river
- Lived on $1/day for years
- Growth Strategy:
- Started by copying existing toys
- Relentlessly pursued retail buyers
- Created makeshift showroom in Hong Kong
The Moped King of NYC (43:43)
The final story covers Andy, founder of Fly E-Bike, who disrupted New York City's delivery ecosystem.
- Company Background:
- Started with $12,000 borrowed money
- Grew to 30 stores across Manhattan
- Sold 70,000 bikes in 4 years
- Business Model:
- Imported electric bikes from China
- Sold them for $1,000 each
- Generated $30M revenue with $3M profit
- Controversial Aspects:
- Bikes often exceeded legal speed limits
- Safety concerns with batteries catching fire
- Took company public despite regulatory issues
Conclusion
The episode highlights how extreme agency - taking action despite obstacles or conventional wisdom - can lead to extraordinary entrepreneurial success. While not all methods discussed are recommended (particularly in the Fly E-Bike case), the stories demonstrate how determined founders can create billion-dollar businesses from scratch through persistence, creativity, and relentless execution.
The hosts emphasize that while having a great product is important, these stories show that success often comes from the manual work, lucky breaks, and sheer determination to make things happen rather than waiting for perfect conditions.