Life After AdTech: What Happens When You Stop Optimizing Clicks and Start Building Aircraft?

What happens when an early Amazon engineer who helped pioneer automated advertising leaves AdTech behind to build the world's fastest commercial airliner?In this episode of Signal & Noise, Brett House and Rio Longacre sit down with Blake Scholl, Founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, for a wide-ranging conversation about innovation, entrepreneurship, aviation, AI, and why some of the world's biggest opportunities are hiding in plain sight.Before launching Boom, Blake helped shape early internet advertising at Amazon, worked through the hypergrowth years at Groupon, and experienced firsthand the rise of AdTech, recommendation engines, and large-scale customer acquisition systems. Then he made an unlikely leap: leaving software behind to tackle one of the hardest problems in engineering—bringing commercial supersonic flight back from the dead. The discussion explores what Blake learned from Amazon, why he believes Groupon missed a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and how short-term thinking can destroy even the most promising companies. Along the way, he shares stories about crashing Google AdWords, building the world's largest spam operation at Groupon, and getting some of his toughest lessons directly from Jeff Bezos. The conversation then shifts to Boom Supersonic's mission, the history of the Concorde, the regulatory decisions that stalled aviation innovation for decades, and Blake's controversial view that technological progress didn't slow because the problems became harder—it slowed because society stopped pursuing them. Blake also reveals the behind-the-scenes story of Boom's near-collapse, the seven-year pursuit of a partnership with Rolls-Royce, and how a failed engine deal ultimately led to one of the company's biggest breakthroughs: building its own propulsion technology and creating a new turbine business that may help fund the future of supersonic travel. The episode closes with Blake's thoughts on AI, entrepreneurship, and why the biggest impact of AI may not be job replacement—but the creation of millions of new builders capable of turning ideas into reality. Blake Scholl's journey from Amazon and Groupon to Boom SupersonicEarly AdTech, automated advertising, and internet growth storiesLessons from Jeff Bezos and Amazon's long-term thinking cultureGroupon's rise, fall, and missed platform opportunityWhy innovation in aviation stalled after ConcordeRegulatory capture and the history of supersonic flightBuilding Boom Supersonic from scratchThe failed Rolls-Royce partnership and Boom's engine strategyTurbine power generation, AI infrastructure, and data centersThe future of commercial supersonic travelWhy AI may create more entrepreneurs than ever beforeLong-term thinking, risk-taking, and building hard-tech companiesWhether you're interested in aviation, startups, AI, AdTech, or the future of innovation itself, this is a fascinating conversation about what happens when someone decides to stop optimizing digital systems and start building physical ones.#SignalAndNoise #BoomSupersonic #BlakeScholl #Aviation #SupersonicFlight #AI #Entrepreneurship #Innovation #Amazon #Groupon #AdTech #MarTech #HardTech #Technology #FutureOfWork #CommercialAviation #ArtificialIntelligence #StartupLeadership #Engineering #DigitalTransformation