Company Inspiration
Decisions, Decisions
As I mentioned in my first blog post, I don't really have any idea of what exactly I want to do. I do know that I don't really want a traditional 9-5. While starting my own business is the most exciting and inspiring to me, I do understand that it is incredibly difficult and I'm super underqualified. I'm not opposed to joining a startup or smaller company to really get my hands dirty and get a better idea of how certain businesses work. However, not only am I struggling to find one, but I do have a minimum that I need to make a year—seeing as I am no longer a twenty-something with very few bills. In light of that, I've decided to write about the companies that I have found super interesting as well as inspiring, in hopes to gain some inspiration and/or direction.
Boom Supersonic
Boom Supersonic was founded by Blake Scholl in 2014 with the intention of bringing back the idea of supersonic commercial flight. To start, Blake was not in aviation before he started this company; he was a software engineer obsessed with aviation. He decided to take a software-first approach to a supersonic jet. He did this by writing a program that could test high-fidelity simulations and run them thousands of times to iterate much faster than they used to. One of their biggest features is the "boomless cruise," or breaking the sound barrier without the shockwaves hitting the ground.
Bear with me as I try to explain this, but their software enables the aircraft to find the "sweet spot" where the shockwave will bend back upwards before it ever reaches the ground. This works similarly to how light refracts when it hits water, except the sound waves are moving through different layers in the atmosphere. Their software pilots the aircraft in such a way that it looks for this "sweet spot" and flies in it to keep the soundwaves from ever reaching the ground. Now, this works for low supersonic speeds over land (Mach 1.1 to 1.3), but the plane can actually go up to Mach 1.7. It does this by the shape of the aircraft; the "coke bottle nose" makes it so small shockwaves do not bunch up into one giant shockwave.
As someone who is lightly interested in aviation, this blew my mind. The coolest aspect was the fact that he did most of this with code, having very little experience in aviation. He was asked: "How did you get people to back you given your background?" This to me was the most inspiring part, because it touches on what I've always believed. He had to know everything. He knew everything he possibly could, because why else would you believe in a software engineer who says he solved supersonic commercial flight? This is how I've approached my career and hobbies—by trying to know as much as humanly possible. I see it as a way to earn respect, to show you put the time in and you take something seriously.
So, while it doesn't have much to do with AI, the concept and idea of this company is what inspires me. It also shows someone going from a completely different industry and working their way to having a successful business just by working hard and knowing everything they can about their new industry. As of now, they have had a successful flight of their aircraft breaking the sound barrier, as well as proven their "boomless flight" works. They have lots of preorders, even before their first launch, and are planning its maiden voyage in 2029. I can't wait to be on it!
Valar Atomics
Valar Atomics was founded by Isaiah Taylor in 2023 and aims to bring nuclear fission everywhere. This, again, is not an AI company, but a company thinking about the future with AI. Just as before, I'm more inspired by the person and the ideals rather than the actual company itself—although as a huge fan of the Fallout franchise, this company is really cool to me.
The first big inspiration for me is Isaiah himself. He dropped out of college and is pretty much all self-taught. According to him, he just read, learned, talked to experts, and more importantly, grinded by being obsessively curious. I relate to this because that's what AI has done to me. I spend almost every waking moment thinking about AI in some way, shape, or form. What I admire most is his first-principles approach—it's how I want to start my first business. Whether his conclusions hold up, he starts with one of the world's biggest bottlenecks: energy. He then reasons that a small box with high output is the most ideal energy source, because small systems are easier to manufacture and scale. After looking at all of the major energy sources by their energy density, fission stands out by orders of magnitude. If you can make it safe and small, it becomes cheaper and scaling doesn't seem so impossible. This is how I would like to break down how I start my business.
The other thing I like about his company is the taking on of some "impossible" or unlikely challenge. As before, supersonic commercial travel and nuclear fission have more or less been dead for 50 years. As of now, they have joined with the Department of Energy and have planned to try a true start-up of one of their reactors by July 4 of this year. This would be a huge step. As of right now, they have built many reactors that, in theory, work, but haven't actually launched them with uranium yet. Having small, somewhat portable nuclear reactors that are safe would be life-altering for the world. There are lots of everyday things in our lives that are affected by energy constraints.
Conclusion
All in all, I still have zero idea about what kind of business I want to start. It almost terrifies me more having researched these companies because what excites and inspires me is hard, takes lots of time, and has a high chance of failure. Given that I am trying to change my whole life around this, I do hope to do something I love. A big constraint for me is where to start. I've thought about two easier options first: starting a simple company so I can dip my feet in and sort of see if starting a business is for me, or joining an already existing company doing something in the realm of what I'm interested in to get an idea for how things work. These both seem like the "safer" options but don't excite me as much. At the very least, this was insightful and fun to write.
P.S. It's been years since I've written anything, so it probably sucks, but I'll get better.