Name: How to Make Billions from Exposing Fraud | E2234
Uploaded: 2026-01-13T23:01:15+00:00
Duration: 3917 s

Speakers

Blake Scholl — Founder and CEO, Boom Supersonic

Alex Shieh — Co-founder, The Antifraud Company

Alex Wilhelm — Co-Host, This Week in Startups

Summary

The episode revisits a 2016 interview with Boom Supersonic founder Blake Scholl about why Concorde failed and how modern materials, engines, and software could make supersonic travel economic with a 30% efficiency gain. Jason then interviews Alex Shieh of The Antifraud Company about using the False Claims Act and AI to build a whistleblower business targeting federal fraud recoveries. The show closes with Founder University Tokyo Q&A on recruiting, hiring, and building resilient teams.

Boom Supersonic aims to revive Mach 2.2 commercial travel with a 30% fuel-efficiency improvement over Concorde.
Blake Scholl describes a lean, SpaceX-like approach, 25 LOIs, $200M aircraft pricing, and overwater supersonic routes.
Alex Shieh explains The Antifraud Company's model: file False Claims Act cases as the whistleblower and collect 15-30% of recoveries.
The Antifraud Company sees a large TAM in $500B-$1.5T annual federal fraud versus about $4B recovered.
Alex Shieh says AI/OSINT and litigation finance can make fraud hunting repeatable and provide liquidity.
Founder University Tokyo Q&A covers recruiting global talent, equity compensation, and building gritty teams.
Hosts note AI companies are spending heavily on compute, prompting Boom's data center power pivot.

Ideas

Blake Scholl Founder and CEO, Boom Supersonic 8:12

Boom can make supersonic travel economic.

Blake Scholl argues Boom can make commercial supersonic travel economically viable because modern software-optimized aerodynamics, better engines, and carbon-fiber composites can improve fuel economy by at least 30% versus Concorde, letting a supersonic seat use the same fuel as a business-class lay-flat bed and sell for roughly business-class fares (~$5,000 roundtrip New York-London). He cites 25 LOIs, Virgin Group's first 10 orders, a $200M aircraft price, a less expensive subscale Mach 2.2 prototype, and a lean startup approach; overwater supersonic comes first, with overland possible if rules change.

Alex Shieh Co-founder, The Antifraud Company 35:11

AI whistleblower firm monetizes federal fraud recoveries.

Alex Shieh says The Antifraud Company is a whistleblower firm that uses the False Claims Act's qui tam provision to investigate and sue over non-public corporate fraud against the U.S. government, collecting 15-30% of recoveries. It has no customers and is an AI/OSINT-driven information-processing company that can run about 10 cases per year, targeting billion-dollar frauds where traces appear in government and commercial data. He sees a large TAM because annual federal fraud estimates are $500B-$1.5T while only about $4B is recovered, with cases settling in 2-7 years and litigation finance available for liquidity.

This This Week in Startups video, published January 13, 2026, features Blake Scholl, Alex Shieh discussing Boom Supersonic, The Antifraud Company. 2 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.

Speakers: Blake Scholl, Alex Shieh · Tickers: Boom Supersonic, The Antifraud Company

How to Make Billions from Exposing Fraud | E2234

Summary

Ideas

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