Since childhood, Norris was passionate about making the world feel smaller through faster transportation. After studying aerospace engineering at UCLA, he worked in the aerospace industry as a propulsion engineer for three years on vehicles that break the sound barrier. At Stanford's Graduate School of Business, he realized low-boom supersonic travel was the future.

As in, what if you could travel at supersonic speeds that are 2 or 3 times faster than the average plane? When a 12-hour flight prevented Norris from flying to Asia to visit his grandparents, he knew in high school that he wanted to be a change-maker for improving cross-pacific relationships. Leading this bold mission, Norris Tie is the Co-Founder and CEO of Exosonic, Inc., a startup that is building commercial supersonic planes.

❗ What PROBLEMS is Exosonic solving?

In the past 50 years, the speed of commercial airplanes has not gotten faster. Have you ever not traveled somewhere due to how long the flight is? Moreover, the cost of a flight increases the longer the flight is due to heightened labor costs to staff the aircrafts, employ the aviators, and feed the passengers.

Despite our planet being massive, flying has shrunk it by allowing us to travel at speeds of 460-575 miles per hour. Within 24 hours, you can reach the other side of the globe. Imagine the further worldview expansion and economic prosperity we could achieve from shorter flights. Businesses could collaborate more easily and traveling could be more accessible to the masses. When distance is not a barrier, valuable relationships are formed and intangible connections are deepened.

🛠️ What is Exosonic's SOLUTION?

A quiet supersonic airliner that is 2.5-3x faster than traditional places. Their plane is set to enter service in the mid 2030s time frame.

Their aircraft is currently projected to carry up to 70 passengers and fly from Los Angeles or San Francisco to London in 6 hours or so. Although these seats will cost business class prices upfront, they will increasingly become more affordable over time.

To fund their R&D costs, they have acquired partnerships with the US government and its Air Force. For the future, they will evolve these into multi million dollar military defense contracts for a more stable resource flow.

"Are we going to be satisfied with the status quo forever and suffer through twelve plus hour flights forever? No, someone has to do something that will make transportation even more convenient and open up the world even more." - Norris Tie

📱 Socials

Norris Tie’s Twitter

Exosonic, Inc.’s Twitter

Exosonic, Inc.’s LinkedIn

Exosonic, Inc.’s Website

Exosonic, Inc.’s Instagram

💣 Value Bomb

💥 1. Naval Ravikant says there are three important things needed to succeed in your startup. 1. Make sure you’re working on the right thing. 2. Make sure you’re working with the right people. 3. Work really hard. All of these 3 components are like legs on a stool. Without one of the legs, your startup will collapse and fail.

Visit inventingthefuture.ai for the full show notes, which includes a full transcription of the conversation, a link to the YouTube Video interview, the top 3 value bombs, people & resources mentioned, and more!

This podcast is hosted by Julian Alvarez, the Co-Founder & CTO at Vize and a Software Engineer at Facebook.