Josh McFarland

Powering the future at Boom & Greylock. Lover of puns. Looking forward.

[Josh McFarland @crazyfoo]

This supercut launch video 😂 Congrats @kayvz and team @Macroscope on your debut and Series A!

[Macroscope @Macroscope]

what did you get done this week?

[Josh McFarland @crazyfoo]

Huge congrats to @_M_Watson and team @useorigin on this launch - this is the first _smart_ forward looking app I’ve seen! Perfect AI use case 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[Matt Watson @_M_Watson]

Financial advice has been broken for decades.
We just fixed it.

@useorigin is now the first AI financial advisor regulated by the SEC.

* 95%+ cheaper than traditional advisors
* Always-on, context-aware
* Available to everyone

The future of money is here. Check it out and let me know what you think :)

[Josh McFarland @crazyfoo]

An absolutely historic moment! It's about time. Go @bscholl @boomsupersonic!!

[Blake Scholl 🛫 @bscholl]

Supersonic is back, baby!

On January 28th, Geppetto broke the sound barrier aboard the first privately-developed supersonic jet.
And today…@realDonaldTrump broke the sound barrier…permanently!

In 1973, a ban was placed on supersonic flight over the US. It was supposed to protect the public from sonic booms. But instead it banned innovation. The result crippled progress for half a century. The trend of ever-increasing flight speeds ground to a halt.

However, today we can celebrate–quiet supersonic flight is allowed!

The supersonic race is on and a new era of commercial flight can begin. Unleashed, my bet is very much on 🇺🇸(and @boomsupersonic).

Please join me in thanking @realDonaldTrump and @USDOT @SecDuffy for their leadership—as well as @SenTedBuddNC and @RepTroyNehls for introducing the bipartisan SAM act. And to the team @FAANews for leading us in the next steps for boomless flight!
Make America Supersonic!!!

[Josh McFarland @crazyfoo]

It’s about time. @boomsupersonic

[Blake Scholl 🛫 @bscholl]

https://t.co/svUgwti9q3

[Josh McFarland @crazyfoo]

Make America Go-fast Again!
@boomsupersonic 🤝 @realDonaldTrump

[Blake Scholl 🛫 @bscholl]

Monday Friday

[Josh McFarland @crazyfoo]

@bscholl @boomsupersonic 🇺🇸💥

[Elad Gil @eladgil]

I love how hard tech companies always have giant American flags in their facilities

[Josh McFarland @crazyfoo]

Life is made of moments like these

[Blake Scholl 🛫 @bscholl]

Boom! We cracked it! Today we are introducing Boomless Cruise—supersonic flights up to 50% faster with no audible sonic boom.

We quietly (har har) demo'd this on XB-1's first supersonic flight—three times actually. 🧵👇

[Josh McFarland @crazyfoo]

In honor of @bscholl and team @boomsupersonic's historic supersonic flight today... here's a clip of my son doing a double aileron roll at Mach 1.1 in the sim! Plus a few from the archives:

1) Buying Geppetto and Doc cheap burritos to celebrate XB-1's first flight last year

2) Commemorating a 1/1 piece by @timmcdonagh from his 2018 WSJ illustration at XB-1's unveiling in 2020

3) My Twitter team touring the original XB-1 mockup in 2016

Ten years in the making... slowly, then all at once. Blake exists at the intersection of grit and grandiosity. Excelsior, my friend!

[Blake Scholl 🛫 @bscholl]

Make America Boom Again 💪 🇺🇸

[Josh McFarland @crazyfoo]

A decade in, yet if you sit down with @bscholl and absorb his energy for and commitment to @boomsupersonic... you know it's still day one. LFG!

[Blake Scholl 🛫 @bscholl]

Today, @boomsupersonic turns ten. I'd like to share here what I shared with our team.

A decade ago, I was sitting by myself in my basement in California. I knew no one in the industry and had under my belt a few spreadsheets, a stack of textbooks, and one Dan Raymer crash-course on airplane design. And a brand new certificate of incorporation of Boom Technology, Inc.

Back then, I thought a failure to launch was the most likely outcome. Boom would come and go without even being a footnote in aviation history. My (then) wife told me I had six months to screw around before she expected me to find gainful employment. When I told my friends I was going to build supersonic jets... I usually got a polite nod and an eye roll. One told me to call him back when I had something less pie in the sky. My mom said, "shouldn't you work on something you know something about?"

It took a decade, but the pie is now very much in the sky. And pretty soon it will be streaking across the sky making aviation history.

If the next ten years are anything like the last ten, they're going to be hard. And we're going to have breathtaking successes. Today, I am more optimistic than ever. We have time and time again done what the naysayers said was impossible. We've made at least our fair share of mistakes and had plenty of setbacks—and we've used those to learn and to build our toughness and resilience.

After incorporating Boom Technology, Inc. ten years ago, I wrote an essay entitled "I feel the need... the need for speed." I never published it and didn't read it again until today. It rings as true today as it did a decade ago—and indeed my belief of the importance of a supersonic renaissance has only deepened.  It's attached here.

In the last 10 years, as Boom has accelerated, the rest of the industry has stood still. Neither Boeing nor Airbus has introduced a new product. On September 26, 2014 there were two supersonic companies—us and Aerion. Today, there is just Boom. And Boom was only the royal "we."

Today "we" is all of us—and United, and American, and Japan Airlines, a dozen suppliers, many political leaders and pretty much every single soul in Greensboro. Plus the "we" is the traveling public who are looking forward to flying on our jets. We is everyone around the company cheering us on. We are the only ones pursuing our mission—but are no longer lonely.

Building this company has been by far the hardest thing I've ever done. And also the most rewarding. On even the toughest days, I never have to ask myself "is this worth it." The world needs and deserves supersonic flight. America needs a new commercial aircraft manufacturer.

Steve Jobs liked to say "the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."

Thank you for being crazy—for doing what you do every day, for giving your time in service of a future where we all save time.

Happy 10th birthday, Boom.

[Josh McFarland @crazyfoo]

@brianwilt Inflation-adjusted, this is actually under our Jamaican Us Move Out event budget (which the incoming tenant who subleased from us paid for) 😅

[Josh McFarland @crazyfoo]

@Jamesashields @bscholl @boomsupersonic Ground up! Maybe except for the GE J85s and avionics

[Josh McFarland @crazyfoo]

Could not be prouder of my friend @bscholl … and of my angel investment in @boomsupersonic - putting the literal accelerate in e/acc!

[Blake Scholl 🛫 @bscholl]

Today marks a big milestone toward the rebirth of supersonic passenger flight. For the first time in decades, a civil supersonic airplane has taken to the skies. The @boomsupersonic XB-1 met all of its first flight objectives—and we’re only going further, higher, and faster from here.

[Blake Scholl 🛫 @bscholl]

Today marks a big milestone toward the rebirth of supersonic passenger flight. For the first time in decades, a civil supersonic airplane has taken to the skies. The @boomsupersonic XB-1 met all of its first flight objectives—and we’re only going further, higher, and faster from here.

[Josh McFarland @crazyfoo]

Huge congrats to Vinod, Arnaud and all of Team @BigSurAI for launching publicly and for the early customer wins! I invested because it feels like most AI is positioning defensively for retail (ex. saving costs on customer service), whereas this team's approach is focused on growing the revenue pie and helping guide consumers through to great choices... And believe me, as someone who spent much of their career selling software to retailers, it's far more exciting to align with helping them grow! Onward!

[Vinod Kumar Ramachandran @contactvinodr]

Incredibly excited to share what we've been building over the last year at Big Sur AI. We're committed to helping merchants become more successful.

[Josh McFarland @crazyfoo]

Vote, SF … vote! https://t.co/IsoBXFvQ8c @GrowSF @agarwal @sbuss

[Josh McFarland @crazyfoo]

Big launch for @frecfinance and I’m pumped to be backing @maladham & team as they bring these powerful financial tools to those of us who want to self-manage!

[Mo Al Adham @maladham]

Excited to announce @frecfinance has emerged from stealth to give everyone access to sophisticated investment products exclusively available via wealth managers.

And we’re backed by $26.4 million in funding led by Greylock and other leading investors. 🧵

https://t.co/1RultRVNOT

[Josh McFarland @crazyfoo]

VC is about getting a handful of decisions really right — and I’m proud of both @SethGRosenberg & us at @GreylockVC for this one. Huge congrats and thank you for 6+ years of killer teamwork, my friend!

[Seth Rosenberg @SethGRosenberg]

Also, excited to announce my new role as GP at Greylock, where I'll be focused on AI applications and fintech. Thanks to the founders who took an early bet on me. Look forward to paying it forward.