Podcast Summary: This Week in Startups – "How to Make Billions from Exposing Fraud" | Episode 2234 | January 13, 2026

Host: Jason Calacanis
Guests: Alex Shea (Founder, Anti-Fraud Company), Blake Scholl (CEO, Boom), Alex (Producer), Marcus (Producer)
Theme: Deep dive into the business of exposing fraud via whistleblower laws, the founding journey of fraud-busting startups, and lessons from building non-traditional, high-impact tech ventures.

Episode Overview

This engaging episode explores how new startups—leveraging AI, legal know-how, and investigative journalism—are turning whistleblowing into a repeatable, billion-dollar business model. The conversation features Alex Shea of the Anti-Fraud Company, who explains how his company uncovers massive corporate fraud against the government and collects significant recoveries, alongside reflections on startup ambition from earlier interviews with Boom CEO Blake Scholl, a founder intent on reviving supersonic passenger flight.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Whistleblower Startup: Anti-Fraud Company

The Whistleblower Legal Framework (00:08; 36:07)

• Jason explains: “Whistleblower laws allow you to get 50%, a third of the money recovered.” – (00:10)
• The False Claims Act (FCA), enacted in 1863, allows private parties to sue on behalf of the government when fraud is suspected, entitling the "whistleblower" to 15–30% of any money recovered.
• Alex Shea: "We are the whistleblower. We're not a law firm at all. We are the whistleblower." – (00:18; 36:53)

Business Model: Monetizing Investigative Journalism (38:20)

• The company uncovers previously unreported fraud, files claims as the recognized whistleblower, and collects a share of government recoveries.
• Not an insider or law firm, but an “information processing company” driven by AI and legal expertise.
• Jason: “You’ve created a company to file these claims ... and then split the revenue.” – (36:55)
• Alex Shea: Clarifies they file directly, using recent amendments to the law that broaden who can bring claims, stating it’s more of a “bounty hunter” model.

Scale and Market Opportunity (38:52; 39:22)

• U.S. government faces billions in annual fraud—estimates run between $500B and $1.5T.
• Current FCA recoveries capture only a fraction (e.g., ~$4B/year).
• Alex Shea: “This is what we’d call a TAM expansion play…there’s a lot more fraud that’s not being uncovered so far and we think we can help.” – (39:25)

Startup Genesis & Team Composition (40:32)

• Founders include engineers and experienced attorneys (FTC, pharma, higher-ed litigation).
• Origin story involves whistleblowing against Brown University’s administrative excess.
• Co-founder David Barclay: Focused on pharma/Medicare fraud.
• Sahaj Sharda: Wrote a book on higher-ed antitrust, resulting in federal class action.

Operational Model & Timelines (44:11; 45:04)

• Comparable to biotech: legal cases are “assets”—development can take 2–7 years.
• To improve cash flow, company can sell shares in legal claims (litigation finance).

Techniques for Fraud Detection (48:21; 48:51)

• Heavy use of AI (LLMs) and data mining, leveraging OSINT and structured/unstructured data.
• Team includes experts in pharmacy, legal, engineering, and investigative journalism.
• The intense scale of fraud leaves digital “traces,” which are surfaced using advanced analytics.

Novelty & Open Market (51:12; 52:05)

• Very few competitors; Shea welcomes others, citing enormous, largely untapped opportunity.
• High incentive alignment: whistleblowers and government both benefit financially.
• Jason: “This is a new business model for investigative journalists and one that we’re hopeful is going to be the future.” – (54:38)

2. Reflections on Supersonic Ambition: Blake Scholl & Boom

Concorde’s Failure & The New Tech Opportunity (02:28; 08:15)

• Concorde died largely due to prohibitive costs and limited market, not the infamous crash.
• Blake Scholl: “Supersonic flight never changed the world, never took over the way the jet age did…we built Concorde before it was possible to do it economically.” – (02:38)

Motivation & Founder Mindset (03:19)

• Blake never got to fly on Concorde and was motivated by personal “itch” to bring it back, pivoting from tech/startup background to aviation.
• “Chips on shoulders, put chips in pockets” mindset: founders tackling tough, physical-world problems.

Technological Breakthroughs & Feasibility (08:14; 08:56; 09:29)

• Advances in aerodynamics, engines, materials, and software enable a 30%+ efficiency gain over Concorde.
• Blake: “If you can improve Concorde’s fuel economy by about 30%…then you can do a supersonic seat for the same fuel that a lay-flat bed in business class would take.” – (08:15)
• Use of carbon fiber composites and software-driven design deliver performance.
• Conscious of regulatory hurdles: currently, supersonic overland is banned in the U.S., but technological improvements may eventually enable change.

Startup Approach vs. Government (15:36; 16:27)

• Building an airplane startup for less than Uber raised in a round—lean, sequential, and iterative prototyping.
• Focused on order book/airline partnerships before contemplating vertical integration.
• SpaceX cited as template for scrappy, high-talent, full-stack innovation.
• Blake: “You hire a smaller number of really phenomenal people, you put them all in one room, you keep them around the hardware. You can execute way faster for way less money.” – (17:59)

Market, Pricing & Business Strategy (18:20; 19:07)

• 25 planes on initial LOIs; first 10 for Virgin Group.
• Target price: $5,000 round trip NY-London, on par with current business class, aiming for mass accessibility eventually.

Team Building & Learning (28:44; 29:09)

• Recruiting top aerospace talent—acted quickly to “tear this whole thing apart technologically.”
• Blake: “Most people underestimate as adults how much they can learn, how much new things they can learn, and how quickly they can get deep.” – (29:09)
• Started with self-study in aerospace, then built credibility to attract high-level engineers.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jason Calacanis: “When you don’t understand a startup...that’s when you lean in. That’s when you get more curious.” (39:42)
• Alex Shea: “We are the whistleblower. We're not a law firm...we are the whistleblower.” (36:53)
• Blake Scholl: “I never got to fly on Concorde, and it pissed me…I realized I might have to start the company if I want to have it happen.” (03:19)
• Blake Scholl: “You can do things way more efficiently. And Elon has really shown the path...you can execute way faster for way less money.” (17:59)
• Marcus: “30% efficiency. Just a masterclass right there in fundraising.” (12:59)
• Jason Calacanis: “Being lean as a startup, pivoting to where the value is today for this very long term vision to change the world.” (31:27)
• Alex Shea: “When you're committing fraud at that scale...you're going to leave traces somewhere in data...We’re gathering signals from all these places.” (48:51)
• Jason: “Sometimes it takes getting kicked out of your company like Steve Jobs did and then coming back…It's the crises, it's the challenges that make the entrepreneur.” (63:12)
• Blake Scholl: “Most people underestimate as adults how much they can learn, how quickly they can get deep.” (29:09)

Important Segments & Timestamps

• [00:08] – Whistleblower laws and business model basics
• [02:28] – Why Concorde failed; economics behind supersonic flight
• [08:15] – Advances that make supersonic feasible now
• [15:36] – Startup, lean, iterative approach in aerospace
• [18:20] – Initial sales, LOIs, pricing strategy
• [28:44] – Recruiting & learning across disciplines
• [36:07] – Deep dive: the False Claims Act & whistleblower mechanics
• [38:52] – Fraud scale & TAM (Total Addressable Market)
• [44:11] – Operational model; case timelines & litigation finance
• [48:21] – Data & AI in fraud detection
• [52:40] – Why incentives & laws haven’t worked fully yet
• [54:38] – Investigative journalism’s broken business model, new future
• [63:12] – Grit, resilience, and making great teams (Startup HR Q&A)

Additional Q&A Highlights

• How to Recruit Global Talent on a Budget (59:36):
  • Sell mission and equity to recruit A-level talent if cash is low; always “be recruiting.” (Jason)
• HR Leadership, Grit & Building Resilient Teams (62:15; 63:12):
  • Hardship and adversity breed strong teams; look for talent with “scar tissue.”
  • “It’s the crises, it’s the challenges that make the entrepreneur.”

Tone

The conversation is energetic, optimistic, and slightly irreverent—balancing sharp business insight with founder storytelling and moments of humor. The hosts and guests share a sense of mission-driven ambition, a bias for action, and a belief in the transformative potential of startups to solve big, entrenched problems.

Conclusion

The episode offers a blueprint for non-traditional entrepreneurship: combining deep legal and technical stacks, obsessive learning, and a relentless, founder-driven approach to solving massive unsolved problems—whether that’s eradicating $500 billion in fraud, or putting everyday travelers on supersonic jets. Both stories exemplify how startup thinking—lean, iterative, interdisciplinary—can disrupt even the most entrenched and regulated domains.