Felipe Marinho, a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, had a succesful career working for Shell Oil.  But he was always an entrepreneur at heart. When not working his day job, Felipe was managing a vibrant restaurant he owned.  So when he immigrated to the United States, he knew he would eventually start his own business.

That business, Soulphia, sprang from his experience volunteering at a homeless shelter in Hoboken where he helped make and serve dinner to over 200 people. Later that evening he thought about his experience - how he felt exhilarated yet frustrated that he hadn’t significantly changed the lives of the people he had fed. That night, Soulphia, a company that trains homeless shelter residents in the US  to teach conversational English online to people worldwide, was born.

Felipe was committed to founding a company with a strong social mission, but it was initially unclear how his idea would translate to reality.

 “When I first started out, I had no idea how big the business could ultimately be. I just knew I wanted to change people’s lives for the positive. And I knew I couldn’t wait until I had the perfect plan or I would never have gotten started.” says Felipe.

Felipe began working his network to find the people he needed to bring his idea to market. But he also knew that once he launched his initial concept, he needed to listen to his customers to ensure success.

Originally, Soulphia focused on selling one-on-one classes to individuals looking to improve their English skills. But Felipe quickly learned that people preferred to learn in a group setting. And he found that the subscription model was more effective than selling single classes.

He also found other market opportunities for his unique mission focused educational product. Soulphia expanded into the B2B market after Brazilian businesses reached out to train their employees in English. And, because his business model also includes the social mission of giving shelter residents transferable skills to help them move to financial stability, Soulphia partnered with local governments to train shelter residents in the community.

Felipe ultimately closed Soulphia when it was clear that he would need to raise significant funding to continue. Given he had two young children, he didn't feel he had the time to continue running the business in addition to seeking investors. Felipe is now a co-founder of Stage2Startups.

Felipe learned a lot from his experience as a founder. "You will never have the perfect roadmap when you start out so begin with a simple business idea and strategy, work hard, and always listen to customer” says Felipe. "To succeed, you have to try an idea in the marketplace, get feedback and then adapt, adapt, adapt.”