I started this Substack to share some of my thoughts on diverse topics, to comment on current events, and to get feedback on some of my creative writing projects. Mostly, I want to help readers stay intellectually curious while also leading lives that make a positive impact on the world.
Guillermo Söhnlein - Atlanta, USA - October 2026
About Me
For lack of any better description, I would consider myself a “philanthropic builder” currently striving to become an “inspirational storyteller.”
I trained as an economist and a lawyer before serving four years as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. In 1998, I helped launch a Silicon Valley tech company during the peak of the Internet Boom, and that experience propelled me into an entrepreneurial career as co-founder of more than a dozen for-profit ventures and nonprofit organizations. Almost all of my ventures had a social mission at their core, and they spanned industries for which I had an underlying passion, including outer space, ocean exploration, nature conservation, and music appreciation.
In 2006, I founded Space Angels Network, connecting accredited individual investors with early-stage space startups. In 2009, I co-founded OceanGate, democratizing deep ocean exploration with crewed submersibles. In 2020, I founded the Humans2Venus Foundation, promoting Venus’ atmosphere as a feasible destination for humanity’s expansion into the cosmos.
In 2025, I published Titan Unfinished: An Untold Story of Exploration, Innovation, and the OceanGate Tragedy, a memoir of my time as co-founder and CEO of OceanGate. Born out of my grieving process over the loss of my friend and co-founder, this first effort at “inspirational storytelling” became the latest turning point in my life and led to the creation of Curious Impact.
I am an avid international traveler. I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but I was raised in Silicon Valley. I have lived across the USA (including Atlanta, Miami, Northern Virginia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Southern California), and I have visited all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Over the past decade, I have lived as an American ex-pat in Panama, Spain, and Switzerland, visiting 47 countries along the way.
For more information or to book me to speak at your event, please visit my website.
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