Michael Ferdinandsen: Building with People, Led by Trust, Fueled by Curiosity
Inside the quiet, people-first leadership powering Secomea’s transformation. A conversation with Michael Ferdinandsen, CEO at Secomea, on building a strong team.
Inside the quiet, people-first leadership powering Secomea’s transformation. A conversation with Michael Ferdinandsen, CEO at Secomea, on building a strong team.
Inside the quiet, people-first leadership powering Secomea’s transformation. A conversation with Michael Ferdinandsen, CEO at Secomea, on building a strong team.
Michael was part of the Secomea founding team in 2008. Since then, the company has grown to become a leading provider of secure remote access and IIoT solutions. Secomea’s mission, which is to help manufacturers and machine builders be efficient while staying secure, has only grown in importance. What started as a hardware company in the suburb has now transformed into a software company headquartered in Copenhagen, with offices in China, Japan, and the US, with a global network of partners and distributors. Secomea is now spearheading the effort to build a true industry platform for machine builders and manufacturers alike. Through it all, Michael has been at the helm.
Michael’s journey into entrepreneurship started early on. At the age of six, Michael made his first profit as an entrepreneur. He purchased fruit with the intention of selling it as prepared pieces outside the grocery store. He negotiated the space himself. He sold every slice.
“Why do that at six?” he shrugs. “Because I could. Because I was allowed to try – even with the risk of failing.”
This early experience hints at Michael’s instinct to try, learn, and continually adjust. During his time as CEO of Secomea, that instinct has matured into a leadership style built on asking questions, creating opportunities for others, and the belief that progress happens when you surround yourself with the right people.
Michael doesn’t talk about himself as a founder. He talks about people. Trust. Curiosity. He asks questions.
“I don’t know how to code,” he says. “But I am curious and know how to ask questions. I know how to listen. I attempt to connect the dots that others don’t always see.”
Michael’s focus is on getting the right people in the room and asking the right questions. “The team around you will understand and will also respect that you don't have all the answers. Don't be nervous about showing some vulnerability,” he says. His job isn’t to know – it’s to help the right people feel safe enough to figure it out together.
“Nobody wants to feel stupid using tech. But they often do – because we overcomplicate it.”
This mindset has helped him shape Secomea. While some founders see themselves as engineering pioneers, Michael has built his role around translation – between complexity and clarity, between technical depth and human intuition. “Nobody wants to feel stupid using tech,” he says. “But they often do – because we overcomplicate it.”
Secomea’s solution mirrors this approach; simplifying the experience but not the mission. That has become Secomea’s internal compass: secure communication, made easy. Not just as a tagline, but as a leadership principle – a daily discipline of removing friction, not adding to it.
Transformation hinges on leadership. As Secomea began to outgrow its hardware roots, the shift ahead wasn’t just about the product – it was about the people, the pace of change, and their perspective on Secomea’s future role in the industry. For Michael, guiding the company through that change meant rethinking not only where they were going, but how he and his team would lead them there.
Michael recognized the need for change. Secomea could keep going as it was, or choose to become something more. “I wasn’t frustrated,” he says. “… [But] I wanted to have a change. I saw where we wanted to go. But I wasn’t entirely sure how to get there.”
That openness set the tone for what came next: a gradual shift from legacy hardware to a building software-first platform. From a predictable path to taking deliberate risk. From established roles to putting together an entirely new leadership team.
Transforming Secomea and their role in the IIoT ecosystem wasn’t just a commercial decision. It was one rooted in the company's culture – and in their relationship with long-term partners and customers. It required Michael and his team to lead both inside and outside of Secomea.
Michael has always been drawn to people more than product. When Secomea was founded, he was the only non-technical co-founder – the one drawn to conversations, curiosity, and context. “I always had a passion for engaging with people,” he says. “Instead of saying someone is different, I ask, ‘What’s the reason behind it?’” Whether sitting across from customers in Japan or collaborating with Secomeas engineers in Denmark, he strives to focus on understanding and not assumptions. “You can’t solve the world behind a PC,” he says. “You have to get out there and really understand.”
“I always had a passion for engaging with people. Instead of saying someone is different, I ask, ‘What’s the reason behind it?’”
That approach stayed with him through the transformation years; clarity, not control. Listening more than directing. Asking the hard questions, and giving the team space to answer them. Also, as the pressure built from colleagues and customers.
“There were nights I looked in the mirror with uncertainty on what came next,” he says. “We didn’t know the exact outcome of this. But we couldn’t be afraid of change. Ask the people. But be true to yourself. As a leader, you have to go first and take the hardest hit.”
GRO partnered with Secomea in 2021 to help support the transformation, with the goal of helping the team move faster, while navigating the pitfalls of such a transformation.
“We didn’t need the money,” he says. “We needed the knowledge. The coaching. The kind of partner who had done this before… because it required a little bit of boldness.”
Since then, Michael and his team have successfully transformed Secomea. Launching a subscription model, building new products, growing the team locally and abroad, and moving into new headquarters. All in just four years, and while navigating global supply chain crises and economic uncertainty. “I have enjoyed the journey,” Michael says. “Was it crazier than I had envisioned? Absolutely. Do I have regrets? Many learnings but absolutely not. I would do the same thing all over again.”
As Secomea has evolved, so has Michael’s role – from hands-on founder to listener, translator and multiplier. Transformation is about who you choose to build alongside, and the more profound the change, the more it matters who’s in the room with you. Now, Michael’s leadership is about creating the space for his team to step in and build something bigger, together. Now Michael’s leadership philosophy can fully come into play: a relentless belief in people – not just internally, but around him. “I don’t need to know everything. I need to know who to ask. That’s more important.”
“I don’t need to know everything. I need to know who to ask.”
Michael doesn’t see Secomea as a solo success story, but as part of a bigger mission: protecting a fragile industry by building trust where it matters most. When he talks about Secomea’s role in the world, it’s not abstract. He speaks about the factories that keep our shelves stocked, the pharma labs that keep people alive, the families whose livelihoods depend on smooth operations. “Our customers are the most hacked industry in the world – more than finance. The impact is real. Three thousand employees waiting on a paycheck. That’s not just data. That’s life.”
Michael sees Secomea as a node in a larger system – not the hero of the story, but a force multiplier for good actors. He talks often about togetherness. About listening across cultures. About creating the conditions where people feel safe to change. “When looking into the future I look at how we together can make manufacturing the most secure industry in the world,” he says – a clear vision not just of Secomea’s direction, but of the kind of world he wants to help shape: collaborative, resilient, and quietly bold.
“When looking into the future I look at how we together can make manufacturing the most secure industry in the world.”
It’s a vision rooted not just in technology, but in transformation. Because for Michael, building the future is not about scale alone – it’s about shifting how people think, lead, and grow together. And that shift happens through trust. Leadership, in his view, isn’t about certainty. It’s about passion and presence. It’s about going first – not with answers, but with conviction. “Rebirth is not something you do to your company. It’s something you invite your company into.”
For founders navigating their own reinvention, Michael’s message is clear: ask for help. Stay curious. Don’t pretend to know. Let the people around you surprise you.
“You fall. You learn. You adjust. And then you go again.”
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