Meet Brendan Michaelsen | Co-founder & CTO of Our Wave

In December 2023, Shoutout North Carolina spoke with Brendan Michaelsen, co-founder and CTO of Our Wave, about how the organization began. Brendan shared the conversation that sparked the idea, the career that prepared him to build it, and the people who helped bring it to life.

A Conversation That Changed Direction

In the fall of 2018, Brendan met with his friend and colleague Kyle Linton to plan the launch of a startup they had built together. The talk soon turned to a close friend who had recently been through a traumatic experience, and to how they could help. At the time, the #MeToo movement was prompting many survivors to speak out, and support services were struggling to keep up. Survivors who shared on social media often had no direct path to healing resources, and some faced hostility instead of care.

Brendan and Kyle believed scalable technology could give survivors a safer digital space. As the work grew, so did their commitment to building a supportive online community. Brendan described the reward of seeing survivors around the world share their stories, connect with each other, and use resources on the platform.

A Builder's Path to Our Wave

Brendan calls himself a builder and tinkerer who sees product and team as the core of any venture. He co-founded the software firm PearCircuit as a Purdue University freshman and led it for more than seven years before its acquisition in 2019. He has also advised many organizations and prefers projects that make the world better. His guiding idea is "minimal delightful products over minimal viable products," he told Shoutout North Carolina.

Credit to an Original Founder

Brendan credited his wife, Catherina Gomes, as one of Our Wave's original founders. He said she brought a gift for meaningful partnerships and worked tirelessly to launch the first version of the platform. Cathy also founded 700 Rivers, an ethical lifestyle brand in Raleigh that offers fair, dignified work to women who have overcome human trafficking.

Read the full story in Shoutout North Carolina.