Redirecting.work
Marilyn Pearson Hendricks:
From Advisor to Builder: Stepping Into the Arena
Marilyn Pearson Hendricks was not looking for another pivot.
When we last spoke, she was running WorkTech Advisory with clarity and intention. She collaborated with trusted partners, delivered high-level guidance to founders, and stayed close to innovation without stepping fully into the startup fray. She had already done the hard entrepreneurial work earlier in her career. Advising felt like the right lane for her.
(See her first Pivot Story for that chapter.)
Then she pivoted.
Through her advisory work, Marilyn grew closer to founder Shail Niazi and to the product they were building, Galvico. What began as advisory support evolved into commitment. The feedback she heard from CIOs and operators was consistent: Galvico was solving a real problem. Organizations are still managing complex policy and process exceptions manually, outside their core systems, in spreadsheets and workarounds. The friction is operational and cultural. The opportunity felt tangible.
Marilyn had told herself she would stay arm’s length from product ventures. Instead, she chose to step in. She is no longer signing new client engagements. WorkTech Advisory remains, but in a lighter, surgical support mode for past clients. Her primary energy is now focused on bringing Galvico to market.
At the same time, she made another meaningful move. She helped refound LEARN, the Leading Edge Human Resource Network in the Twin Cities, after it had effectively been dismantled. She rebuilt the board, re-incorporated the organization, created a programming committee, and stepped in as executive director for a two-year term, with succession built in.
If the product venture is the bold pivot, LEARN is the parallel calling. Marilyn is not only building companies. She is rebuilding community.
Current Direction
Marilyn describes this moment as “a whole new ocean.” New vessel. New waters. Same experience brought forward.
The product work is high risk, potentially high reward. But money is not the core driver. She talks about purpose, fun, and doing good. She believes Galvico can help organizations create stronger AI guardrails from a policy perspective while reducing the operational drag of fragmented systems. That combination matters to her.
She is also realistic. The odds are not in a startup’s favor. There will be landmines. There will be setbacks. So she and Shail are building deliberately.
They measure progress in “inch pebbles.” They huddle daily. They focus on small wins that compound. They ask themselves: Are we doing the right things? Are we doing them well? Are we moving toward outcomes rather than just staying busy?
Their near-term goal is specific: four pilots in play in the first quarter, with two already committed and line of sight to the rest. They have an MVP and are building from that foundation.
Equally important is how they are building the team. Marilyn is intentionally rejecting the traditional SaaS playbook of raising large sums and hiring a standard slate of expensive roles. Instead, they are leveraging a fluid network of seasoned experts, fractional contributors, and an advisory board structurally integrated into the cap table.
It is an AI-era build strategy: small core, high leverage, deep experience, flexible structure. Equity is the currency. Relationships are the multiplier.
LEARN fits into this broader ecosystem. It is volunteer-based, relationship-driven, and deeply joyful. Her husband can tell when she is on a LEARN call because she is laughing. That matters. Energy matters.
Advice to Others
Marilyn’s advice for getting involved in a startup is direct.
Be honest about risk. A product startup is hard. It will test you. Ask yourself whether this is the right season of life to take that on.
Know your why. Entrepreneurship has a different headspace than employment. Do not follow a fantasy version of a founder built from podcasts and playbooks.
Choose partners carefully. Shared purpose and partnership strength are stabilizers when things get difficult.
Be selective about investors. Capital is not neutral. Investors can accelerate you or distort you, especially if they do not understand your market.
Build creatively. The old playbooks are not sacred. The power of fractional talent, advisory networks, and AI-enabled leverage allows for new models. Just because something has “always been done that way” does not mean it still makes sense.
Marilyn’s pivot is not about reinvention for reinvention’s sake. It is about stepping out of the advisory chair and into the arena because the work feels meaningful, the partnership feels strong, and the ocean, though uncertain, feels worth crossing.