Erik Schimek's Project Resume

Erik Schimek: Startup Advisor, Systems Analyst, Fractional Executive

For more than thirty years, every project on this page began the same way. 

Someone had a problem they couldn't solve., and then a friend they trusted suggested they contact me and ask for help.

I specialize in identifying hidden constraints, removing friction, improving communication, and helping organizations execute more effectively. The industry doesn't really matter, as you'll quickly see below. 

This isn't a theoretical construct. I'm a top-level internet marketer; we show proof of work in the currency of revenue and metrics. 


A Quick Scanning Guide for This Page

My work frequently falls into one or more of the following categories:

  • Fractional CEO / COO / CMO engagements

  • Startup advisory and fundraising support

  • Marketing systems analysis

  • Messaging and positioning

  • Ecommerce revenue optimization

If you have an interesting "impossible" problem to solve, or if you just want an external set of eyes to look at your revenue stack and help you to optimize it -- feel free to reach out.


Selected Commercial and Nonprofit Projects

Startup & Venture Advisory

Xcimer Energy

Nuclear fusion startup.

Assisted with early pitch deck development, messaging architecture, positioning, and investor-facing communications during the company's formative stages. The challenge was communicating an extraordinarily complex technology in a way investors and stakeholders could quickly understand.

Bright Light Ventures

Website design and strategic messaging for a venture-capital-adjacent startup advisory firm.

Focused on credibility, positioning, and helping founders and investors quickly understand the firm's unique value proposition.

Alice Riot

Website design, product design, and marketing strategy for an artisanal luxury scarf company built around the work of Minnesota artists.

The challenge was translating fine art into a commercially viable ecommerce business while preserving the story, authenticity, and artistic integrity behind the work.

Growth & Optimization Projects

Paleo f(x)

Served on the Board of Directors for several years.

Helped launch Entrepreneur f(x), an entrepreneurship-focused event operating alongside Paleo f(x), and assisted with website optimization efforts that contributed to a documented 31% increase in sales conversion rates.

Worked closely with leadership on growth strategy, messaging, event development, and operational improvements.

ARX Fit

During the COVID-era shutdowns, ARX faced a major challenge: commercial gym sales were collapsing while demand for home fitness equipment was exploding.

By restructuring Meta advertising campaigns and splitting lead generation between commercial and residential buyers, ARX was able to enter the home-gym market without increasing advertising costs.

The result was a substantial increase in advertising efficiency and a successful pivot during a period of extraordinary disruption.

Wild Superfoods

Worked with Abel James and the Wild Superfoods team on ecommerce optimization, website conversions, and backend marketing improvements.

Focused on improving customer flow, removing friction points, and increasing overall effectiveness of the sales process.

Nonprofit & Mission-Driven Organizations

REV 1211

Led a full website redesign and messaging overhaul for a Christian nonprofit organization.

The objective was simple: communicate the mission more clearly, improve donor understanding, and better articulate the organization's scope of work.

Special Projects

Rabb Joska Gypsy Cellar Records

A labor-of-love preservation project.

After the original website was compromised, I worked with the family to rebuild and replicate the existing experience on Shopify nearly pixel-for-pixel.

The challenge was not innovation. The challenge was continuity. European distributors and long-time customers trusted the original website, and preserving that familiarity was critical to maintaining sales and relationships.

Research, Education & Systems Design

While most of my work has been commercial, I have maintained a parallel interest in systems design, education, history, and organizational architecture.

These interests often inform the way I approach business problems.

Graduate Research

My historical research focuses on the intersection of science, technology, symbolic tradition, institutions, and systems of power.

My graduate thesis traces the evolution of British power from the Cnut sea empire and the Norman invasion through the Glorious Revolution of 1694. The project examined how institutions adapt, reorganize, and preserve themselves through periods of disruption and systemic change.

Additional academic work includes:

  • Nietzsche's Legacy: Historical Misinterpretation of the Writings of Friedrich Nietzsche

  • The Double-Edged Sword: Wahhabism and the Contested Legitimacy of the Saudi State

  • The Changeless Face of Education in America

  • Historical Analysis of the Sioux Uprising

Education & Alternative Learning Systems

During my tenure as a schoolteacher, I became interested in why educational institutions often fail to implement reforms that research has already shown to be effective.

Under the mentorship of alternative education pioneer Wayne Jennings and educator Bill Zimniewicz, I helped redesign a struggling distance-learning program into a student-directed model that ultimately attracted students from five neighboring districts.

The project reinforced a lesson that has appeared repeatedly throughout my career:

Most systems do not fail because people are incapable.

They fail because the underlying architecture creates unnecessary friction.

Austin Primal Living Group

From approximately 2012–2017, I organized and hosted dozens of events focused on ancestral health, systems thinking, entrepreneurship, and critiques of modern institutions.

These gatherings brought together entrepreneurs, authors, educators, physicians, researchers, and community leaders for direct conversation and experimentation.

Participants included Daniel Quinn, David Graeber, Abel James, Michelle Norris, Darryl Edwards, Dr. Lane Sebring, and many others.

The community ultimately became an informal testing ground for ideas that would later influence Meliora and other projects.

Erik Organic

For more than twenty years, I built a direct-to-consumer ecommerce company connecting Amish craftsmen in rural Minnesota with customers throughout the United States.

At a time when many competitors were moving production overseas, I focused on American manufacturing, long-term relationships, and customer trust.

The business generated more than $30 million in revenue, served over 10,000 customers, and maintained a documented 99.7% customer satisfaction rate.

More importantly, it demonstrated that trust, consistency, and operational excellence remain powerful competitive advantages in any market.

For a detailed account of that experience, see:

The 99.7% Ledger: Engineering Trust to a Presidential Standard