The eCommerce Concierge
A second opinion before you sign the replatform contract.
Independent, neutral counsel on the platform and architecture decisions that carry real financial risk. I sell no platform and run no build shop, so the only thing I am paid to be is right.
Every agency bidding your project is paid to say yes to it. Every platform rep is paid to recommend their platform. I am the only voice in the room paid the same no matter which way you decide.
Curtis Schrum · Arcadia Consultancy
Years architecting and leading complex commerce
Platforms I am paid to sell.
Core platforms: Magento, Shopify, BigCommerce, Headless
Neutral voice in the room with no agenda
What I do
The menu
Your replatform plan and RFP, pressure-tested before the contract. The right platform for your business, named, with the reasons, and the landmines marked: data limits, integrations, B2B complexity, the true cost.
The full build-ready architecture and integration map, so whoever builds it works from a plan that holds rather than discovering the limits in month six.
When you are ready to build, I point you to shops worth trusting, matched to the work. Any referral economics are disclosed to you in full, every time.
Kept on as the neutral voice through selection and delivery, so the plan you paid for is the plan that ships.
How I work
Four principles
(01)
Independence Over Incentive
Fed by no platform and no agency. The recommendation is only ever the right one, because nothing else is paying me.
(02)
Truth Over Theater
I will tell you the unprofitable thing. I have killed a doomed replatform because it was the right call, not the billable one.
(03)
Restraint Over Excess
Most commerce problems need less, not more. Fewer systems, a clearer structure, a decision made with a steady head.
(04)
Senior, Close to the Work
You get the person who has sat in the hard rooms, not a layer of account management between you and the answer.
About
Curtis Schrum
Fifteen years in commerce, at every level of the stack, from engineer to tech lead to Director of Engineering to fractional CTO. I have architected the migrations, led the teams that shipped them, and sat in the room when a six-figure platform decision could go either way.
What I sell now is the one thing a captured agency or a platform rep cannot: a neutral read on the decision, and the willingness to tell you the truth even when the truth is not what anyone is selling.
- Director of Engineering at Trellis, headless-first, took the firm to Elite BigCommerce Partner.
- Fractional CTO at Formula Chemicals; re-architected operations and international shipping.
- Killed a doomed replatform at a client because it was the right call, not the profitable one.
- Certified BigCommerce and Shopify developer. Magento, Shopify, BigCommerce, headless.
Insights
Writing
Agentic commerce
Agentic Commerce Is Not a Crisis Yet. That Is Exactly Why It Matters.
The next wave will force a round of platform and data decisions most brands are not structured for. The ones who get ahead of it will be the ones who decided with a clear, neutral head, starting with their product data.
Read on LinkedIn