Entrepreneur Paul Shrater co-founded Minimus.biz, the consumer products e-commerce startup in 2004. Shrater grew Minimus.biz to be ranked in Internet Retailer’s Top 1000 highest grossing B2C e-commerce businesses in the U.S., and top 300 in their B2B ranking. Minimus has received several awards for customer service, and has grown expansion divisions in the promotional products industry (MinimusPromos.com) and third party logistics services for other brands (MinimusFulfillment.biz).
As part of that expansion, in 2010, Shrater was named to the promotional products industry magazine’s Hot 40 list of innovators to watch in the industry; and growth in the 3PL division includes working with brands and celebrity clients in: food, beauty, apparel, and electronics.
In 2008, Shrater launched Minimus Products (MinimusProducts.biz), an organic and kosher certified contract packaging company that provides both food and non-food packaging services to numerous brands via its own facilities and equipment. It has capabilities to package liquids, powders, and particulates into packets, bottles, jars, bags, cans, and more.
As an investor, Shrater grew the startup Ink-Eeze, to become the tattoo industry’s top brand in the world, selling his stake in the company in 2017. And, in 2016, he invested in a groundbreaking supplement brand, Stabilicinn, developed by a prominent biochemist who holds over 30 patents on cancer drugs, that launched in Q4 of 2019 and is now available nationwide at Vitamin Shoppe.
Expanding further, in 2017 Shrater launched the Minimus Distribution company to bridge a growing gap in foodservice distribution and need for nimble distribution support – signing on several of the world’s largest food brands (and new brands) and large national operators and group purchasing organizations (GPOs) to support their distribution needs.
In 2018, he has become a joint venture partner with a prominent Korean skincare manufacturer. Minimus Brands (MinimusBrands.biz) was launched in 2019 to support the growing desire among celebrities, influencers, and YouTubers to own equity in brands via leveraging the Minimus operational infrastructure and connection to unique small client brands.
As a reaction to the lack of domestic personal protective equipment at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, in March of 2020, Shrater partnered in the development of a CDC NIOSH approved N95 respirator factory (AdvoqueSafeguard.com) that was the second company to receive temporary emergency approval from NIOSH (and subsequent conventional approval in 2021). It quickly scaled to be the fourth largest respirator producer in the USA at the time, employing over 1100 people.
Prior to his career as an entrepreneur, Shrater was a film and television producer and writer developing projects with various major studios, networks, and production companies.
Shrater is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s acclaimed Wharton School.
He has spoken at: several national conferences such as the IRCE, IRCE Focus, B2B Online, B2B Connect, B2B Multichannel Summit; locally at EDC, Hub 101, 805 Startups, VC Innovates; participated as a venture competition judge; and guest lectured at universities on topics such as e-commerce, supply chain management, and change management. He has authored a blog for the Wharton Magazine, and has been adjunct faculty at California Lutheran University, where he taught an experiential class in integrated marketing communications. He has also appeared on such networks as CNBC, and been quoted in such publications as Forbes and USA Today.
