Elinor Coatings

FARGO, ND — Elinor Coatings, LLC was founded in 2006 by Holly Anderson and Dante Battocchi. The company researches and produces chromate-free anticorrosion coatings and metal protection solutions for the Department of Defense and private industry. Their focus is on effective protection of metal surfaces without using toxic heavy metals such as hexavalent chromium. (The carcinogen made famous by Erin Brockovich and featured in the movie by the same name.)

Bootstrapping a start-up like Elinor Coatings from scratch is expensive and complex. "When you are basing a new company off of new technology you are building two things: 1) a company; and 2) a new product or service," said Holly.

Dante, the materials engineer, worked on the new products while Holly worked on building the company.

"I always had side businesses all through school and even during my full-time work," said Holly. "I was a photographer, a writer, an interpreter, and started an organic farm while starting Elinor." Although she has been entrepreneurial from a young age, she still had gaps in her knowledge of running a business. 

Holly and Dante leveraged many SBA resources to help start and grow the business.

They worked with SCORE and the North Dakota SBDC. "Paul Smith at the ND SBDC has worked on so many financial and business plans with us, that I've lost count," said Holly. "I credit Paul for keeping us in business. His help led us to securing financing."

Elinor Coatings has used two SBA programs for a term loan and a line of credit (7(a) and Express). The SBA loans positioned the company for strategic growth. "We had just secured our first Department of Defense research sub-contract," she said. "Because of the SBA loans we had funds to hire, to make large capital purchases for the lab, and to easily work with contracts without suffering the cash-flow squeeze every month. It removed so much stress from the day-to-day."

Both Holly and Dante took part in the SBA Emerging Leaders program. Holly in 2015 and Dante in 2018. "The SBA Emerging Leaders Program taught us where to go for help and more importantly, how to identify the area where we needed help," said Holly. "We gained valuable focus after graduating from that course."

Holly also worked with the SBA North Dakota District Office, the North Dakota PTAC, and the North Dakota WBC for assistance with certifications and government contracting. Most recently, she worked with Sherri Komrosky, Deputy District Director for the SBA North Dakota District Office, on HUBZone certification.

"We knew that building this business would be a slow process," said Holly. "Research is expensive and slow. We knew we had to have an abundance of patience and tenacity and very high tolerance for risk." With hard work and the assistance of SBA programs, Elinor Coatings has seen tremendous growth. "We feel like the SBA is part of our business team," she said.