Eric Swillinger | StraightUp Solar
by Julia Paulus
After spending six years in the transportation logistics industry, Eric Swillinger began to contemplate whether his job was lining up with his ethics. Swillinger, who previously wanted to go into environmental law, started thinking, “Why did I spend four years studying the environment when I put trucks on the road all day that are harming the environment?”
His thoughts on his career path went further when he started wondering, “Why am I working for someone else when I have an entrepreneurial drive?”
His entrepreneurial drive and environmental consciousness aligned after his brother-in-law started a solar company in Kentucky. “In May 2005 I told him I thought a company like his would do well in St. Louis,” says Swillinger. “At first it was a hobby. I thought it would be great if it was something that ended up blowing up and I could do it full time. Six years later that’s where we are.”
Since its inception in 2006, StraightUp Solar has been rapidly progressing as a solar electric design and installation company for both homes and businesses. Swillinger and his partners, Dane Glueck and Joe Mentel, gained traction in 2008 with Missouri’s Proposition C, which required utility companies to pay an incentive toward solar panels to reduce carbon emissions. “And with the 30% federal tax credit releasing its $2,000 cap, we really began to grow,” he says. “The stimulus also really helped our company. We went from three to four employees to six and now 12. The stimulus launched us to be a legitimate business. From there we grew organically and didn’t have to get outside funding.”
StraightUp Solar has grown 200% in revenue each year, proving solar isn’t good for just so-called tree huggers. “We have a whole new genre of fiscally minded customers now,” says Swillinger. “We give an unbiased approach by educating our customers. Today we have project protocol where all three of us partners visit the site after a project, check it over and revisit it in 30 days to make sure all is well. It’s important because our business is 85% referral-based.”