Clayton Tomasino
Scorpion Coatings, a protective coatings and window film company, is commemorating its 30th anniversary. Led by CEO Clayton Tomasino, the company honors the work that began in 1996, challenging restrictive coating practices that have evolved into a mission-driven business focused on lowering barriers to entry and reshaping how opportunity is accessed within the coatings and window film industry.
Founded by Tomasino’s father in rural Indiana, Scorpion emerged out of frustration with prohibitive startup costs in the spray-on truck bed liner market. According to Tomasino, at the time, entering the space required upward of $50,000 in specialized equipment and franchise commitments. Determined to find another way, he developed a batch-mix formulation that could be applied using equipment costing a fraction of that price.
“That was the spark,” says Tomasino, who returned to the business in 2007 to help transition Scorpion into its primary focus. “The company was built on the idea that there had to be a more accessible way for people to compete. That ethos has never left us.”
Over the years, Scorpion evolved. While coatings still represent a significant portion of the company’s work, window film gradually became a dominant focus. Through that evolution, the company continued to ask the same question it had been asking since its founding: how can the barrier to entry be lowered even further for entrepreneurs?
That question ultimately led to the development of Scorpion Scan, a mobile-based software platform recently launched on both iOS and Android. The app allows window film and paint protection film installers to access an extensive database of digitized window and vehicle patterns directly from their phone. By selecting a vehicle’s make and model and the specific windows to be tinted, users can send precise cut instructions to a plotter, eliminating the need for manual film cutting and significantly reducing training time.
(Image Credit: Scorpion Coatings)
Tomasino explains, “For a shop with three or four employees, constant turnover is a huge problem. You’re always retraining someone. We asked ourselves how we could make the actual installation process easier, so new people could be effective almost immediately.”
Early in development, another barrier emerged. “Many compatible plotters can be extremely costly. That wasn’t going to work with our ethos,” he says. The solution came in the form of a compact computer device that, Tomasino explains, acts as a universal translator between the phone and virtually any plotter. “Now, someone can buy a $300 plotter, use free software, and start tinting. All they need is material,” he says. “That’s when we knew we were doing something true to how this business started.”
Today, Scorpion serves small businesses across the US and the UK. But the company’s ambitions extend far beyond. Over the next three years, the company aims to empower 100,000 entrepreneurs worldwide by making professional window tinting more accessible than ever before.
That commitment to continuity and growth was validated in 2024 when Scorpion was recognized by the US Chamber of Commerce as one of the Top 100 Small Businesses in the country, awarded with the title of Community Champions, reflecting the company’s sustained involvement in local initiatives in rural Indiana.
“We’re carrying on the same journey my dad started 30 years ago. The difference now is that technology allows us to reach a much wider audience. We can make a global impact almost overnight,” Tomasino says. With Scorpion Scan now live and adoption accelerating, the next chapter for Scorpion Coatings is not defined by age, but by reach.
Media Contact
Name: Clayton Tomasino
Email: [email protected]
