Wil Jorgensen started a machine shop at 22 with a $4,000 screw machine he found on Craigslist. He's 26 now, running Evolution CNC in Wenatchee, Washington, with seven people and a pallet automated 5-axis machine that runs close to around the clock. What makes this conversation worth your time isn't the growth curve though. It's how he thinks.
Wil and his team wrote a four page manifesto before they made the big bets. Not a business plan, an emotional document about what would make betting their careers on this thing feel worthwhile. Then they bought a Matsuura MAM72 35 with 32 pallets when they had almost no money in the bank, overdrew the account by $4,000 to close it, and gave themselves about 30 days to make it work.
It worked. Bookings went from $252,000 in 2024 to $1.1 million in 2025, and they're pushing toward $2 million this year. His advice on automation is blunt. Don't wait until you think you can afford it. The smaller the shop, the more automation you should have.
The part that stuck with me most is the promise Wil makes to everyone he hires. He will not be angry. He spent a stretch of his early twenties running on anger and determination, and then decided he didn't have time for it. If one of his guys scraps $25,000 in parts and Wil stays calm, nobody else in the building gets to be angry either. That one decision shapes how the whole shop operates.
There's a lot in here about buying machines you can't afford, cutting loose customers who don't pay, and getting out of your own people's way. If you're early in building a shop, or you're still touching everything yourself, this one will land.
What's Covered in this Episode
- (0:00) The one promise Wil makes to everyone who works for him, he will not be angry
- (2:56) Evolution CNC today, and how a job at L.E. Wilson at 17 led to screw machines at Pacific Aerospace
- (5:33) The $4,000 Craigslist Citizen L16 that started the shop in December 2022
- (6:29) Buying Evolution from his mentor Leonard, and working six months for free to do it
- (8:55) Cutting ties with every customer who didn't pay on time, and keeping the one who did
- (9:27) Hiring his old boss Ted Keyes, then Dale Siegel and Gerard McGlashan
- (11:39) IMTS Job Shops Workshop and Networking Reception on September 15
- (12:16) Committing to 5-axis and automation before anyone on the team had seen a 5-axis machine
- (14:09) Todd Newhouse at Selway, and the Matsuura MAM 72-35 that was wildly out of their wheelhouse
- (15:38) Nobody checked whether the machine would fit through the door until the day before delivery
- (16:10) Going from a comfortable $2,000 Haas payment to one that could end the company
- (18:40) Cutting chips before the trainer arrived, and shipping a 100 piece order the week after
- (19:30) Why one Matsuura carries 60 to 70 percent of throughput across four machines
- (20:51) Running the Matsuura around the clock, with five hours of downtime over a full weekend
- (22:05) No credit line, running on cash, and 30 days of runway if the machine didn't work
- (23:34) Overdrawing the bank account by $4,000, and the four page manifesto behind the bet
- (27:25) Bookings from $252,000 in 2024 to $1.1 million in 2025, and the push toward $2 million
- (27:25) Hennig Workflow Automation System
- (31:51) Why he'd still start with an automated Haas if he were doing it over today
- (34:11) Turning down work, and the 30 inch ring he ran on a VF4 with the doors removed
- (38:35) The MakingChips machine giveaway with DN Solutions and Kennametal
- (41:55) George McCorley and Ty Neff, and trading a drill jig for installing airlines in Illinois
- (47:22) Everything I touch is bad, and learning to get out of his own team's way
- (56:44) The shift from running on anger to deciding he didn't have time for it
- (57:58) Why Gerard pushed him to stop working weekends, and what didn't break when he did
Resources Mentioned
Connect with Wil Jorgensen
