Put your name behind the week
It belongs to all of us
By AL, founder of G28I thrived in my role as a product manager leading Fusion 360 Manufacturing, and the part that brought me joy was bringing people together: software engineers who had worked on competing products, HSMWorks, PowerMill, FeatureCAM, PartMaker, alongside our internal development teams and end users from small shops to large. It worked because people trust a relationship in a way they never trust a channel. I learned an art for it: create the space, get out of the way, and watch the magic happen. As CEO of Toolpath, I learned that bringing people together is my true talent, joy, and passion. That’s the product I can build, and it’s the value I can bring to the industry. Toolpath, alongside CloudNC, Limitless, and many others, is actively contributing to Ai applied to machining automation, but this is something else.
I believe the relationships between people are the most powerful thing in this industry. Reaching the people who matter usually means going through a channel, and every channel takes its cut and keeps the relationship for itself. The Summit does the opposite. The difference now is that this doesn’t belong to a single vendor, it belongs to all of us, and the cost of connecting directly comes down for everyone. That’s what the Summit stands for, and it’s what the brands who put their name on it stand for too.
Toolpath could host an industry-neutral event, but it’s also a player in the industry, with its own stake in it. The Summit thrives when it belongs to no one and serves everyone, an open and collaborative place for all of us to build relationships while we navigate this wild time of change.
An event like this is expensive, and how you pay for it shapes what it becomes. Fund it entirely on partners and the loudest voices win; the whole thing bends toward driving a direct sales outcome, and we all know where that ends. Fund it entirely on attendees and the ticket climbs past what it already is, until it’s no longer accessible to everyone. So we need an attendee cost, and not a small one: it is the friction that makes the room self-selecting, so the people who show up are the people who want to be there. A cheaper location wouldn’t do that. The other solution is that I fund it all myself, but that only covers half the cost, and I have a family to feed.
Thank you. These companies have already put their name behind the week. They are the reason it happens.
Presence, not a louder voice
A partnership here is an investment in being an active part of the machining community, not a logo on a banner. From the moment people land at the airport, conversations start, and a partner’s job, and privilege, is to be in them.
Partnership doesn’t buy a stronger voice, and attendees are told so. What it buys is recognition: your name on the places and moments where the community gathers, and your people in the room as peers.
Three levels, named after the runs
Recognition is scaled to the investment. Each level puts your name on something people actually gather around: the large gatherings, the medium ones, and the little moments that make people feel special.
Lock in, and that’s your price
Today’s prices are set for an event of up to 500 people. The venues and the system are built to scale to 1,000, and as the week grows past 500, prices for new partners go up. When you lock in, that’s your price. If the event grows, a restaurant or a room may move around, but what you were promised stays the same.
Pick your moments
Who has what, and what’s still open. Click a card to pick it; click it again to let it go.
Are you the right partner?
Some partners have asked whether they can buy exclusivity, a louder voice, or a confirmed spot on stage in front of the crowd. I understand why; that’s how most events work. But the answer is no. The moment the room can be bought, it stops being neutral ground, and that neutral ground is the trust I’ve spent two decades building. I’d rather lose money than spend it.
- Lead with the customer. You believe how you show up for your customer is part of your product.
- Show up in person. You’ll be on the chairlift, at the table, behind the coffee, present for the week rather than selling to it.
- Believe a rising tide raises all ships. You want the whole industry to come up, not just your corner of it.
And here’s the heart of it. The trust in that room isn’t for sale, but it is the very thing you want to be near, and the only way you get near it is by trusting me, to carry your voice, to spend your partnership well, to put you in the room as a peer and not a pitch. Do that, and I’ll amplify you louder than any booth ever could. Because if I’m going to lose money on this, I can’t think of a better way to spend it than giving my friends who own and run shops a week they’ll never forget.
We’ll see you on the hill.