Print Solutions Magazine

It’s deafening as Boeing 747s land on four north-south runways at Memphis International Airport. FedEx Kinko’s ramp-tower controllers direct pilots to gates where ground crews have exactly 18 minutes to unload huge containers of packages from each plane. In the next few hours, 160 planes will touch down.

Movement. Companies here embody the word. It seems the entire point of Memphis is to leave Memphis as soon as possible. Referring to itself as “North America’s Distribution Center,” the city is home to the largest cargo airport in the world, UPS’s main hub and FedEx Kinko’s 7.1-mile-perimeter global operations center.

Within walking distance southeast of that center sits an unremarkable office park that includes a nondescript building at the end of a short street. Inside the building is something extraordinary: the fastest-growing company in the printing industry. Mimeo.com has achieved 1,120 percent revenue growth over the past five years, good enough to rank No. 277 on Inc. magazine’s October 2005 list of the country’s 500 fastest-growing private firms, with $15.6 million in revenue. Red Herring magazine, which once pinpointed eBay and Google as young tech companies worth watching, recently named Mimeo as one of the best 100 private technology firms in North America.

The 150-plus employees at Mimeo’s 144,000-square-foot production facility in Memphis understand the firm’s smart technology, efficient processes and ideal location, but relatively few people in the printing industry know about Mimeo. It’s the only web-to-print firm that can take an online order as late as 10 p.m. tonight and deliver it anywhere, to multiple locations, by 8 a.m. tomorrow.

Tonight, 90 minutes before FedEx Kinko’s planes are packed and airborne at 3:30 a.m., the shipping behemoth will make a final pickup at Mimeo’s back doors. “We’re told we have the latest pickup on planet Earth for next-day deliveries,” says Tom De Greve, Mimeo’s vice president and general manager of operations.

Adam Slutsky wants every small and mid-sized business to know what makes Mimeo tick, and he wants the firm to accomplish the feat under his watch. Slutsky joined Mimeo as CEO last year, after serving as senior vice president of Advanced Services at AOL Time Warner, where he introduced premium services such as AOL Call Alert and AOL Voicemail. In 1999, AOL acquired Moviefone, the company Slutsky co-founded and took public with three partners in 1994, for $550 million. At Moviefone, Slutsky created the first national interactive telephone service (777-FILM), the first fully automated remote movie-ticketing system and the first online event-ticket sales service. Based in the company’s New York City headquarters, he has lofty goals for Mimeo, which prints, binds and delivers documents from files uploaded by users. (See “What Mimeo Users Can Do” on p. 78.)

Frustrated with time-consuming experiences at local copy shops and in-house print centers, David Uyttendaele and Jeff Stewart envisioned a web-based service that would shun conventional printing strategy. They knew most of their would-be competitors, including established quick printers such as AlphaGraphics and Sir Speedy, distribute orders to different outlets that are close in proximity to where final copy arrives. If a customer has a training manual that must go to several cities, the manuals typically are printed and assembled near the places where they’ll be delivered.

Uyttendaele and Stewart wanted to create a firm that would print then distribute, not the other way around. Printing a customer’s entire order in one place, then distributing to all locations from there, would give Mimeo more control over quality, they determined, especially if the facility had cutting-edge digital printing equipment and a sophisticated commercial printing team.

“We needed internet technology to make that possible. Our challenge was making the ordering process simple but highly customizable,” says Uyttendaele, who co-founded Mimeo with Stewart in 1998 and now serves as its chief technology officer. “We set out to create an experience for users that was similar to what they experienced in the real world—one where they could choose from a range of options, then ‘touch’ the document and see exactly what they were going to get. Everything about our system is written to prepare the document so when it hits the floor, there’s no question about when production should begin and what happens next.”

Uyttendaele, who previously had launched and sold an internet development consulting company called Square Earth and served on Microsoft’s Internet Advisory Board, says he was eager to enter the printing industry. “There isn’t a lot of technology in the business between the front end and back end,” he says. “Printing companies have fascinating machines and often great front-end technology, but hardly anything in the middle to tie them together. Organizations simply aren’t jumping to connect the two. It was exciting because it was virgin territory.”

It also was near the end of the dot-com boom. The first quarter of 2000 marked the peak of investments in internet-related firms, but nearly 5,000 web-based companies would merge or shut down in the next three and a half years, according to Webmergers Inc. Uyttendaele and Stewart believed in the business model, though, and spoke to potential investors about the growth of digital printing and the dynamics of the web-to-print market. They argued that print buyers increasingly understand the value of buying what they need, when they need it, rather than printing large quantities of documents that must be stored in inventory for later distribution. (In fact, 15.7 percent of all printed materials are destroyed without being used, according to a recent study by InfoTrends/CAP Ventures.) Mimeo’s co-founders also knew web-to-print growth was ripe because print runs were getting shorter, and the cost of printing and finishing paled in comparison to the cost of having an inefficient process.

Their reasoning worked: Mimeo’s four main investors—Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham, HarbourVest Partners and Hewlett-Packard—have contributed more than $50 million to the company since 1998. Uyttendaele says Mimeo’s investors appreciate the same thing customers most often cite as their favorite facet—Mimeo’s ease of use.

Here’s how the system works: Individual and corporate users go to www.mimeo.com, set up a free account and install a free print driver on their computers. (“Mimeo Printer” becomes an option under File<Print on PCs.) Mimeo’s free ExactPrint software enables users to transmit files securely from their desktops to the firm’s web site, where they configure documents, preview real-time proofs and place orders. Menus on the site let them choose paper options, decide what to print in color and black and white, specify duplex printing, assemble documents from multiple files, add covers and separator pages with tabs, choose binding options, and more. Standard options are limited to keep the site less cluttered, but users can widen their choices (lamination, non-standard paper sizes, etc.) by calling Mimeo’s customer service department. ExactPrint enables users to compress, encrypt and send files to the company’s production facility for printing, binding and delivery with no minimum quantity. Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint and even 50-page Word files upload in less than 20 seconds over a cable modem; Adobe Photoshop files and some other types take longer.

Delivery options are flexible. Users can send multiple documents to any number of locations in a single order. Mimeo ensures documents are delivered when and where users specify, providing services including validation of ship-to-addresses, order tracking from upload to delivery, and email notification of order receipt and shipment. Files automatically are saved to each user’s digital library for future printing. Users pay only for what they print, when they print it.

The system also includes a suite of collaboration and workflow tools called DocCenter, which enables team members to work together to configure documents and access approved, updated files for quick ordering from any location. DocCenter also enables users to combine approved content to create printed materials customized to specific audiences. These features resonate among users in human resources, sales and marketing, and training departments, CEO Adam Slutsky says.

“In the small and mid-sized business market, there’s a ton of companies that do a fair amount of document production—there’s so much low-hanging fruit for Mimeo to grab right now,” Slutsky says. According to InfoTrends/CAP Ventures, 50,576 in-plant printing operations existed in the United States in 2005, including centralized reproduction departments (centralized copy centers), data center printing operations and traditional (mostly offset) in-plant shops. More than 80 percent of these establishments are company-owned instead of outsourced to facilities management companies such as Xerox, IKON and Pitney Bowes. “We’re trying to make all [small and mid-sized businesses] realize they have a better option,” Slutsky says. “Using a service like ours would save them time, money and headaches, especially if documents don’t need to be delivered same-day. Their cost of production would be so much less; they can’t afford to have the quality measures we have. That’s one message we have to get out more effectively, and it’s just one of many. We have a ton of marketing and branding to do.”

Ted Leonsis, vice chairman of AOL Time Warner and the majority owner of National Hockey League’s Washington Capitals, is a friend of one of Mimeo’s largest investors, as well as Slutsky’s friend and former boss. Last year, when Mimeo sought to replace the company’s former CEO, John Lyons, Leonsis wrote Slutsky a note and told him about the opportunity. It was the third time Slutsky had heard about Mimeo’s opening—the other two were from headhunters—and he “took that as an interesting sign,” he recalls.

At the time, Slutsky was taking a break, relaxing with his wife and three daughters and considering a new career in teaching or writing. He had plenty of money after selling Moviefone, but felt he was too young (now 42) to retire or “sit around and watch movies all day.”

In the small and mid-sized business market, there’s a ton of companies that do a fair amount of document production—there’s so much low-hanging fruit for Mimeo to grab right now.

Adam Slutsky, CEO

Mimeo.com

Memphis

Slutsky is sitting in Mimeo’s conference room, joking about the difference between the typical Mimeo lunch in New York City (sushi and tuna-fish sandwiches) and the one Memphis staff seem to prefer (barbecue ribs and “absolutely no fruit in sight,” he says). Slutsky is a self-described “amateur nutritionist” and looks like he’s in his early 30s, with a boyish face and wavy, stylish hair.

He’s talkative, direct and opinionated, but his voice is soft and high-pitched. He’s known around the office for being intelligent (he holds a master’s in business administration from Columbia University and a bachelor’s of science from Cornell University) and wryly funny. When he gets upset, he says, it’s usually because he’s “unable to figure out why people aren’t giving me answers sooner.” He’s equally comfortable talking about Mimeo’s strengths and weaknesses. If giving a 20-second elevator speech on the benefits of his company were an Olympics Event, Slutsky would do the United States proud.

All of these qualities impressed Uyttendaele and other members of Mimeo’s board of directors when they searched for a new CEO last year. (According to published reports, Lyons increased revenue approximately 50 percent annually, and told the Memphis Business Journal in October 2003 that Mimeo was 10 times as profitable as it was in 2000.) But the board expected better results, and it fired him. The board’s specifications for a new CEO included someone who had experience taking a business through a rapid-growth phase, the ability to improve marketing, and experience working with a similar-sized team. “It was an ideal match,” Slutsky says. “I wanted to work for a company with a convenience/value application—something that makes peoples’ lives easier down to the user level. I also realize a lot of businesses don’t embrace marketing—they’re afraid to spend money and don’t understand the value of branding.”

Uyttendaele says Mimeo’s board interviewed several other candidates that would have made sense to hire, and was ready to commit to someone else when it learned about Slutsky. “He’s completely different—a total entrepreneur,” he says. “He has an oddball element to him and is more of a risk-taker. Also, he looks more at the whole business picture, whereas other candidates were more focused on selling enterprise software and services. He’s very good at connecting with users and anticipating what they want, and he’s excellent at recognizing people’s strengths and putting employees where they can succeed. Most of all, he’s going to increase our customer awareness to a much higher level.”

The company name “Mimeo” appeals to Slutsky because it sounds high-tech while simultaneously conjuring hand-powered mimeograph machines that were in classrooms until copiers and computer technology took hold. But he liked little else marketing-wise when he took over as CEO. “In a word, it was atrocious,” he says loudly, shifting in his chair. Mimeo plans to introduce a new logo this month.

Slutsky also is borrowing a strategy he pulled off at Moviefone: Use fear to motivate buying. “Moviefone’s main message was, ‘Don’t get sold out—buy tickets in advance,’ but how many times do you really get sold out?” he says. “Yet everyone knows the pain and fear associated with that—no one wants to get into a cab, go on a first date and see a ‘Sold Out’ sign. To a similar degree, no one wants an important document to arrive late. That’s not exclusively how we’ll market Mimeo, but it’s definitely going to be a bigger part of our message this year.” Ironically, he says, the majority of Mimeo’s 450-500 daily orders specify 2- or 3-day turnaround, not overnight delivery for which the company is better known.

Slutsky’s other marketing initiatives include more business-to-business direct marketing, including advertising in trade publications in the printing, training, program development, and sales and marketing industries, as well as introducing procedures to ensure Mimeo sales reps tell customers about new product releases and system features. “Adam is exactly what the company needs right now, so we have a better-established brand,” says K.E. “Skip” Trevathan, Mimeo’s COO. “The technology and processes in our plant are solid, but the world needs to know who we are.”

Slutsky also cites his experience at Moviefone when discussing the digital printing industry’s potential and Mimeo’s role in it. “When I began as CEO, I was shocked to learn how large this industry is—25 billion dollars in digital printing alone!” he says, adding that the amount is more than the entire movie industry combined, including theater admissions, food and beverage sales, and DVD rentals. “This is an exciting time for digital printers, and I’ve read the market could double—double!—in the next four or five years,” Slutsky says as his eyes widen. “Digital quality is getting better. So, if you do nothing and you’re already in this space, your business should—what—about double? And here we are, entrenched with excellent technology and customer service. So, it’s about how far and how soon Mimeo hits the homerun. We will. If we do a good job here, in five or 10 years everyone will know who Mimeo is.”

It’s 11 a.m., and Tom De Greve walks into Mimeo’s production facility. The place isn’t nearly as bustling as it will be at 4 p.m., when orders spike and hundreds of jobs move systematically throughout the plant. De Greve, Mimeo’s vice president and general manager of operations, has a results-based manufacturing mind and is responsible for the facility’s speed and accuracy. He has more than 15 years’ experience in strategic and operational planning and management, and says one key to Mimeo’s growth is its proprietary workflow management tools.

A bar code scanning and logistics system helps Mimeo’s personnel route jobs to and from stations such as color printing, black-and-white printing, collation, binding and packaging. But what De Greve finds more impressive is the underlying logic that gives incoming jobs a “batting order” in the first place. He and other Mimeo managers developed an algorithm (called “ADAP,” for adaptive document assembly process) that evaluates new orders in real time as they enter a queue. The algorithm assigns each order a priority value, recognizing how long it should take plant workers to complete each necessary step. Time requirements for each step have been carefully benchmarked by Trevathan, who served as vice president and global offering director for Electronic Data Systems and as managing director of logistics operations at FedEx.

“The algorithm not only looks at critical aspects of the job, like how large it is, but also downstream operations,” De Greve says, pointing to a monitor that reveals several new orders. Orders with the highest priority are ones that specify fast turnaround or complexity (for example, orders to be shipped to 400 different locations). Those move to the top of the queue and are handled before simpler jobs. The batting order is re-established at each stage and is visible on monitors watched by employees at each station.

“Mimeo is different from so many printing companies because almost everything we do is custom work,” Trevathan says. “In this environment, every day is a new challenge. We don’t know what variability we might see.” De Greve adds that although the facility’s staff specializes in specific skills, “everyone must be a motivated, team-oriented person and understand projects as a whole.”

Ben Shaw, who was hired in Mimeo’s color department in 2000 and now is the company’s director of production, says, “Everything moves faster here than it used to—the hardest thing about the job is there’s no previous planning about what we’re doing on any day. People log on and order, and we have to produce high-quality jobs and get them out the door, then take the next one and realize that each one is different.”

Unlike most local copy centers, the facility prints 100 percent digital originals, using equipment from Hewlett-Packard, Xeikon, Xerox and Microsoft. (Mimeo doesn’t print on materials such as T-shirts, mouse pads and mugs.) The plant includes a staff that by design isn’t part of Mimeo’s production department; it oversees a nine-step quality assurance process and has the authority to call for a reprint at any point.

In 2003, Mimeo processed about 150 orders a day. Today, it processes 450-500. On average, each order consists of 2.4 document types (for example, a binder and a loose sell sheet). On average, customers order 20 copies of each document type. The total number of impressions Mimeo prints rose approximately 70 percent last year, De Greve says.

Trevathan and De Greve say the facility’s growth has caused a hiring challenge. To face it, Mimeo launched in January a formal training program for new hires. “In this growth mode, we’ll eventually run out of local, experienced talent to hire for skilled positions, especially ones with exposure to digital color printing,” De Greve says. Mimeo employs two people whose main role is to provide new employee training as well as continuing training for more-seasoned employees. “We want an error-free facility, and simple on-the-job training wouldn’t get it done,” Trevathan says. “Customers appreciate us because we go out of our way to make sure everything’s 100 percent accurate.”

CEO Adam Slutsky says many corporate customers save more than 40 percent in document production costs by using Mimeo.

Andrew May, training manager of Learning Development and Human Resources at TD Waterhouse Group, is responsible for providing internal training throughout the company. His curriculum includes management and leadership courses, as well as courses that provide associates with information about TD Waterhouse’s products and services.

Before using Mimeo, May says he lacked a consistent, scaleable way to produce course material for his classroom training programs. Some of the more static course books were printed by local copy shops, while he and his staff of instructors often produced more frequently changing materials on the company’s in-house copiers. Using Mimeo as TD Waterhouse’s centralized production center, May says he now receives “consistent, reliable service and professional-quality materials every time” at significant savings.

Slutsky recently held an all-staff meeting at Mimeo. His message: Preserve your entrepreneurial spirit, and don’t be afraid to try new ideas. “We’ve grown rapidly, but more money usually means more disciplines and policies,” he says. “I recognize that, but also recognize the importance of not being too big to listen to what customers are saying. We’re going to get bigger, but need to preserve Mimeo’s spirit and can-do attitude and energy.”

Slutsky equates Mimeo’s position in the print-to-web industry of 2006 to Expedia’s position in the online travel-reservation industry of 1999: Expedia didn’t realize its potential until barriers such as contracts between travel agents and airlines expired. Mimeo’s parallel barrier is print buyers’ focus on production cost per page, he says, adding that they often overlook significant cost savings created by building efficiencies in the production, management, storage and distribution of printed documents.

“It might take a while before most consumers embrace digital printing, but they will,” Slutsky says. “When they do, we have a chance to have massive awareness. The more the category is recognized, the more people know this space exists, the better off we’ll be.”

Darin Painter is a freelance writer in Cleveland. Email your comments to bholt@printsolutionsmag.com.

Founded in 1998, Mimeo.com is based in New York City and operates regional sales offices in California, Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee. It has 212 employees and thousands of individual, small business and corporate customers, including CitiGroup, Pfizer, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Perot Systems. Mimeo’s production facility in Memphis is located next to the hubs of major distribution carriers such as FedEx Kinko’s and UPS.

Mimeo offers on-demand digital printing and distribution services, as well as a host of time-saving processes related to pre-production tasks. These include tools to create, organize, store and share critical content—tools that help customers manage document review and approval, administer branding guidelines, and control versions of frequently updated documents.

Here’s an outline of what Mimeo enables users to do:

With just a few clicks, users can build business documents online from any application on their desktop, or combine multiple digital files into a single document. They can choose from a large selection of finishing options, including black-and-white and color printing, premium paper, numerous binding options, customized tabs and slipsheets, laminated covers, and more. Mimeo’s proprietary technology automatically compresses, encrypts and securely transmits files from any application on a user’s desktop to its web site. When finished, users place orders with an online checkout system and can store files for later use.

After users place online orders, Mimeo prints documents in its highly automated production facility, where print professionals bind the documents according to specifications. Mimeo can include CDs or DVDs of documents with customized logos and cases for shipment with documents. The firm employs a nine-step quality assurance process. It ships orders via major distribution carriers to one or multiple locations, for delivery as early as the next morning.

Each time users place orders, Mimeo automatically saves the source file and the finished document in personal digital libraries for future use and reordering. Users instantly can update file content online without rebuilding entire documents. They also can share files, address books and distribution lists for collaboration with colleagues.

Mimeo can store collateral, branded clothing, mugs, mouse pads and other items to include with orders. The company has a secure, centralized warehouse within its production facility. Logistics personnel assemble and deliver materials according to user specifications. Mimeo provides detailed usage and balance reports.