New Mimeo CEO Adam Slutsky Brings Unique Perspective to Online Printing

By Cary Sherburne, Senior WTT Editor

June 29, 2005 -- Mimeo, one of the survivors of the dot-com era and a Web-based print service provider (www.mimeo.com) has been in the news of late, including selection by Red Herring Magazine as one of the top 100 private companies in technology innovation, being named as one the INC 500 fastest growing small companies, and its appointment of a new CEO. Since it has been some time since WhatTheyThink has checked in with Mimeo, we took the time to talk with Mimeo’s new CEO, Adam Slutsky, to get an update. Slutsky comes from outside the industry, as does most of Mimeo’s staff. Five weeks into the job, he brings high energy and a fresh perspective that can’t help but benefit Mimeo and its current and prospective customers.

WTT: Mr. Slutsky, thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. Perhaps you could share with us a little about your background.

AS: After getting my MBA from Columbia , I traded precious metals on Wall Street for a time, and then in 1989 started a company you may have heard of called Moviefone. It was the first national interactive telephone information system, particularly designed to provide movie information including location, show times, and later, advance ticketing. We started in New York and Los Angeles , and between 1989 and 1994 took it to 10 to 12 major metropolitan areas. We took Moviefone public in 1994 and added Web capability that taken together now draw about 6 million visitors per week. Moviefone and Mimeo have a number of similarities—perhaps most importantly, they are both about convenience. Moviefone forever changed the way we interact with movies. Mimeo will forever change the way we interact with documents.

WTT: What has become of Moviefone?

AS: We sold it to AOL in 1999 for $550 milllion. i continued to run it for almost two years and then was asked to run the advanced services group at AOL. My charter was to identify and build premium add-on fee-based services for AOL, and I built three different products over another 2-year period.

WTT: What led you to look at Mimeo?

AS: Near the end of 2003, I decided to leave AOL. I took a year off to spend time with my wife and three daughters. After about six months, I came across Mimeo through some investment banking friends of mine. My initial reaction was that it wasn’t a fit, because I am more consumer-oriented and this is B2B. But I quickly concluded that it fell right into my sweet spot. To me a consumer business is one in which the company has a direct relationship with the user who purchases the product or service. Mimeo has a huge overlap with traditional consumer businesses. For example, an individual in Human Resources who runs a training group needs training materials on demand. So it’s a consumer business within an enterprise-based B2B initiative. I am only 41 and you have to try something new in life.

WTT: Were you looking for anything in particular in your next engagement?

AS: Yes, I was looking for specific things in my next act, but it was not industry-specific. I wanted to be in a business that provided a product or service that created a convenience value proposition for the user. And I wanted that product or service to be leveraged by technology, preferably one that was not heavily marketed yet and where marketing could make a difference. I wanted to be involved with a company that was beyond a start-up, and one with a proven business model—either profitable or on the cusp of profitability. Mimeo was a bullseye for me.

WTT: What are your top objectives for Mimeo as you take over as CEO?

AS: I want to continue Mimeo’s innovation. The company has been a huge innovator, and that innovation has led to company’s success so far. And the team has lots more great, innovative ideas. I want to get the word out about Mimeo to a broader audience. A lot of people don’t know about Mimeo, but those who do and use it can hardly remember how they did without it. During my due diligence, I introduced some of my friends to the service, and they had a reaction that reminds me of Moviefone—they were sold after the first experience.

We will build a brand for Mimeo in this space that represents convenience, high-quality, fast-turnaround production of documents online. And we will communicate the “total cost” value proposition that goes well beyond the traditional printing measure of cost per piece. When you count in the cost of human capital, the cost of errors and rework, and even the cost of maintaining heavy-duty internal print capabilities, especially in expensive metro areas, Mimeo is by far the preferred solution due to its convenience and lower cost.

I don’t believe there is any brand identify for on-demand online printing in the world. We are the innovators, we created this space, and it is totally ours to have. You can’t shift your brand as easily as someone else can build a new one, and we are going to be the ones to build the new one.

WTT: Mimeo was added to the INC 500 this year. What were the metrics that enabled that recognition?

AS: The INC rankings are based on average revenue growth over a certain number of years. We ended up at 187 out of 500. We probably should have been on the list before. The company was in the INC 500 for numbers through October 2004 and is now growing at an even faster rate of growth than last year. And that is without the biggest thing the company needs right now, which is a deeper, broader marketing message.

WTT: You were also selected by Red Herring Magazine as one of the top 100 private companies in technology innovation. Tell us a little about that award.

WTT: That was a clear validation of what the Mimeo team has built. The award recognizes an innovative product or service based on technology from a privately held company. Red Herring picked the companies they thought would be the next hot businesses. Interestingly, very few of the companies that received the award, other than Mimeo, were providing products and services that the other recipients would use. A lot of the other red herring winners are already using our services.

WTT: You recently announced a proposal development solution in conjunction with Proposal Software, Inc. Tell us what that is about.

AS: We have a number of things like that that we are working on. This one was a great solution for us and for them. Their user interface will offer a “Mimeo” button that lets the user manage the production of the proposal, easily, online. The partnership with us makes their product smarter for their own customers, and we are happy to work with them because it brings their customers to us as well. It is a real win/win, and we are only scratching the surface of the potential. We represent what I like to call the “document last mile”. for a number of functions —like sales, marketing and training--across several industries, from financial services and healthcare to technology and retail. There is a lot of work that goes into preparing important business documents, and then those documents still must be professionally printed and distributed on demand. Proposal development is clearly an area where this applies. They are complex, time sensitive documents that must be 100% accurate. And they can often represent big dollars won or lost based on the quality and timeliness of the proposal submission. Just as we have gained tremendous loyalty with our training customers, we see the RFP response area building up a lot of steam for us as well.

WTT: I understand you have some other big deals on the horizon. What might those be about?

AS: Like our announcement with Proposal Software, you will see more deals that are effectively channeling what we do into other people’s space, expanding our channel reach and enabling us to reach more people faster. Stay tuned.

WTT: With the planned construction of FedEx Kinko’s new “superhub” in Memphis and the company’s stated intent to drive all of its online volume to that hub, it appears that Mimeo may see more competition from FedEx Kinko’s than in the past. Can you comment on this announcement and any plans that Mimeo has to retain and grow market share in the face of this new challenge?

AS: I learned about this when I did my own due diligence before accepting this assignment. The fact that FedEx Kinko’s is validating our model is great. We are flattered. Clearly they are doing it because they have seen our success. Secondly, we are about five years ahead of them. I believe that in a free market economy, more players make an industry grow every time. And the leader—if he is working hard, staying smart, continuing to innovate and providing exceptional customer service—will extend his lead. Web-based document management, on-demand printing and distribution is the only thing we do. It is the entire reason I chose this company. Mimeo is exactly where it needs to be and is a perfect place for me to put my skills to work. I am looking forward to taking Mimeo from the moment of being ready to explode to exploding, taking a huge market share and pushing the development of the marketplace with new market share. We will change the whole paradigm.

WTT: What’s next on the horizon for Mimeo?

AS: Marketing and building awareness will keep me busy 24/7. We will continue to innovate. The quality is there; people will be coming to use our services, and once they do, they will wonder how they ever got along without us. My daughter didn’t know that people used to look for movie information in the newspaper. She thought Moviefone had always been there. That’s how it will be with Mimeo. I am new to the printing industry, but I am good at listening to the needs of the marketplace and innovating against those needs—not against the dream of some technologist. If you do this and do it well, you will win. That’s what we will do.

WTT: Mr. Slutsky, thanks again for your time today. We wish you well in your new role. We will look forward to following your progress.

This Interview was conducted by Cary Sherburne. She can be reached via email at cary@sherburneassociates.com, online at www.sherburneassociates.com and by telephone at 603-430-5463.

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