Why Mimeo Built Its Own Print Technology From Scratch

Most technology companies start with a problem worth solving. Mimeo started with a queue.

In the late 1990s, getting documents printed for a business presentation meant driving to a copy shop, waiting in line, submitting your files, receiving a hard copy proof days later, waiting again, and then driving back to collect the finished order. For anyone who printed regularly — sales teams, training managers, proposal writers — it was a process that consumed hours and left little room for last-minute changes.

Jeff Stewart, Mimeo’s co-founder, experienced this frustration first-hand while producing business proposals on the road. His conclusion wasn’t that copy shops needed to get faster. It was that the entire model needed to be reinvented.

That reinvention became Mimeo.

For a guide to how Mimeo’s print-on-demand platform works today, see our overview of print-on-demand for corporate document management.

Starting From a Blank Page

When Mimeo was founded in 1999 — originally called Easy Copy — the print industry was reacting to the internet the way most established industries do: by trying to fit existing workflows around a new technology rather than rethinking the workflow entirely.

The problem was that the antiquated production facilities and processes of traditional printers weren’t built for what the internet made possible. Digitising the order form wasn’t enough. The entire production model needed to change.

Mimeo’s founders made a deliberate choice to build a technology company that printed — not a printing company that used technology. That distinction shaped everything that followed.

“We set out to create a technology company… that printed.” — David Uyttendaele, Co-Founder & CTO, Mimeo

Because Mimeo wasn’t constrained by existing infrastructure or an existing customer base, the team could invent precisely what was needed to drive down costs and increase efficiency. Every step in the Mimeo process was designed to eliminate multiple steps from the traditional print process.

The Patents That Changed Print

The core of Mimeo’s technology advantage is a set of patents that fundamentally changed how documents could be ordered, proofed, and produced online.

The Ezviewer Patent — Real-Time Document Proofing

Filed in 1999, the Ezviewer patent enabled something that had never existed before: a real-time, interactive proof of a printed document, viewable online before printing.

Before Mimeo, customers had no choice but to wait for a physical proof — which meant time, cost, and a round-trip to the print shop. The Ezviewer patent changed this entirely. Customers could now:

• Upload their document and see exactly how it would print
• Flip through pages interactively in the browser
• View precisely where binding, hole punches, staples, and tabs would align with the actual document content
• Make changes and see updated pricing in real time

This eliminated one of the most costly sources of print waste: errors that only became visible after the job was already produced.

The WYSIWYG Document Builder

Mimeo also invented the first web-based document building tool using WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) technology for print. Customers could build, configure, and proof their documents entirely online — adding tabs, slip sheets, cover options, and binding choices — with pricing updating instantly to reflect each change.

At a time when ordering print meant negotiating with a sales rep and waiting for a quote, real-time pricing was genuinely revolutionary.

Exact Print Technology

The Exact Print patent enabled customers to select Mimeo directly from their desktop as a printer — under File → Print — treating Mimeo’s production facility as if it were a local printer connected to their computer. The document would be submitted directly into Mimeo’s production queue without requiring any additional file upload steps.

The patented Exact Print Mimeo.com Software allowed customers to select Mimeo as their printer under their desktop ‘File >Print’ 15 years ago.

Multi-Location Shipping

A further patent enabled customers to ship documents to hundreds of locations in a single order — something that would previously have required hundreds of separate purchase orders, emails, and deliveries.

Today, Mimeo’s corporate customers use this feature to distribute training materials, sales collateral, and compliance documents to teams across the UK and Europe from a single workflow.

Screenshot from Mimeo Patent enabling users to ship documents to multiple locations. Today, our corporate customers use this feature to send documents to hundreds of locations by placing a single order.

What This Means in Practice

The patents aren’t just a historical footnote — they represent a structural advantage that still differentiates Mimeo from most print suppliers today.

No setup costs or minimum orders. Because Mimeo’s technology was designed from the ground up for digital printing, there are no setup requirements that justify minimum order quantities. You order exactly what you need.

Real-time proofing before every order. Every order placed through Mimeo’s print platform goes through the patented proofing process — so what you approve online is exactly what gets printed and delivered.

Next-day delivery to any UK address. Mimeo’s production model — full-time print professionals, facilities built solely for online print orders, no retail overhead — means orders placed before 10pm are produced overnight and delivered by 8am the following morning.

A single workflow for multiple destinations. Whether you need 10 copies delivered to a London training venue and 50 copies shipped to regional offices across the UK, a single order handles everything.

25 Years of Not Stopping

Since 1999, Mimeo has produced and delivered over 140 million documents to more than 140 countries. The platform now encompasses both physical print production and digital content distribution through Mimeo Digital — allowing organisations to manage and distribute content in both formats from a single platform, with access controls, version management, and secure delivery to any device.

The founding insight — that there had to be a better way — hasn’t changed. What’s changed is how far that better way now reaches.

Request a quote to see Mimeo’s platform in action.

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