Millennial Minute: Lawrence Chou, CEO, MGX Copy

When people think about the printing industry, they don’t typically think of an industry thriving with Millennials. People usually picture Silicon Valley for that. With the printing industry producing $76 billion a year, there are bound to be a few Millennial outliers who are driving success, carving a name for their business, and tapping into a market that might be changing but isn't going anywhere. One of those people is Lawrence Chou, CEO and owner of MGX Copy, a print company in San Diego that just opened their second location in New Jersey. Printing News sat down with Chou for an exclusive interview to ask him a few questions about how being a Millennial leader in print has shaped the outcomes of his business. 

PN: Tell us how you got involved in the printing industry.

LC: I went to pick up a print order and I wasn’t happy with the result, paid, drove home, and thought, "This isn't cool. I’m unhappy and this could be so much better." It was 2010 at the time and a lot of companies weren't catching up to the convenience and efficiency that the internet could provide.

PN: What was the biggest challenge in beginning a print company from scratch?

LC: My biggest challenge was appreciating how difficult it is to do a really good quality print. It’s not easy. It’s not just pushing the green button. It’s paper models, brand direction, making sure the print quality is up to par. The beginning was an entire period of us learning and making mistakes and smoothing out, not only in print quality, but processes like job tickets, operating systems, and customer service. I can't underestimate how difficult it is to get something done really well. That brought us to our present day success where every little step of the process is done well. Now, we really just strive to make everything better.

PN: What makes MGX Company stand out from the competition?

LC: We’re learning how digital printers can complement offset and then we offer these insights and advantages to our clients. With two locations, both San Diego and now New Jersey, we can provide service in a matter of a week or 24 hours. We have some of the fastest turnaround in the country and our turnaround model has made us one of the quickest to have a responsive digital platform and excellent website. 

PN: How has your Millennial outlook influenced the way you approach leading your business?

LC: If we were a traditional offset printer, we would be operating from a place of "this is how it should be." Being a print shop staffed and led by Millennials helps us look at the world a little differently. When we started, we invested in a software team so our entire platform is proprietary. We built it in-house here internally at our own company. It doesn’t matter what you order, you can expect it at your doorstep in two days. We understand expediency. We understand efficiency, and we operate with that mindset. It’s not just adapting to a situation. Of course people want it sooner. Of course software is important. We respond to how the world is today, not how it should be or how it was before. MGX Copy is state-of-the-art. You do need to be agile to respond to market.

PN: Are there any disadvantages you've experienced as a Millennial? 

LC: A learning curve would have been good but I'm not sure if there’s any disadvantage because our business model is so different. We know we’re disruptive. We know we do things differently. We are competitive.

PN: What is the culture like at your company and how has being a Millennial influenced it?  

LC: Our culture is very unique. We modeled ourselves probably closer to Silicon Valley than the traditional manufacturer. We follow all the manufacturing principles but culture, team-building, how open we are with employees, business plans, is very similar to a start-up environment. Leadership talks to every person in the company, sits down with them, and shows them "here’s what we accomplished last year, here’s what we want to accomplish in the future." We operate with major transparency, we throw huge events like town halls and parties. We share the updates, what’s coming up, what’s next. Instead of a rigid top-down pyramid structure, we strive to have 1:1 transparency. I want to help our employees so they can help our customers. I believe I should be able to support my team so that my team has everything they need to support our clients. 

PN: What is MGX Copy's mission statement?

LC: It's simple. "Big things start here." Whether it’s just printing or coming up with consultation and marketing, we want to do what we can for our clients and we feel good standing behind that.

PN: What has been a unique distinguishing factor in MGX Copy's success?

LC: I've never tried to take an old business model and make it fit a new market or new era. I’ve always been an entrepreneur, I love trying new things and bringing something useful to the marketplace. What I’ve really noticed over these years is that being an entrepreneur is a cool thing these days. People work twice the number of hours needed just so they have the freedom to make some decisions, be their own boss, and start something cool. A lot of our customers are small business owners and its hard to find people that work harder than small business owners but they're not print experts. That's where we step in to provide print advice and help them market their business. Everyone that submits an order with a file thinks they designed it right but on average, we help seven out of 10 of them make their design even better. We are the company that helps their business go to the next level. 

PN: Do you have any advice for a Millennial peer who is thinking about getting involved in the print industry?

LC: It’s an incredible industry to be in. Everyone is trying to sell their website or serve some sort of service these days but in printing, we get to create custom products, and that’s unique. Hardware, bindery, printing software, the process of taking people’s ideas and creating something physical. It’s so cool. I would completely disregard these notions that print is dead. Some of my Millennial employees look at the products we produce and think, "Wow, it is really, really cool." No one works with us and says, "I just don’t like paper anymore." The opposite happens. They appreciate what it’s like to cut a product, they interact with paper in the world differently, like a menu at a restaurant. It’s a unique opportunity. Each day, you look at what you're creating, who it's for, and ask, "How do I make it interesting?"

PN: What frontier does MGX Copy want to break next?

LC: We want to become better at helping our customers grow their business by providing them with more products and services. What happens when we sell three times as many products because it's helping a business owner market more effectively? How do we come up with better ideas to build their exposure or them or communicate their brand and get their business going? Printing is something that can help them with that. Internally, I would say that we’re looking to continue expanding. We just opened a second facility. We’d love to open even more.