SuperShip's CEO and Co-Founder, Sean Copeland, was spending nearly two full days per billing cycle generating invoices by hand — days he couldn't spend on actually running the business. Invoices went out anywhere from a week to a month late. About 5% of charges were getting missed entirely.
After implementing Rails, invoice generation dropped to 30 minutes, the invoice cycle fell to 48 hours in the worst-case scenario, and missed charges are now caught by the SuperShip team before invoices go out.
SuperShip: a data-driven 3PL growing fast
Sean didn't set out to build a 3PL. SuperShip grew out of a different venture, a platform for Canadian retailers to order marketing materials from brands. When those brand partners started asking the team to warehouse and ship products too, Sean leaned in. Word spread and within two years, they had enough e-commerce clients to spin out a dedicated fulfillment business.
Today, SuperShip processes 20,000 to 25,000 orders a month and is growing roughly 150% year-over-year. Sean brings two decades of data science and analytics to how he runs the operation; he's focused on profitability, disciplined about operational efficiency, and quick to make data-driven calls. That same analytical clarity is what made the billing situation so frustrating: he could see exactly what was wrong, he just didn't have the right tool to fix it.
The problem: billing was eating the business
3PL billing is hard to execute. SuperShip had rate cards that varied by client, service level, carrier, and zone. Accessorial charges trickled in weeks after the fact. And Canadian taxation acted as the cherry on top.
SuperShip tried the invoicing tools built into two different WMSs; however, each was too limited to be effective. The edge cases were too many, the customization too shallow, and the reconciliation burden fell entirely on Sean — pulling data from multiple sources, cross-referencing shipment records, building invoices line by line every cycle.
The financial pressure was constant. While shipping costs were posted the day a parcel moved, invoices were going out three to four weeks later — meaning Sean was floating weeks of carrier spend out of pocket, on every shipment, for every client, every cycle.
For a growing business that lag compounds fast. And because the process had no structure and no checkpoints, around 5% of charges were slipping through entirely. Not delayed — just gone. With Sean as the only person who could make sense of the data, there was no one else to catch what he missed.
"I was missing $10 here, $50 there — and telling myself it's fine, at least the invoices are going out. But that adds up."
— Sean Copeland, CEO, SupershipWhy Rails — and why Mohnish
Sean first heard about the automated 3PL billing space at Manifest. He spoke to a handful of companies building in the space, but none of them had what he needed yet. Until, he found Mohnish and Rails.
What mattered to Sean was the thinking behind the product. "There are a lot of companies trying to build holistic data platforms for logistics," Sean says. "I think that's too broad. I liked how focused Rails was. The roadmap aligned with exactly what I saw as a need in this space."
The personal dynamic mattered too. Mohnish understood 3PL billing at a level most people don't from his time at Stord, which built trust early.
Onboarding: thorough by design
"The onboarding was involved, which I actually appreciated," he says. "It told me Mohnish understood what we were trying to do. He didn't come in and say this will be simple and straightforward. Because it's not. And anyone who tells you it will be isn't being straight with you."
Mohnish stayed closely involved throughout, adapting the platform based on SuperShip's specific requirements and using the process to inform product improvements. The setup that emerged wasn't just good for SuperShip's own billing — it created a consistent, repeatable framework that now makes onboarding new ecommerce clients significantly faster.
"The work you're doing today is not easy or simple either. But once Rails is set up, it truly simplifies the process. You have to invest the time — it's worth it."
— Sean Copeland, CEO, SupershipWhat changed: impact on the operations, the customer and the team
For Sean personally, the difference was immediate and dramatic. Billing that previously ate two full days now takes about 30 minutes. Those reclaimed days go toward sales conversations, operations, and building the business — not billing for work already done.
For the team, Rails introduced something that hadn't existed before: visibility. Before, billing was Sean's domain and his alone. Nobody else could meaningfully engage with it. Now three team members review invoices each billing cycle, working through multiple checkpoints. The result: the ~5% of charges that used to get missed are now being caught rather than quietly lost.
The shift hit home for Sean when his warehouse manager told him: "Now I fully understand how our clients are billed and why — and I feel like I can actually have an impact on the floor." Sean realized he could step back from billing entirely and the process would still work.
For customers, the experience of receiving an invoice changed completely. Before Rails, clients got a complex summary with no way to understand what was behind the numbers. That created support overhead and friction. Now every invoice includes a detailed data file showing every single charge with full specifics. Clients can analyze their own costs, forecast ahead, and ask far fewer questions.
The faster cycle time also freed up cash. Moving from a worst case of four weeks to 48 hours cut their accounts receivable float dramatically. Cash that was previously tied up waiting on billing is now available to reinvest.
"Cash was literally being held captive by our inability to invoice quickly. Rails unlocked that, and now we can invest in parts of the business we couldn't touch before."
— Sean Copeland, CEO, SupershipHow Rails fits into what comes next
As SuperShip scales, Rails is embedded in their growth. Getting a new client live operationally had been hindered by billing. Now SuperShip can set a new client up on the invoicing platform within a day and start billing right away. The process is consistent and predictable in a way it never was before.
Rail's wallet-based billing opens up a different kind of growth. Historically, SuperShip had to turn away small, early-stage clients because the payment risk was too high. With wallet-based pre-billing, they can take an upfront deposit and bill against held funds. Clients they previously had to turn away can now be served.
"For me, Rails is a lifesaver," Sean says. "My wife would probably call it a relationship saver — she doesn't have to find me at 10pm on a Friday still building invoices."
