How it started

When our CTO was approached by a long-time acquaintance about a new and exciting project opportunity, we immediately knew something magical was about to happen.
‍Andy McCune is known as a multi-disciplinary entrepreneur and creative, having co-founded Unfold (acquired by Squarespace) and founded Earth - an Instagram community with almost 7M followers. In partnership with Luca Marra, a talented designer and creative, they have envisioned a unique, one of a kind space, perfect for anyone looking to get away from the distractions and noise of everyday social online life.

Conceptually Cosmos.so is a platform designed as an alternative to Pinterest, specifically targeting photographers, creatives, designers, curators, and artists. It provides a space for users to save a variety of content such as articles, products, photos, quotes, videos, links, notes and content from popular social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and many other. The platform allows users to organize their saved elements into clusters, which can be private or public, and offers collaboration features. Cosmos.so utilizes an AI-powered tagging system for efficient organization and easy retrieval of saved elements. The focus of the platform is on providing a distraction-free environment with no noise, notifications, or social media-like interactions such as likes and comments, which is a truly unique take for a technical product in today's world.  

The platform needed to support both desktop and mobile experiences, with a stellar mobile native application planned from the start. We knew we’d be the perfect partner for this endeavour, having a unique blend of technical skills necessary - a vast palette - as well as a natural feel for design and aesthetic perfection, which was a must-have for the founders.   

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All success factors were in place: amazing founders, a great product vision and the energy and passion necessary to execute on such a vision. Everyone at Airnauts was beyond ecstatic to join such an ambitious and visionary project at such an early stage. Our job would be to convert this vision into reality; we knew the bar would be set at the highest possible level and we’d be asked to raise it, so we got right into it! 

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How we approached it

Initially the project details were assessed and worked through to prepare a scope that would be right at the sweet spot of desired functionality and time to market. Airnauts brought together a team of uniquely talented individuals that could cover all of the requirements and deliver the entire platform: backend, dev ops, web app, native mobile app, browser extensions, CMS. As we knew we are building a digital platform that will keep evolving and growing while at the same time supporting a large user base, we opted for proven and scalable solutions: .NET 8 for the backend, AWS + Terraform for the infrastructure, React + Next for the frontend, Swift for a fully native iOS application and Safari extension. For day-to-day communication and workflow, a standard suite of tools was utilized: Confluence and Notion for documentation, Asana and Linear for task management and tracking, Github for code management, Slack for comms. This allowed us to stay in sync and never miss a beat along the way. 

We worked in constant close collaboration with the Cosmos team, improving on the initial ideas and iterating endlessly, with a fearless obsession over the smallest details. Everything had to be perfectly executed as our work was being constantly compared to the likes of Pinterest and other behemoths of the tech space. 

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As the cooperation kept going and the platform and its functionality evolved and grew, our team structure was adapted to constantly meet the requirements and ensure deliverables were produced on time and with the expected attention to detail. Peaks of iOS work or QA efforts were made possible as our team scaled seamlessly whenever needed, while also scaling down to respect the budgetary requirements, adapting to the timeline and planned work. 

Launch and success metrics

Initially the platform was released only to friends and family, where extensive testing and fine-tuning was performed. Only once everything was perfect, the first stage of a public release kicked off. The one-of-a-kind invite-only onboarding was a tremendous success, having captured critical acclaim across the industry - for the unique concept, as well as the execution and attention to detail. Shortly after launch, people looking for invite codes flooded social media, generating further buzz and excitement. 

We were humbled by the outpouring of kind words - when outsiders compare your work to the likes of the Apple engineering team, you know you’ve delivered. 

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Given the initial product, the team behind it and the growth trajectory, it is not surprising that Cosmos founders were able to secure a $6M seed round from some of the top VCs in the industry - including Accel and Google Ventures, to name a few. 

How it’s going

The platform is experiencing rapid growth, amassing a huge following, including the likes of Kendall Jenner.

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Despite an internal team growing in the hometown of Cosmos, NYC, Airnauts continues to collaborate closely, working on all key aspects of the platform: web, mobile, backend, dev ops, qa. Our know-how and technical expertise are an invaluable asset to the internal team, offloading and aiding them, allowing the entire product vision to adapt and grow faster, outpacing the competition while remaining budget-cautious. 

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<p class="points-grid"><span class="big-point">300k Followers on social media</span><span class="big-point">$6M Seed round</span><span class="big-point">4 years Ongoing collaboration</span></p>

Testimonials

Andy McCune, co-founder: 
"Airnauts' capabilities shine in every aspect of the Cosmos product. They were able take our sophisticated vision and execute meticulously, building an incredible foundation for the future of the product. When it came to time to build our own internal team, they were outstanding partners in helping support the transition. It's rare to find a partner that takes as much pride in your product as you do, and Cosmos' success is proof of our outstanding partnership with the Airnauts team."

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