Founder Led - Building a SaaS in 3 months.

Thirty years ago, a child sat in front of a computer and became completely obsessed. She wanted to know everything — how it worked, why it worked, what it could do.

That child was me.

Looking back, that obsession quietly opened every door that led me here: launching a SaaS platform called Cosmos.

I’m Bridget Sarah, Director of Node Dawn Group Ltd and a full-stack developer. I’m writing this for the business owners grinding away behind the scenes — the ones wearing every hat — to remind you that you’re not alone. And that there is a better way.

The Real Starting Point

In 2020, I was working from home, raising my daughter and building WordPress websites. It paid the bills. For a while, that was enough.

But over time, my motivation dipped. COVID didn’t help. I found myself enjoying it less and less. I didn’t just want income — I wanted something I’d built for myself. Something sustainable. Something that mattered.

In November 2025, I decided to launch a new business. But while scoping it out, I hit the same wall my clients had always hit.

I looked at platforms like Squarespace, Wix, and SumUp — platforms I knew inside out as both a developer and designer. And for the first time, I fully felt what my clients felt:

• Too many options

• Too many menus

• Too much visual noise

• And not a trivial cost (minimum £40 per month)

I considered WordPress again. But subscriptions, pre-orders, annual plugin costs, increasing licensing fees — even with custom code, there’s only so far you can push it. WordPress is excellent for launching. It’s not built for scaling a modern, integrated business system.

So I made a decision.

I started building a web app instead.

Halfway through, something happened that changed everything.

The Turning Point

One of my longest-standing clients hit a dead end. A bridge we relied on for SMS inbound messages had stopped working with Zapier and Discord. The underlying code became obsolete and was disabled. There was no replacement.

By that point, I’d already built the shop, blog, and portal into my new system. The only missing piece was radio and SMS handling.

I asked him: would you consider moving to this new platform?

He said yes.

In January, we launched an early version of his new site on Cosmos. Over 30 DJs tested it nightly. It was faster, more capable, and heading somewhere WordPress simply couldn’t have taken us.

From there, I kept building.

Adding features. Refining flows. Removing friction.

Cosmos became what it is today: a flexible but simple system built around how real businesses actually operate.

The Hidden Cost of Complexity

The problem with modern business tools isn’t that they don’t work.

It’s that there are too many of them — and they don’t truly talk to each other.

Even with tools like Zapier or Pabbly, integration comes at a cost. Often a higher one than you expect.

You need:

• A website

• A newsletter platform

• A booking system

• A shop

• Social scheduling

• Hosting

• Email

• DNS management

By the time everything is stitched together, you’re paying for five subscriptions, logging into four dashboards, and spending more time managing tools than running your business.

My sister is the perfect example.

I built her WordPress site. But all she really wanted was a simple place to upload her products so she could get back to crafting — the part she actually loves.

Instead, she was wrestling with SEO, competing on platforms like Etsy and Depop, and scheduling social posts for hours.

She didn’t want to fight someone else’s algorithm.

She wanted her own space, on her own terms.

She’s been testing Cosmos since January — and she’ll shortly relaunch her business on it.

That’s who Cosmos is for.

One Platform. One System.

Most business owners don’t want more features.

They want fewer moving parts.

One login.
One system.
Everything connected.

While building Cosmos, I kept asking myself:

What actually needs to be front and centre?
What can sit quietly in the background?

The core must stay simple. Advanced tools shouldn’t overwhelm everyday users.

Where possible, I built functionality directly into the platform rather than relying on third-party bolt-ons.

Newsletter tools? Built in.
Portals? Built in.
No extra logins. No “connect this to that.”

Think of it as bringing the best parts of platforms like Etsy and Uber under one roof — but for your business, not someone else’s marketplace.

The Reality of Building It Alone

As a solo founder, I wear every hat.

Some days start at 2am — because that’s the only quiet marketing window available.

There’s the invoicing hat.
The support hat.
Server management.
Technical troubleshooting.
Client onboarding.
Social media.
And once a year, the tax return hat.

I’m not a natural marketer. I’m not a salesperson.

But I understand systems deeply. And more importantly, I understand businesses from the inside — not just how they look, but how they function.

Right now, support is handled by me.

Yes, I’m fast. Yes, I use AI internally to streamline repetitive tasks. But I’m not ready to hand customer support to automation. When someone raises a ticket, they deserve clarity — not a loop.

That matters.

And the goal of one well-built system is simple:
reduce the noise so business owners can win their time back.

For a small business owner, time isn’t a luxury.

It’s everything.

What About Features?

This is where you come in.

If something isn’t working — raise a ticket.
If a feature would genuinely improve Cosmos — tell me.

There’s no corporate backlog queue here. No waiting twelve months for roadmap approval.

If it makes sense and improves the platform, I can build it, patch it in, and get it tested quickly.

Many features already exist because someone asked.

At this stage, your feedback genuinely shapes the product.

Cosmos isn’t built by a faceless company.

It’s built by someone who uses the same tools you do — and wants them to work properly.

What Cosmos Actually Is

Cosmos is the platform I always wished existed.

Clean.
Straightforward.
Built for business owners who want to focus on running their business — not managing software.

No overwhelming dashboards.
No steep learning curve.
No five subscriptions when one will do.

Just one place holding everything together — so you can get back to the part of your business you actually love.

If you’ve ever felt like technology was working against you instead of for you, this was built for you.

Bridget Sarah is Director of Node Dawn Group Ltd and founder of Cosmos. She has worked in technology for 30 years and specialises in full-stack development.